Best School for Pre-Dental?

College Search & Lists
1

Where is the best college I can get into for pre dental/pre med?

UW GPA: 3.13
WGPA: 3.65
ACT: 30 (Will probably go up to 33-34)

AP PHYSICS 1
AP BIOLOGY
AP COMP SCI PRINCIPALS
AP LANGUAGE AND COMP
AP US HISTORY
AP LIT
AP CHEM
AP MACRO
AP CALC AB
AP GOV
AP EURO

Ec:
HOSA state champion
Founded 501c3 non profit organization for mental health
Varsity track and cross country
Shadowing doctors (55 hours)
Volunteering at hospitals (80 hours)
Internship at hospital
Research internship at Loyola
Executive board for Future Doctors of America

2

Med/Dental schools really don’t care about the undergrad you attend as much as GPA and your performance on the MCAT/DAT, and experience in medical/dental environments, which you seem to be racking up very nicely. Professional school is expensive with little financial aid so keep an eye to an affordable school and stop thinking about “best.”

3

No such thing.

What is your home state?
How much will your parents pay per year?
If you don’t get better grades college, you won’t get into dental school. What is the story behind your GPA?

4

Home state is Illinois. Parents will pay 30K per year max. My GPA was low because my fresmen year I struggled and got a couple C’s in Algebra 2.

5

Ok

So how have you done in math since?

With that budget you have options. Retest…with a higher score you may have more options.

What kind of schools do you like

6

I like schools such as SLU, Urbana, Case Western, UIC. I don’t know what other schools to target for me to get into

7

If you don’t qualify for need-based aid and your budget is <$30K/year, then private U’s like SLU and CWRU aren’t going to work - you’re not going to get substantial merit aid with your stats. (If your actual Expected Family Contribution is under 30K, that’s a different story… run Net Price Calculators on a few schools and see.)

But the good news is that many of your match schools in the midwest are eligible for discounted tuition through the Midwest Student Exchange Program: https://msep.mhec.org/institutions?field_state_term_tid=1&field_program_type_term_tid=12&field_sector_term_tid=All

For smaller public LAC’s with smaller classes and more faculty attention (which might optimize your ability to earn the grades you need for dental school) consider Truman State and U of Minnesota, Morris. (These are already a great financial deal at OOS rates, but the MSEP discount brings them down even more.)

But if you don’t like the smaller-school idea, there are lots of larger schools on this list too. Maybe IUPUI, since you seem to like urban settings? They seem to have good scaffolding for pre-dental students. https://science.iupui.edu/ppdgengenpre-dentistry (You would have needed a 3.75 weighted GPA to get into the Honors College, but you could also apply as a continuing student once you were there.) The IU Dental School is in Indianapolis, and IUPUI seems to promise opportunities there for its pre-dental students.

8

If you want to go pre-dental/med then think about:

  1. The cheapest (net cost) reasonable college so you/your parents can use the money for med/dental school
  2. The college needs to prepare you for DATs/ MCATs but still allow you to get a good GPA
  3. Access to volunteering opportunities
  4. Success in graduates getting into dental/med school
  5. Options if you don’t go to dental/med school