<p>hey everyone, I plan to become a dentist through Upenn graduate school (My goal).</p>
<p>however, I'm simply wondering, what the heck am I supposed to do for undergraduate study? I've heard many answers, such as "anything you want", "something in biology" anything your interested in" and "something not related to science, because you'll do that in graduate school."</p>
<p>so does anyone know what undergraduate degree a future dentist should achieve? there is no "pre-dentist" track, unlike how future doctors go on the "premed" track, right?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>(sorry did not know which forum to put this in)</p>
<p>I believe it’s basically just like premed. You major in whatever interests you and then do the dental school prereqs on top of that. Premeds don’t really have a “premed track” necessarily either. Some schools have programs specifically for those students but they don’t have a special major or anything at most places as a degree in “premed” or “predental” would be completely worthless if you didn’t get into medical or dental school (and the majority of applicants don’t get in).</p>
<p>There are pre-dental tracks at some places; my undergrad had one and produced a lot of students who went to dental school. At some places the tracks are combined: pre-med/pre-dental or pre-med/pre-dental/pre-vet.</p>
<p>The American Dental Association lists pre-reqs:</p>
<p>Specific schools differ, but most dental schools require 2 semesters of biology, 2 semesters of physics, 2 semesters of English, 2 semesters of general chemistry and 2 semesters of organic chemistry. Those are very similar to pre-medical requirements, so at most schools you could probably follow a pre-med track and be well-prepared for dental school.</p>
<p>You can major in anything as long as you fulfill these requirements, just like you could major in anything and apply to medical school. You should major in something that you’re interested in and in which you’re likely to do well, because you’ll need high grades for admission into dental school.</p>
<p>You may be interested in the BioDental program at UPenn. It is a seven-year BS/DDS program you apply to in hs and you’re guaranteed admission to UPenn Dental provided you meet minimum requirements in college. Undergrad schools that are affiliated with it are UPenn’s own undergrad, Muhlenburg, and some other schools in PA. I think in this program, undergraduates must major in Biology.</p>
<p>if you want to go to UPenn or any of those flashy dental schools, do some good research. Most pre-dents don’t do research because it’s not that valued by most dental schools. but the top schools highly value research.</p>