Pre-Dental Program
Contact: Dr. E. Larry Nordyke 713-525-3169 or nordyke@stthom.edu
Dr. John A. Palasota 713-525-6918 or japalaso@stthom.edu
The Pre-dental Program is designed to prepare students for entry into dental school. The program is a rigorous science and math-based program that can be combined with any major. It is important to note that the pre-dental program is not a major but rather a program consisting of 41 credit hours (11 classes and 8 labs) of science and math courses and 6 credit hours of English. These courses serve as the prerequisites for application to dental school. The pre-dental advisers in the program advise students in tandem with their major advisor, inform them of prerequisite courses, admissions test dates, and application deadlines, and present appropriate workshops, as well as providing letters of evaluation for application to dental school.
Dental school admission data for the last eight academic years (Table I) indicate that approximately 89% of St. Thomas applicants were granted at least one interview. In our opinion, the interview statistic is indicative not only of the success of the pre-dental program but also the high quality of teaching at the University.
Table I. Dental School Applicants (Fall 1998-Spring 2005)
|
Applicants
|
Interviewed
|
% App Int
|
Accepted
|
% App Acc
|
|
28
|
25
|
89.3
|
17
|
60.7
|
There are three dental schools in Texas, The University of Texas Dental Branch in Houston (UTDB), The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Dental School (UTSADS), and The Texas A&M University System Baylor College of Dentistry (BCD), all public institutions. All three dental schools have a four-year professional curriculum and Table II summarizes information about the Dental Schools in Texas.
Summary Information and Preprofessional Course
Requirements for the Dental Schools in Texas
| Dental Schools |
BCD
|
UTDB
|
UTSADS
|
| Size of Class Admitted |
90 |
80 |
90 |
| Minimum Number of Semester Hours |
90ab |
90b |
90b |
| Semester Hours Limit on Junior College Work |
60 |
60 |
None |
| General or Inorganic Chemistryc |
8 |
8 |
8 |
| Organic Chemistryc |
8 |
8 |
8 |
| Biochemistryd |
3a |
3 |
- |
| Physicsc |
8 |
8 |
8 |
| Biologyc |
14a |
14 |
14 |
| Englishe |
6 |
6 |
6 |
a For the 2008 entering class.
b Baccalaureate degree highly desirable.
c Courses as required for science majors-one year with laboratory.
d Course as required for science major.
e Remedial, developmental, or English as a Second Language courses are not accepted.
|
