Prerequisite Courses
List of courses required, Advice for applicants

UFCD Application and Enrollment Requirements:

  • Students can submit their application before completing all prerequisite courses. Courses can be listed as “in progress” or “planned” on the ADEA AADSAS application.
  • All prerequisite courses must be completed by August 1 before starting dental school. However, preference is given to applicants who have completed all prerequisite courses by June before dental school begins.
  • All prerequisite courses must be completed with a letter grade of C or higher. No pass/fail credits are accepted if letter grades are available for the courses.
  • To simulate the dental school experience, taking in-person courses is strongly recommended for a competitive application.
  • Prerequisite courses must be taken at a regionally accredited college or university in the United States or Canada.
  • Credits will be accepted from community colleges for lower-level courses.
  • AP/IB credit is accepted if the courses are listed by the undergraduate institution as course-specific credit that is applied toward a bachelor’s degree on the official transcript.
  • Lower-level prerequisite courses:
    • English: 6 semester hours or 8 quarter hours
    • Biology: 8 semester hours or 12 quarter hours
    • General Chemistry: 8 semester hours or 12 quarter hours
    • Organic Chemistry: 8 semester hours or 12 quarter hours
    • Physics (with or without calculus): 8 semester hours or 12 quarter hours
  • Upper-level prerequisite courses that need to be successfully completed at a 4-year institution with 3000-4000 / 300-400 course numbers:
    • Microbiology: 3 semester hours or 4 quarter hours (upper-level coursework)
    • Biochemistry: 3 semester hours or 4 quarter hours (upper-level coursework)

Advice for completing prerequisites:

  • Prerequisite courses are specific to each dental school; therefore, when applying to multiple schools, visit individual websites to learn which courses are required.
  • For UF students ONLY: The UF Academic Advising Center has a list of UF courses that satisfy course requirements for UFCD.
  • ADEA AADSAS Course Subjects: These course subjects fall into categories that ADEA AADSAS uses to help calculate several GPAs.