dental · Mesa, Arizona · private
A.T. Still University Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health prerequisites
What ATSU Arizona asks for in the 2026-27 cycle, as read from the school's own admissions page. 4 lines differ from the standard dental school set, marked below.
Coursework
- Biology with labrequired
2 semesters · 8 credits · lab
"General Biology - One year lecture and lab, minimum of 8 semester hours/12 quarter hours (zoology or microbiology are acceptable alternatives)." The alternative-subject allowance is unusual and worth planning around.
- General chemistry with labrequired
2 semesters · 8 credits · lab
Two semesters with lab. The DAT's general chemistry section assumes the full sequence.
- Organic chemistry with labrequired
2 semesters · 8 credits · lab
Two semesters with lab at most schools. A small number accept one semester plus biochemistry; confirm on the school's page before planning around it.
- Biochemistryrequired
1 semester · 3 credits
"Biochemistry - 3 semester hours/ 4 quarter hours - 300 university level minimum." A lower-division survey biochemistry does not answer this.
- Physics with labrequired
2 semesters · 8 credits · lab
Two semesters, algebra-based accepted essentially everywhere. A handful of schools want only one semester; the two-semester plan covers them all.
- English or writing-intensiverequireddiffers
1 semester · 3 credits
Most dental schools ask for 2 semesters · 6 credits.
"English composition/Technical writing - minimum of 3 semester hours/4 quarter hours." One semester, half the dental baseline, and technical writing counts.
- Anatomy and physiologyrequireddiffers
6 credits
Most dental schools ask for 3 credits and list it as recommended.
Required here, not merely recommended: "Human Anatomy* - 3 semester hours/ 4 quarter hours" and "Human Physiology* - 3 semester hours/ 4 quarter hours," with the footnote "Anatomy & Physiology Part I and Part II is acceptable but, you must take both Part I and Part II." No laboratory is stated for either.
- Microbiologyrecommended
3 credits
Required at a meaningful minority and recommended widely; a strong pick for the spare science slot.
Experience hours
- Dentist shadowingrequired
100+ hours
Shadowing dentists. Schools that publish a number most often say 100 hours, and admissions committees read breadth across general and specialty practice. Hours shadowing physicians do not answer this; log dental chairside time here. Across the 77 school overlays, 36 require shadowing, 22 recommend it and 19 publish nothing; the numbers those schools name range from 30 hours to 100, so this baseline figure is a planning floor rather than a common standard.
- Non-clinical volunteeringrecommended
100+ hours
No hour figure is published. Under selection factors the school says applicants are evaluated on coursework, DAT, the AADSAS essay, letters and interviews, and that "Demonstrated community service through volunteerism or service-oriented employment is preferred." The optional community service supervisor letter gives that preference teeth.
Letters
- Committee letterrecommended
1 letter
Accepted here as a direct substitute for the science faculty letter, not as a replacement for the whole packet: "ONE letter must be from a Science Faculty OR Predental Committee Member." The dentist letter is still separately required either way.
- Science faculty letterrequireddiffers
1 letter
Most dental schools ask for 2 letters.
"Applicants are required to provide a minimum of TWO (2) letters of recommendation. ONE letter must be from a Science Faculty OR Predental Committee Member and ONE from a Dentist." One science letter, not the two the dental baseline assumes, and a predental committee letter satisfies it instead.
- Dentist letterrequired
1 letter
One letter from a dentist, usually one you shadowed. The count is now from primary sources rather than an estimate: across all 77 schools, each read from its own published page, 17 require a dentist letter, 14 recommend one, 38 state a letter set that does not include one, and 8 name no writers at all. The first estimate here said 70 percent; the real figure is 22. The line stays required as the fallback for the 8 silent schools, because a letter obtained needlessly costs effort while one missing at a school that wanted it can cost a cycle, and every school that does require it says so in its own overlay. Awaiting the human pass like the rest of this set.
- Supervisor letterrecommendedextra here
1 letter
"Applicants can also submit an additional letter of recommendation from a Community Service Supervisor. The letter from the Community Service Supervisor must be from a broad-based volunteer community service project in which the applicant was involved but NOT paid." Optional, not counted toward the two required letters, and the unpaid condition is explicit.
Also on the school’s page
ATSU-ASDOH publishes its prerequisite list in semester hours with three hard gates around it: "All prerequisite coursework must be taken from a U.S. regionally accredited institution," "AP and CLEP will not be accepted for prerequisite credits," and "Highly recommended that science prerequisites courses be taken within 5 years of applying." International applicants are told outright that they "must take all pre-requisite courses in the United States. Equivalency courses will not be considered." The full-year sciences are biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry and algebra-based physics, each "One year lecture and lab, minimum of 8 semester hours/12 quarter hours"; the 3 semester hour courses are human anatomy, human physiology, biochemistry and English composition or technical writing. On scores, "Applicants must have a minimum cumulative and science grade point average of 2.75 on a four-point scale (3.0 minimum recommended)" and DAT scores must be taken on or before December 1 of the application year with "No scores older than three years" accepted. A minimum of three years of college coursework, 90 semester hours or 135 quarter hours, is required, though a baccalaureate degree is preferred. Deadlines: AADSAS submitted November 15, DAT completed December 1, secondary application December 15, with acceptance notification beginning December 15 and interviews September through March. ATSU's own 2024 ASDOH DMD program sheet reports a 78 student class from 2,914 applications, average GPA 3.52, average science GPA 3.43, and a DAT academic average of 19.51, which is on the pre-2025 1 to 30 scale rather than the 200 to 600 scale in use since March 2025; the school publishes no DAT minimum. The requirements page says nothing about a shadowing hour figure, so the dental baseline stands there unmodified.
School
atsu.eduCheck your transcript against this list
Cyclios keeps this list beside your coursework and tells you what ATSU Arizona still needs from you.
See it for dental school