Undergraduate school for a prospective dentist???

hello guys. I want to be a pediatric dentist when I’m older. Right now, I’m a junior, and at first I was under the impression that undergraduate schools do matter, then I heard they didn’t matter from teachers, but then i read an article saying that undergraduate schools do matter a lot. So, what undergraduate schools are good for people who want to go off to dental school??

Whenever I try to do a google search on this, i don’t get the results in looking for; it just tells me about dental schools.

Princeton is and has been my #1 choice since I was about 10, but now I’m thinking maybe I should go to a school known for good pre-dentistry programs (not saying that Princeton doesn’t have a good PD program bc im sure they do). But yk if you want to be an engineer, schools like MIT would look the best to employers.

Thanks!!!

Have you considered a combined/accelerated dental program? There are quite a few out there, and if you are accepted into the program, you would have an acceptance to dental school coming right out of high school.

Colgate?

Sorry…I know I shouldn’t have, but …

LOL.

Any undergraduate school with the prerequisites for dental school would be a good school to go to - so yes, Princeton is absolutely a fine choice. It doesn’t really matter where you go to undergrad for dental school, as long as you do well in your classes and maintain a high GPA, and do well on the DAT.

Wherever you can get all your pre-reqs for dental school and receive a good GPA is the best place. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Princeton or Rutgers. (Rutgers though has its top medical/dental schools. If you’re instate for NJ, did you check out Rutgers’ BS/DMD programs with other in-state schools? http://sdm.rutgers.edu/admissions/bs-dmd.htm)

Combined/accelerated dental programs where you can get some type of admission into a dental school is the best plan for anyone going into a medical/pharmaceutical field. It’s nice to go to a normal school and get your BS but you can save money and time by enrolling in one of those rigorous programs.

You can try an online list, “Colleges With Great Pre-med Programs.” Pre-dental and pre-med are essentially the same track. Although I’m unfamiliar with the methodology of this particular site, some of the colleges on it may interest you for other reasons as well, and therefore would be worth looking into further.