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    • Education Requirements for Dental School

    • Applicants must have completed a minimum of 90 semester hours (or 134 quarter hours) at a regionally accredited US or Canadian college or university.
    • Each required course, listed in the table below, must be completed with a grade of C or better.
    • Advanced placement credit is accepted only if the school granting the credit lists the specific course(s) and number of units granted per course on an official transcript. Lump sum credit is not accepted.
    • Graduate courses do not satisfy the 90 hour requirement OR the required coursework.
    • All required course work must be completed before or by the time of enrollment into the dental school.
    • Baccalaureate degrees are highly desirable. However, exceptionally mature students without a degree, who have outstanding academic records, superior performance on the respective admissions test and highly desirable personal qualifications may be considered for admission.

    Undergraduate Course Requirements

    Courses for non-science majors or for health career majors (nursing, pharmacy, allied health sciences, etc.) will NOT satisfy the required coursework. All required coursework must be applicable towards a traditional science degree.

    BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

    14 semester hours (12 semester hours of lecture & 2 semester hours of formal lab) or 21 quarter hours (18 quarter lecture hours & 3 quarter lab hours) of Biological Science are required.

    Includes all Biological Science courses applied toward Baccalaureate degree in traditional science fields, such as General Biology, Zoology, Botany, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Ecology, Immunology, Parasitology, Ornithology, Anatomy & Physiology, Entomology, Pathophysiology, Marine Biology and Herpetology.

    Biochemistry will be accepted towards satisfying the 14 hour Biological Science requirement.

    GENERAL CHEMISTRY

    8 semester hours or 12 quarter hours of General Chemistry, as required for college science majors, including the corresponding laboratory experience are required. (8 semester hours = 6 hours of lecture & 2 hours of lab; 12 quarter hours = 9 hours of lecture & 3 hours of lab).

    Should include familiarity with analytic and volumetric techniques. Inorganic courses include General Chemistry, Physical Chemistry and Quantitative Analysis.

    ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

    8 semester hours or 12 quarter hours of Organic Chemistry, as required for college science majors, including the corresponding laboratory experience are required. (8 semester hours = 6 hours of lecture & 2 hours of lab; 12 quarter hours = 9 hours of lecture & 3 hours of lab).

    BIOCHEMISTRY

    Required ONLY by UT Dental Branch at Houston and TAM HSC Baylor College of Dentistry. However, it is strongly recommended by all other TMDSAS schools.

    3 semester hours or 5 quarter hours of Biochemistry is required.

     

    TAM HSC Baylor College of Dentistry AND UT Dental Branch at Houston:
    This requirement is in addition to the Biological Science requirement of 14 hours and may not be used to fulfill the Biological Science requirement.
    The course may be taught in the Biology, Biochemistry or Chemistry department.
    Must have a grade of C or better.

    PHYSICS

    8 semester hours or 12 quarter hours of Physics, as required for college science majors, including the corresponding laboratory experience are required. (8 semester hours = 6 hours of lecture & 2 hours of lab; 12 quarter hours = 9 hours of lecture & 3 hours of lab)

    Includes all physics courses applied toward a baccalaureate degree in any traditional science field.

    ENGLISH

    6 semester hours or 9 quarter hours of college English are required.

    Any course accredited by the English Department that fulfills a general education English requirement of a baccalaureate degree will be accepted. Remedial or developmental courses or "English As a Second Language" courses ARE NOT ACCEPTED.