dental · High Point, North Carolina · private
High Point University Workman School of Dental Medicine prerequisites
What High Point asks for in the 2026-27 cycle, as read from the school's own admissions page. 10 lines differ from the standard dental school set, marked below.
This school assesses competencies rather than named courses, so it publishes no course checklist. The lines below are the coursework that demonstrates those competencies on this path.
Coursework
- Biology with labrecommendeddiffers
2 semesters · 8 credits
Most dental schools ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab and list it as required.
"General biology" is one entry on the Clinician role's sample course menu, not a requirement. No credit count, no lab, no sequence length is stated anywhere.
- General chemistry with labrecommendeddiffers
2 semesters · 8 credits
Most dental schools ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab and list it as required.
Listed as "General chemistry / inorganic chemistry" on the Clinician menu. Sample coursework, not a prerequisite, and no credits or lab are specified.
- Organic chemistry with labrecommendeddiffers
2 semesters · 8 credits
Most dental schools ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab and list it as required.
"Organic chemistry" appears on the Clinician menu with no credit or lab requirement attached. The full two semester sequence every other dental school demands is optional here.
- Biochemistryrecommendeddiffers
1 semester · 3 credits
Most dental schools ask for 1 semester · 3 credits and list it as required.
"Biochemistry" heads the Clinician menu alphabetically and carries no stated credit count.
- Physics with labrecommendeddiffers
2 semesters · 8 credits
Most dental schools ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab and list it as required.
"Physics" is on the Clinician menu. No credits, no lab, no requirement.
- English or writing-intensiverecommendeddiffers
2 semesters · 6 credits
Most dental schools ask for 2 semesters · 6 credits and list it as required.
The nearest entry is "Writing / composition / technical writing" under the Researcher role. Sample coursework only.
- Anatomy and physiologyrecommended
3 credits
Named by a minority of schools and useful preparation for the first year regardless.
- Microbiologyrecommended
3 credits
Required at a meaningful minority and recommended widely; a strong pick for the spare science slot.
Experience hours
- Dentist shadowingrecommendeddiffers
100+ hours
Most dental schools ask for 100+ hours and list it as required.
"While we encourage shadowing during your pursuit of dental school, we do NOT require a standard number of shadowing hours to apply." The review rubric still bites: "No shadowing/exposure" and "No dental/healthcare" are listed among the indicators that put an application in the Not Ready Yet band, while "Dental/healthcare exposure" moves it up. Shadowing here can also be non-dental, since the model counts shadowing in research, advocacy, teaching, and business settings toward the other CARE roles.
- Non-clinical volunteeringrecommended
100+ hours
No hours figure is published. The readiness rubric names "No work or volunteering" as a Not Ready Yet indicator and "Diverse/immersive experience" as a Ready one, so breadth matters more than a count. The model defines its terms: "Work = paid experience, Volunteer = unpaid experience, Shadowing = did not contribute services."
Letters
- Committee letternot required here
No committee letter either. The Insights questionnaire replaces the entire letters step, and the school's stated reason is access: not every candidate has people around them practiced at writing strong letters.
- Science faculty letternot required here
High Point takes no letters of recommendation from anyone. "The HPU WSDM does NOT include an opportunity to submit letters of recommendation as they were determined to have minimal impact on application decisions in previous cycles." In their place you supply contact details for three reviewers who complete a short Insights questionnaire, chosen to "represent three of the four categories that are most pertinent to you: a healthcare professional, a coach/mentor, an educator, or a supervisor." A science professor is one possible educator, never a requirement.
- Dentist letternot required here
No dentist letter, because there are no letters. A dentist could serve as one of your three Insights reviewers under the healthcare professional category, but nothing obliges you to name one.
Also on the school’s page
High Point is the outlier of US dental admissions and almost nothing in the baseline survives contact with it. There is no prerequisite course list. Its CARE Admissions Model, published as a PDF at https://www.highpoint.edu/dental-medicine/files/2021/04/WSDMAdmitModel.pdf, gives instead a four column menu of sample courses arranged by the roles of Clinician, Advocate, Researcher, and Entrepreneur, with the caveat printed on the table itself: "Learners are NOT expected to have all courses listed, this is a comprehensive menu of options." The FAQ repeats it: "It will not negatively reflect your application if you do not have an evenly distributed transcript." Any bachelor's degree is preferred, "There is no specific degree of interest and no time limit on when the courses were completed," and "Online courses, certificate programs, Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate programs can qualify as evidence." There is no DAT: "The DAT (Dental Admission Test) is NOT an admission requirement for HPU WSDM," and while it may be submitted, "it is not an evaluated criterion." There are no letters of recommendation. The school does not use ADEA AADSAS at all; you apply through its own portal, and both Acuity Insights assessments, Casper and Duet, are required. There is no personal statement either, only short Reflection prompts, which candidates are asked to write without help "including from artificial intelligence and language models." What does bind: "Candidates must have a minimum cumulative 3.0 undergraduate GPA to apply," with a master's GPA of 3.0 or better considered if the undergraduate figure is lower, and "a bachelor's degree/ and or anticipated bachelors (B.S. or B.A) is required before matriculation." The FAQ gives this cycle's deadline as November 1, 2026 at 11:59 PM Eastern; the admissions model PDF is the 2023-2024 edition and still describes a January close with a July 31 early commitment deadline, so trust the FAQ date. Note also that the 3.5 GPA and the 20 hour shadowing and 25 hour service figures that circulate online belong to the Dental Medicine Scholars pathway for High Point undergraduates, not to this application.
School
highpoint.eduCheck your transcript against this list
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See it for dental schoolAlso in North Carolina
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