Admissions Information

The Georgia Health Sciences University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity educational institution that prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, disability, gender, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, or status as a Vietnam War Era veteran. The GHSU College of Dental Medicine believes that a diverse student body enhances the educational opportunities for all students and is beneficial to the dental profession, the College of Dental Medicine, and the State of Georgia.

 Beginning with the entering 2012 class, the College of Dental Medicine will be accepting up to 5 percent of students from out of state.

Technical Standards
The Georgia Health Sciences University College of Dental Medicine is a state-assisted institution with the primary goal of educating dental health care providers for the citizens of Georgia. The ethical practice of dentistry requires intellectual ability, physical competence and personal responsibility. Therefore, all requirements for admissions to the School of Dentistry must be satisfactorily completed by each applicant. In addition to demonstrating personal characteristics appropriate for a career in a health care profession, qualification for admission and graduation requires satisfying the following general standards:

1. Sufficient intellectual capacity to fulfill the curricular requirements of the various required basic science and clinical courses;
2. Ability to communicate with patients, colleagues, faculty, staff and other members of the health care community;
3. Ability to learn and safely perform the technical skills required to complete the dental curriculum; and
4. Sufficient emotional stability and responsibility to withstand the stresses, uncertainties and changing circumstances that characterize the practice of dentistry.

Specific technical standards, based on clinical competencies and accreditation standards of the Commission on Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association, are available from the Office of Students, Admissions and Alumni.

Selection of a Career in Dentistry Should Be an Informed Decision
The selection of a career should be made after careful examination of the pros and cons of the field under consideration. Observing in the office of a general dentist is the best way to learn about dentistry, and the Student Admissions and Recruitment Committee recommends that applicants make arrangements to observe in the offices of one or more general dentists. While observing in a dentist 's office is not a requirement for admission, it is seen by the admissions committee as one measure of an applicant 's interest in dentistry as a career.

Dental Admission Test Requirements
All applicants for admission must have taken the Dental Admission Test (DAT) within two and a half years of application. Applicants for the 2012 entering class must have taken the DAT no earlier than June 1, 2009 and no later than September 30, 2011 to be eligible for the current admissions cycle.

Prospective students may take the computerized DAT whenever they like at a prometric center. However, each applicant may only take the test a total of three times before having to ask for special permission to take the exam again. After taking the exam an applicant must wait 90 days before taking it again. The cost for each exam is $320.

Registration for the DAT must be done through the American Dental Association (ADA). For further information and an application for the DAT, visit their website http://www.ada.org/dat.aspx or write to:

Dental Admission Testing Program
American Dental Association
211 East Chicago Avenue, Suite 600
Chicago, Illinois 60611

or call 1-800-232-1694

 

The American Dental Association's Department of Testing Services has recently published the 2011 Program Guide, offering assistance for the DAT test-takers. The Program Guide includes information on the history of the testing program, test content, test construction procedures, and the scoring and evaluation of the test. To view The Program guide click below.

http://www.ada.org/sections/educationAndCareers/pdfs/dat_examinee_guide.pdf

Test of English as a Foreign Language ( TOEFL)
Required if not born in the United States and native language is not English; cost $170 (fee subject to change).

The internet-based version of TOEFL (iBT TOEFL) is the only option available for current testers. The four-hour exam will cover all four language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. Applicants must achieve a minimum score of 100, with 26 in the speaking component. Test must be taken before Sept 30 deadline, 11 months before those accepted are due to enroll. Visit www.ets.org or call 1-609-771-7100.

To have your scores sent directly to the Georgia Health Sciences University, enter 5425, our TOEFL Institution Code, on the back of the admission ticket.

Recommendations

Three forms of letters of recommendation are required. A form is available to be completed by those who will serve as advocates for an applicant. One copy of the form is to be completed by a dentist. A second copy is to be completed by a college advisor, committee or instructor. A third copy is to be completed by an additional reference. This person can be another dentist, another college representative or a personal reference who can also offer comments about an applicant.

The applicants for entering 2012 class have two options for submitting letters of recommendations. 

Option 1: The first option, which is highly recommended, is to first submit his/her application to CDM. This will provide the three advocates that were listed on the application with the link to the reference form. The advocates are to complete the form and electronically submit it. This completed form will be retrieve by the CDM for review. However, through this method, those completing the form will not have access to the interactive version until the candidate's application has been submitted.

Option 2: The second option, which mostly will be used by those who have prematurely distributed the previous form to their advocates already and university committees who will be compiling comments on behalf of their students. In these option, the form can be printed, completed, and mailed to the Office of Student Admissions. After completing the initial reference form, those writing as advocates from colleges and university committees should attach it to all comments on the applicant's behalf and mailed to the Office of Student Admissions.

Reference Form   

Interviews
Interviews are also required; applicants are invited for interviews by the admissions committee following a review of each completed application. These interviews are with members of the College of Dental Medicine faculty who help assess the applicant 's personality, motivation and ability deemed pertinent to the successful study of dentistry. Once an applicant has been granted an interview they are expected to arrive at the CDM with one of the following documents for Lawful Presence Verification:

• A current drivers license or state-issued ID issued by the state of Georgia after January 1, 2008                      
• A current drivers license or state-issued ID issued by the state of Alabama after August 1, 2000 
• A Certified Birth Certificate. a photocopy is not acceptable


Lawful Presence Verification

In addition to the previous mentioned documents, there are several other forms that are acceptable by the CDM for Lawful Presence Verification. They can be found at: 

                        http://www.georgiahealth.edu/Admissions/Verification_of_Lawful_Presence.html

 

Final Admission Decisions
The admissions committee takes into consideration all aspects of an applicant 's background which might be relevant to the successful practice of dentistry, including unusual educational experiences or background, life experiences, work experiences, demonstrations of leadership in activities, involvement in community and extracurricular activities, and experience in an oral health care setting. The committee believes that students with diverse backgrounds are an asset to the College of Dental Medicine, the dental profession, and the State of Georgia. Final admission decisions are made based on the grade point average (both overall and in the sciences), DAT scores, letters of recommendation, interviews, other language test scores, as appropriate, and an assessment of the motivation and personal qualities of the applicant deemed most conducive to successfully completing the program and the practice of dentistry. Beginning with the entering 2012 class, the College of Dental Medicine will be accepting up to 5 percent of students from out of state.

 

GHSU does not participate in the Association of American Dental Schools Application Service (AADSAS).

Inquiries concerning admission should be sent to:

Office of Students, Admissions and Alumni
College of Dental Medicine
Georgia Health Sciences University
Augusta, Georgia 30912-1020
706/721-3587
Email: osaas@georgiahealth.edu