Rutgers, The State University of NJ
Rutgers School of Dental Medicine (RSDM)

This is a highly competitive and selective program for SAS or SEBS students at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Students apply at the end of the sophomore year and must have completed the required prerequisites and demonstrated strong academic achievement, a passion for dentistry, and for helping others. Students who are not enrolled in SAS or SEBS must initiate a school-to-school transfer to one of those units in the spring semester of the sophomore year and be prepared, if accepted to the joint program, to complete a major in Biological Sciences and all of the requirements of their undergraduate school. In some cases, accepted students may major in Cell Biology and Neuroscience or Genetics but no other majors are compatible with the credit exchange that is integral to the program. If not accepted, students may cancel the school-to-school transfer. Accepted students will be expected to complete all SAS or SEBS core requirements by the end of their junior year. In their senior year, admitted students will take the complete first-year curriculum at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine and may use some of these credits in exchange to complete the elective course work for their school and the majors listed above. No other majors are compatible with the credit exchange. The program is not appropriate for students who intend to graduate in 3 years because of the credit exchange and the requirement that students in the program be simultaneously registered with the undergraduate unit and the dental school in the senior year/first year of dental school.

Benefits for students accepted into the program include:

  1. Students will have a conditional, early acceptance to RSDM (see grade and DAT requirements below).
  2. Students will pay only for three years of undergraduate tuition at Rutgers + 4 years tuition at RSDM, thus saving one year of undergraduate tuition and fees.
  3. The courses taken in dental school will complete the major in Biological Sciences, in addition to the dental degree requirements.

 

Qualified applicants must meet the following criteria:

    • They must be matriculated students who are in their fourth semester or have earned a minimum of 60 degree credits.  (Note, applicants with an Associate’s Degree, regardless of whether it was earned as a dual degree in high school or as a traditional degree after high school, are ineligible to apply for the program.)
    • At a minimum, transfer students must be enrolled for one year at Rutgers-New Brunswick earning 30 credits.
    • They must have earned and maintain a minimum cumulative and science GPA of 3.5 at Rutgers.
    • They must have completed at least two semesters of General Biology with lab, two semesters of General Chemistry with lab, two semesters of Organic Chemistry, Calculus I and II (or Calculus I + Statistics 379 or 401), and one semester of English (for those with AP credit in Bio, Chem or English, please see AP Credit Policy below).
    • Applicants should have no withdrawals or incomplete grades in any RSDM prerequisites.

Prior to matriculation at the dental school (in your third, undergraduate year), BA/DMD students must complete two semesters of General Physics and labs (for those with AP credit in Physics, please see AP Credit Policy below), Organic Chemistry lab, a course in Biochemistry (ex. 694:301 or 694:407) and a second English.

If conditionally admitted,  students are required to take and submit to the RSDM Office of Admissions their Dental Admission Test (DAT) scores by January 1 of their third year at Rutgers; Only ONE DAT attempt is allowed.   BA/DMD students must achieve at least a 20 as their Academic Average, 20 Total Science (SNS), 20 Organic Chemistry, 20 General Chemistry, and 20 Biology, but the scores are not necessarily sufficient to guarantee admission.

 

AP Credit Policy for students applying to BA/DMD

 

If granted AP credit for Expository Writing (355:101)

To be eligible to apply, students must take one upper-level English at Rutgers with the same amount of credit work.

If granted credit for AP Bio and Lab (119:115,116 and 117)

To be eligible to apply, students must take 2 upper-level biological sciences courses from approved list of biosci electives:   CLICK HERE
Courses such as Genetics, Cell Biology, Systems Physiology, Microbiology that will provide strong preparation for dental school coursework are strongly recommended. Additionally, a laboratory course is strongly recommended, in order to satisfy the required 8 total credits for biology prerequisite. See NOTE below about overlaps. 

If granted AP credit for Chemistry and Lab (160:161, 162, 171)

In addition to the basic requirement to apply to Organic Chemistry 1 and 2, students admitted to the accelerated program will need to take Orgo lab (160:311, 2 credits) and a course in Biochemistry (ex. 694:301 or 694:407) by the end of the junior year.  NOTE: Biochemistry may not be used as one of the upper-level Bio electives if the student also has AP credit for both Biology and Chemistry.  See NOTE below for the policy prohibiting using one course at Rutgers to replace multiple AP courses (double dipping).

If granted AP credit for Physics and labs (750:203, 204, 205, and 206)

If admitted to the program, any 2 courses from the list below by the end of the junior year.

        • 01:377:213 Functional Human Anatomy 
        • 01:377:371 Exercise Physiology
        • 01:377:303 Neuromechanical Kinesiology (prerequisite 377:213)
        • 01:377:350 Biomechanics (prerequisite 377:213) 
        • 01:750:327 Modern Instrumentation  
        • 01:750:397 Physics of Modern Devices 

NOTE:  Applicants are not permitted to “double dip” these requirements.  For example, if a prospective applicant has AP Bio credit and AP Physics credit, they cannot take Functional Human Anatomy and Exercise Physiology as their upper-level electives to fulfill the Bio and Physics requirement for the program. In this case, students would need to take another 2 courses for the Physics requirement. Individual courses must be taken for each AP sequence. 

Students with AP credit who are interested in applying to the BA/DMD program MUST meet with Dr. Vogel before the application deadline to discuss their individual options for AP coursework to allow their application to be reviewed.

 

The application will be available after spring break 2024.  Instructions on how to request a BA/DMD application will be sent out via the HPO listserv.  Completed applications must be emailed to the HPO office (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) no later than Friday, May 24 @ 5pm.(no exceptions)  In addition to the application, a minimum of 3 science letters of recommendation must be submitted on behalf of the applicant to the HPO office.   Recommendations from Rutgers teaching assistants and/or faculty are acceptable.