What kind of curricular activities improve your chances?
Just merely shadowing a dentist?
Is it possible to participate in a research project if a dental school is not far away? Would that improve chances?
You should be taking math and science courses in high school to help prepare you for pre-dental in college, In college you need to get good grades before applying at to dental school. The high school math curriculum should lead to pre-calculus or calculus by your senior year. The high school science curriculum should be biology, chemistry and physics.
See if your school offers and pre-med classes or clubs. Acquiring a title, or just membership, is enough to prove to colleges you are serious about your major. I would say call the dental college in question and see how open they are about you participating in a research project. Have a science intense transcript if possible, and remember colleges weigh class rigor along with grades, so push yourself. If your gpa and SAT scores are high enough, your extracurricular are just going to be frosting on the cake to colleges.
Many dental schools require taking the DAT (Dental Admissions Test, which is similar to the SAT for admittance to an undergraduate college). Your grades in high school and SAT score do not matter. Dental schools admit students based on the college GPA, DAT, recommendation letters, college interest, etc. It is very important you do well in college, especially the math and science classes, and do well on the DAT.
Brush and floss your teeth?
Question? If I’m placed in college algebra freshman year, how can I take calculus before senior year? It’s a dental school prerequisite and I need it. It’s also on the DAT
Dental schools need to see a college calculus course on your transcript meaning you need to take all Dental school pre-reqs in college not HS. Having a background in HS calculus will make the college calculus material easier for you to understand but not sure if an AP calculus course in HS can be used to apply to Dental school. Also Not sure what your Math sequence is for your HS, but unless you take a math class during the summer, you should reach at least Pre-Calc Senior year.
Take a challenging course load in high school–heavy on math and science. Study and do well on the ACT/SAT. There are dental schools that have guaranteed acceptance programs–you apply coming out of high school, and as long as you maintain your grades in college, your dental school spot is guaranteed.
Also, start shadowing one or more dentists.
Nothing you do in high school and before matters once you enter college, unless for some reason it is that significant. Any graduate or professional program will only care about what you do while in college and beyond for making admissions decisions. So you should worry very little if at all about what activities done during high school will help you get into dental school.
However, where you go for undergrad does have some influence for dental school admissions. You want to go to a reputable institution where the pre-health courses are known to be rigorous. That being said, you do want to do very well academically while in high school to ensure that you can be accepted into a reputable institution.
Take the highest level math and sciences you can.
Try to volunteer/shadow a dentist to see if this is what you are truly interested in.