UCLA School of Dentistry prerequisites

2 semesters · 8 credits · lab

Two semesters with lab. As universal for dental school as it is for medical.

2 semesters · 8 credits · lab

Two semesters with lab. The DAT's general chemistry section assumes the full sequence.

6 credits · lab

Most dental schools ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab.

Six semester or eight quarter hours with laboratory, two hours less than the baseline's full sequence, and still laboratory-bearing.

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.

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.

2 semesters · 6 credits

Two semesters of English or writing-intensive coursework at most schools that name it.

1 semester · 3 credits

Introductory psychology, 3 semester or 4 quarter hours, listed among the required courses without laboratory. The baseline does not carry it on the dental path; UCLA requires it outright.

3 credits

Named by a minority of schools and useful preparation for the first year regardless.

3 credits

Required at a meaningful minority and recommended widely; a strong pick for the spare science slot.

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.

100+ hours

Few schools publish a number; committees still read for a service habit held over time.

1 letter

"college recommendation committees" are named among the acceptable sources, so a committee letter counts toward the three.

1 letter

Most dental schools ask for 2 letters and list it as required.

UCLA requires "a minimum of three (3) letters of recommendation," maximum four individual letters, all through AADSAS, and "The office will not accept any letters of recommendation if they are mailed directly to us." It does not require that any of them come from a science professor, so the baseline's two science letters are downgraded to recommended here.

1 letter

UCLA names no required writer type. "Letters may be from objective sources who are familiar with your accomplishments which can include employers, supervisors where you have volunteered, as well as college teachers, college recommendation committees, college counselors and other appropriate individuals." A professor of any discipline is squarely inside that list.

1 letter

Most dental schools ask for 1 letter and list it as required.

UCLA does not name a dentist anywhere in its letter guidance; a dentist you shadowed is an objective source like any other. Required at most dental schools, not here, so it drops to recommended.