dental · Downers Grove, Illinois · private
Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine-Illinois prerequisites
What Midwestern IL asks for in the 2026-27 cycle, as read from the school's own admissions page. 6 lines differ from the standard dental school set, marked below.
Coursework
- Biology with labrequired
2 semesters · 8 credits · lab
Two semesters with lab. As universal for dental school as it is for medical.
- 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 labrequireddiffers
1 semester · 4 credits · lab
Most dental schools ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab.
"Organic Chemistry with lab**: 4 Semester/6 Quarter hours." One semester with its laboratory, half the baseline sequence, and Midwestern asks for biochemistry, anatomy, physiology and microbiology in the space that second semester would have filled.
- Biochemistryrequired
1 semester · 3 credits
Roughly half of schools require a semester and the share grows every cycle. The DAT does not test it, but first-year dental biochemistry assumes you have seen it.
- 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-intensiverequired
2 semesters · 6 credits
"English Composition/Technical Writing: 6 Semester/9 Quarter hours." Technical writing counts, which not every school allows, and this row carries no survey-course restriction.
- Physiologyrequiredextra here
1 semester · 3 credits
A separate 3 semester hour, 4 quarter hour row in the prerequisite table, sitting apart from anatomy. "Survey science courses are not accepted."
- Anatomy and physiologyrequireddiffers
3 credits
Most dental schools ask for 3 credits and list it as recommended.
Required here, not merely recommended. Midwestern lists anatomy as its own 3 semester hour row, separate from physiology, so this line is anatomy alone and the physiology line beside it is the other half. No laboratory is named. "Survey science courses are not accepted."
- Microbiologyrequireddiffers
3 credits
Most dental schools ask for 3 credits and list it as recommended.
Required outright where the baseline only recommends it: 3 semester or 4 quarter hours, no laboratory named. "Survey science courses are not accepted."
Experience hours
- Dentist shadowingrecommendeddiffers
100+ hours
Most dental schools ask for 100+ hours and list it as required.
No hours minimum is published. The catalog says only that "Demonstrated prior dental experience and community service through volunteerism or service-oriented employment is preferred", and asks applicants to "Demonstrate a sincere understanding of, and interest in, the humanitarian ethos of health care and particularly dental medicine." The required D.D.S. or D.M.D. letter still makes chairside time effectively necessary.
- Non-clinical volunteeringrecommended
100+ hours
Few schools publish a number; committees still read for a service habit held over time.
Letters
- Committee letterrecommended
1 letter
"One must be from either a predental advisory committee or a science professor." Where your college offers a committee letter it fills that slot outright, so it is an alternative rather than an addition.
- Science faculty letterrequireddiffers
1 letter
Most dental schools ask for 2 letters.
One science professor, not the baseline's two, and a predental advisory committee letter substitutes for it: "One must be from either a predental advisory committee or a science professor." Three letters total. "Letters written by family members will not be accepted" and "All letters must be submitted directly from the evaluators."
- Dentist letterrequired
1 letter
"One must be from someone with a D.D.S./D.M.D. degree." The third of the three letters must be "from someone who can testify to the integrity and ethical standards of the applicant", which the vocabulary here has no key for; it can come from outside dentistry entirely.
Also on the school’s page
From the 2026 to 2027 Downers Grove campus catalog, which publishes a prerequisite table in semester and quarter hours: biology with lab 8, general chemistry with lab 8, organic chemistry with lab 4, anatomy 3, microbiology 3, physics 8, physiology 3, biochemistry 3, English composition or technical writing 6. Every science line carries the footnote "Survey science courses are not accepted", so a non-majors course fails the requirement even at the right credit count. Note what the table does not say: the physics row reads simply "Physics**" with no laboratory named, while biology, general chemistry and organic chemistry each say "with lab", but the page never waives the physics laboratory in words, so this file leaves the baseline's physics lab in place rather than reading a waiver into an omission. Prerequisites need "grades of 'C' or better", and "Final official transcripts (including all pre-requisite courses) must by received by June 1 (prior to matriculation)." To be competitive an applicant "should have earned a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university and possess both a science (biology, chemistry, and physics) and total GPA of 3.00 or more on a 4.00 scale." Midwestern publishes preferred DAT scores on both scales: "Academic Average: 370 new scale, 17 old scale; Reading Comprehension: 340 new scale, 17 old scale; Perceptual Ability: 360 new scale, 17 old scale; Total Science: 380 new scale, 17 old scale", and "The DAT test must have been taken no more than 3 years prior to the matriculation date." Beyond the three named letters, the school asks applicants to "Reflect a service orientation through community service or extracurricular activities" and to pass fingerprinting and a criminal background check. Rolling admissions: the AADSAS deadline is January 1 and all supporting documents are due February 1.
School
midwestern.eduCheck your transcript against this list
Cyclios keeps this list beside your coursework and tells you what Midwestern IL still needs from you.
See it for dental school