Texas Medical and Dental Schools Application Service is open to prospective students until Oct. 1. Texas A&M University College of Dentistry in Dallas offers this information and advice to predental students hoping to enter the Class of 2030.
“Get a good science foundation,” said Dr. Alicia Spence, the dental college’s director of recruitment and admissions. “That first year of dental school is tough.”
She recommended 30-40 hours of science courses before entering dental school.
Texas A&M’s enrollment is capped at 106 dental students for each entering class. With 10 dental specialties offered and serving as the largest oral health provider in North Texas, the dental college’s four-year program for dentists is competitive; a 3.6 grade-point average overall is typical, and volunteer hours, leadership activities and dental shadowing and internships are considered.
The University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston (UTHealth Houston), the University of Texas School of Dentistry at San Antonio and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso Woody L. Hunt School of Dental Medicine, the three other state-supported dental schools, have similar caps. Applicants can apply for any or all Texas dental schools in one application.
The application fee is $230. It’s the same whether a student applies for one or four schools.
Texas A&M also requires a secondary application available for electronic submission on the Texas A&M Health Science Center Application. After the TMDSAS application is received, each applicant will receive an emailed invitation to complete the secondary application.
“Students should apply as early as possible,” Spence said.
Ninety percent of the students accepted must come from Texas, Spence said. There are several ways to qualify as a Texas resident, and TMDSAS has detailed information on its website.
Spence said she’s recruiting from all the major Texas universities this year. She also plans to recruit at Texas Tech University for the first time, schools in the Rio Grande Valley and smaller colleges and universities.
Spence met with more than 500 local students earlier this year during a busy recruitment push that included college visits and in-person and one-hour video conferences with small groups. Current students participated in the meetings at local universities and the dental college.
“I think predental students like to hear from our students,” she said. “Sometimes they’re more willing to ask them questions than to me, and that’s fine. If they feel more comfortable asking a peer, I think that’s helpful.”
More information about Texas A&M’s dental college admissions process is available here.
