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The simple answer is: “Yes. Many dental schools do not require a bachelors degree.” However, it is becoming more and more difficult to get accepted into dental school and unless you have really good scores (GPA, DAT) or connections (like your dad or brother went to the dental school in question) than getting in will be really difficult to do. It isn’t impossible though.

You can always try though. I applied without a BS degree my first time (didn’t get in) but I figured it was worth a shot. The first time I applied my scores were mediocre. I had a decent GPA (nothing special) and a DAT score that was average, but could’ve been improved on. I received three interviews that year from Minnesota, Indiana and Marquette. I think that had my GPA and DAT score been higher I would have had a good chance of getting into Indiana. My Minnesota interview went horrible. I was waiting in the foyer when my interviewer came out and got me. It was my first interview so I was very nervous. I couldn’t believe it when she took me into the back coffee/break room and sat me down in some crappy old chair and poured herself a hot cup of Joe and asked “So, why not medical school?” After fumbling through that surprise question I knew it was going to go downhill from there and that premonition was set in stone when she ended the interview by saying, “Well thanks for coming out to interview here, but you should ‘keep shopping’.” (The ‘keep shopping’ was referring to me to ‘look for another school because there is no way we are accepting you.) After that debauchery I was more prepared for Indiana and Marquette. I nailed my Indiana interview and Marquette went well too. But come December 1st (the first official acceptance date for dental school) there was no love in my mail box. I didn’t get any love that year at all in fact, but it still was’t a waste of time or money.

It learned valuable information and some good experiences to help me the next year (what to do…what not to do) AND: IF I had been accepted than the monetary gamble would have been worth it.

After that application cycle was over I called the schools (not Minnesota, I knew why I hadn’t been accepted there) and asked what I could improve on for the following application cycle to make me a more viable applicant. They told me three things. GPA, DAT and the MOST important: Get that Bachelors degree. I took that information to heart and not only improved on all three of those things but I made the rest of my application shine as well. I became good friends with a couple of professors at my school (whom I still email on occasion) and had them write me a good (credible) letter of recommendation. I improved my AADSAS letter of intent and had three English majors edit the paper along with the professors who wrote my letter of recommendation. (If you have to pay the English major 20 bucks then do it…it is worth it). I also got my bachelors degree.

Even though Indiana re-interviewed me and re-denied me (interesting how that works) I was able to get accepted elsewhere and had more interviews the second time around than the first. In my situation it would have been difficult to get in to dental school without a degree.

In someone else’s situation it could be different. I personally am friends with several guys who got into school without a degree. Two of them had family on their side and the ones who didn’t had excellent scores (22+ DAT and 3.8+ cumulative and Science GPA) along with extracurricular activities, letters of recommendation, etc.

If you think you have a shot of getting in to dental school with out a degree than I would say take the chance. The only thing you have to lose is a couple thousand dollars and a lot of time. If you don’t get in then you gained valuable experiance.

Sit down and figure out which schools have a reputation of accepting people with out degrees. For example the University of Washington says that they do accept people without degrees but in bold they say “However it is highly recommended that you apply with a degree or with the intent of receiving your degree before you matriculate into dental school.” Many schools also want you to get your degree before a certain deadline the summer before dental school starts. Go to the schools websites, get on the phone and ask for additional information, etc. Cal the school and ask them to send you stats, application packets, school info, and anything else that would be of interest to a prospective applicant/student.

So to wind things up: Yes, you can apply with out a degree and for the most part it is a good risk, but make sure you apply to the right schools, have good scores, a good application and be aware that you may have to apply again the next year WITH a degree.