dental · Salt Lake City, Utah · public
University of Utah School of Dentistry prerequisites
What Utah asks for in the 2026-27 cycle, as read from the school's own admissions page. 7 lines differ from the standard dental school set, marked below.
Coursework
- Biology with labrequireddiffers
6 credits
Most dental schools ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab.
Only 6 semester hours of biology, less than the baseline's two full semesters with lab, because Utah pulls anatomy, physiology and microbiology out into their own lines rather than counting them inside the biology block. The table names no laboratory for general biology.
- 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
6 credits
Most dental schools ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab.
Six semester hours rather than the baseline's eight, and the table names no organic laboratory. The only lab Utah lists anywhere is the microbiology lab.
- 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 labrequireddiffers
6 credits
Most dental schools ask for 2 semesters · 8 credits · lab.
Six semester hours, and again no laboratory named in the table.
- English or writing-intensiverequired
2 semesters · 6 credits
Two semesters of English or writing-intensive coursework at most schools that name it.
- Physiologyrequiredextra here
1 semester · 3 credits
Utah lists physiology as its own 3 semester hour prerequisite, separate from anatomy and from the 6 hours of general biology. A combined anatomy and physiology sequence covers both lines, but neither one alone does.
- Anatomy and physiologyrequireddiffers
3 credits
Most dental schools ask for 3 credits and list it as recommended.
Required here where the baseline only recommends it: "Anatomy (Human or Comparative): 3 semester hours". Comparative anatomy is explicitly accepted in place of human anatomy. Utah's physiology requirement is a separate 3 hour line, recorded on its own.
- Microbiologyrequireddiffers
1 semester · 4 credits · lab
Most dental schools ask for 3 credits and list it as recommended.
Required rather than recommended, and the only prerequisite Utah attaches a laboratory to: microbiology 3 semester hours plus microbiology lab 1 semester hour. If your microbiology course does not carry a lab section, you need to find one that does.
Experience hours
- Dentist shadowingrequired
100+ hours
One hundred hours minimum, matching the baseline figure, but Utah also recommends spreading them across a minimum of four different dentists. Breadth, not one long stretch in a single office, is what the school asks for.
- 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
Accepted nearly everywhere in place of individual faculty letters where your college offers one.
- Science faculty letterrequired
2 letters
Three letters are required through AADSAS with an optional fourth. Two must come from science instructors; the third may come from a committee, a non-science instructor, a dental professional, an employer, a supervisor, or a clergy member. The optional fourth letter speaks to character and fitness.
- Dentist letternot required here
No dentist letter is required. A dental professional is only one of six acceptable writers for the open third letter, alongside a committee, a non-science instructor, an employer, a supervisor or a clergy member. The 100 shadowing hours are still required in their own right.
Also on the school’s page
Utah publishes a prerequisite table in semester hours that is unusually broken up: anatomy 3, biochemistry 3, biology 6, general or inorganic chemistry 8, organic chemistry 6, English composition or technical writing 6, physics 6, physiology 3, microbiology 3, and microbiology lab 1. Microbiology lab is the only laboratory the table names, so no other lab requirement is recorded here; a standard general chemistry, organic and physics sequence carries lab anyway and nothing on the page says a lab is unwelcome. A bachelor's degree from an accredited United States college or university is required, and "We accept course work from the last ten years. Any course work completed more than ten years ago needs to be repeated before matriculation." Utah publishes a hard academic floor: "The minimum GPA requirement for acceptance is 3.0 (cumulative and science). Any application with a GPA below 3.0 will be denied." The DAT floor is a minimum of 380 in every section on the current 200 to 600 scale, with scores from the last three years; current students average roughly 470 academic average, 480 perceptual ability, and 480 survey of natural sciences. Recommended but not required coursework: business, cell biology, communications, computer science, ethics, histology, immunology, molecular biology and genetics, further biology, chemistry or physics, and 3-dimensional art, the last a nod to the manual dexterity the DAT's perceptual section tests. Residency matters here: "The University of Utah only accepts United States citizens or permanent residents."
School
dentistry.utah.eduCheck your transcript against this list
Cyclios keeps this list beside your coursework and tells you what Utah still needs from you.
See it for dental school