A Comparison of Seven Predental Postbaccalaureate Programs in Gaining Dental School Acceptance for Their Students

Predental students are often unsuccessful in gaining admission to dental school because of low academic scores. Many of these students are from economically and/or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. Postbaccalaureate and Master's programs provide these students with the opportunity to raise their grade point averages and/or scores on the Dental Admission Test and then apply or reapply for dental school admission. The aim of this study was to compare seven of these postbac programs and their success rates in gaining dental school admission for their graduates. Data were gathered in 2016 from the directors of dedicated predental postbac programs at seven universities in the United States to compare their programs' duration, size of cohort, and percentage of participants gaining admission to dental school and graduating. These predental postbac programs varied in duration, cohort size, and tuition, but had a similar purpose in preparing students for the rigors of dental school. Most of the programs were small, some were selective for disadvantaged students, and all were heavily focused on biological sciences. The dental school admission rate for participants in these seven programs ranged from 45% to over 95%. Students who gained dental school admission after participating in these programs had a 95-100% graduation rate from dental school. These results demonstrate the success of these seven programs in preparing students to gain admission to and graduation from dental school and contribute to diversifying the population of dental students and thus of practicing dentists.