PROFILE FOR SUCCESS is a 4 week on-campus residential program to prepare you to be successful on the Dental Admission Test (DAT) and increase your understanding of career options within dentistry. All academic activities will occur at the School of Dentistry during the month of June. Tuition will be waved and a stipend to assist with expenses and transportation to campus is available for qualified individuals. The program includes the following components:

Dental Admissions Test (DAT) Preparation
In cooperation with the local branch of the Kaplan Educational Centers, this course is designed to 1) strengthen your background in each subject area, 2) prepare you for the types of questions asked and 3) develop your test-taking skills. Study group activities facilitated by dental students will help you study effectively for the DAT.

Dental Specialities
Formally organized within the weekly schedule are one-hour discussions led by dentists describing their area of dentistry.

Hands-On Experience
You will participate in "hands-on" experiences in the preclinical laboratory selected to closely simulate activities in clinical practice. These will include cavity preparation on plastic teeth, impression taking and forming dental casts, exposing and processing radiographs and waxing.

Mentoring
You will be assigned dental student mentors (third and fourth year students) who will orient you to the School of Dentistry and the University of Michigan. You will observe your student mentor in the dental school clinics.

Seminars
Seminars on admission procedures common to most dental schools, mock interviews, personal statement, and student research programs are also scheduled.

Who Can Participate?
Junior and Senior students from a disadvantaged background, which means a person who a) comes from an environment that has inhibited the individual from obtaining the knowlege, skills, and abilities to succeed in a health professions school or comes from a program providing education or training in an allied health profession; or b) comes from a family with an income below a level based on low-income thresholds according to family size, published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Students who meet the following criteria may be eligible for this program:

1. Have not taken the Dental Admissions Test, or have taken it and achieved scores of 12 to 17 on either the Academic Average or the Perceptual Abilities sections of the test,
2. Have completed two courses or eight semester-hours each of college level biology, inorganic and organic chemistry, one course of college algebra and trigonometry, and
3. Have an established college Grade Point Average above a 2.00 on a 4-point scale.

For more information about this program, please contact the Multicultural Affairs Office at mca.dent@umich.edu.

UMSD Admissions Page

PFS application