The St. John’s Pre-Dental Club held a Dental School Application Information Session on Feb. 20 from 1:50 p.m. to 3 p.m. in Marillac 224. The session offered students interested in dentistry the opportunity to learn about dental school applications, the Dental Admission Test (DAT) and tips to enhance resumes and portfolios. About 15 students were in attendance.
To supplement the presentation, attendees were provided with a “pre-dental timeline” handout that included the primary application components, prerequisite and recommended courses and an empty timeline for students to customize their path to dental school.
“A lot of people don’t know that dentistry is something they want to do,” David Suleymanob, the co-events coordinator said. “They just hear it from someone or their parents encourage them to do it, but they don’t know anything about it.”
He explained that attending an information session is a good way to determine if dentistry is the right field for someone considering it but is on the fence about it.
While executive board members encouraged students to aim for a minimum of a 3.4 GPA for their applications, they acknowledged that not every student would reach that threshold and many wouldn’t achieve perfect scores on the DAT.
“They are going to look at your application holistically,” said Secretary MD Islam. “If you think it’s going to be hard to have a high GPA or DAT score, you want to ensure you have other good stats.”
This means that you can put down extracurricular involvement, achievements and good recommendation letters.
According to the handout, dental school applicants must also shadow a dentist for at least 100 hours throughout their undergraduate career. They can also consider working as a dental assistant, which often substitutes for shadowing.
It’s also important to take the application process slowly to ensure students can put their best foot forward.
“If you write something that’s very generic, the people reviewing your work won’t look at your application the way you want them to look at it,” Eric Lee, the vice president said.
The session also covered online resources for preparing for the DAT including DAT Bootcamp, DATBooster and Chad’s Prep, which range from $60 to $550.
Attendees were also encouraged to utilize St. John’s resources including the Pre-Health Professions Advosity Committee and the dental preceptorship one-credit course.
E-board members also shared that manual dexterity, or the skill of precision with one’s hands, is particularly important. To showcase or improve these skills, students should consider enrolling in courses like jewelry making or sign language.
“It’s really significant for pre-dental students to attend these sessions because a lot of students lack the guidance,” Tyler Foster, a biology major who attended the event said.
“Sometimes you are given the run around so it’s really nice to find people who are as interested as you in the field and everyone can bounce off of each other’s knowledge.”
For more information on the St. John’s Pre-Dental Club, click here.
