The University of Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry (UIC) encourages all predental and dental students to participate in mentoring. Mentoring can be instrumental in the career advancement or professional development of a student especially if provided by someone within the profession.

To assist UIC with providing mentoring opportunities for dental students, the UIC Mentorship Program was established in the Fall of 2002 in collaboration with the UIC College of Dentistry Alumni Association, the Chicago Dental Society and numerous professional dental organizations. The Mentors Program introduces students to dental professionals who are members of organized dentistry. The goal is to help students understand the context of future learning and to achieve personal growth and self-confidence while introducing them to the concerns and ideas that will be important in their careers.

To expand mentoring opportunities for underrepresented minority students and to increase the participation of minority dentists in UIC’s mentoring efforts, the Dental Pipeline Connections Program (DPCP) was established in 2006. The goal of the program is to identify and train mentors and mentees (students) how to engage in effective mentoring. Partners in the DPCP include University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago Dental Society, Lincoln Dental Society and the Greater Hispanic Dental Association.

With the support of the Illinois Children's Health Foundation, a similar mentoring program will be implemented for the IPDCC. The goal of the program is for predental students to develop relationships with dental students and practicing dentists. Therefore, this opportunity will afford predental students the option to experience another perspective, that of a dental student and practicing dentist. The program will initially target students participating in the IPDCC. The mentors will be identified through the UIC College of Dentistry partnering organized dentistry organizations. Both the predental students and mentors will be required to complete applications and participate in a mentoring orientation.

For further information regarding the Mentorship Program please contact, Millie Mendez, Director of Student Services, UIC College of Dentistry at lmendez@uic.edu

The IPDCC hopes that this application timeline will help you and your colleagues successfully plan for dental school. There is no right or wrong formula to follow other than being active and informed about the admissions process. Our goal is to provide you with the information and access to form relationships that will lead you to academic achievement.

Freshman/Sophomore Years

Work with your Prehealth Professions Advisors to

▪ Plan courses that will help you to prepare to apply to dental school
▪ Check out your career center’s dentistry-related resources
▪ Join a dental-related student organization to get exposure to the dental profession
▪ Consider job shadowing, volunteer experiences and mentoring opportunities
▪ Attend your college’s health-related career fairs
▪ Consider alternative career plans

Junior Year

Make sure you have taken, or will take, all required classes to apply to dental school

▪ Check with the specific dental school before you apply
▪ The UIC College of Dentistry Office of Admissions also suggests that students take at least three of the following upper level science courses or their equivalents and show evidence of high academic performance under heavy course loads. (Human Anatomy, Human Physiology, Histology, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Cell Biology)

Take the Dental Admissions Test (DAT)

▪ Since the DAT is computer-based, there is considerable flexibility in scheduling a time to take it. However, one should keep the following in mind:

▪ Most students take the DAT during spring semester of their junior year
▪ If you need to re-take the exam, you must wait at least 90 days

Apply for admission at least a year in advance

▪ Since the DAT is computer-based, there is considerable flexibility in scheduling a time to take it. However, one should keep the following in mind:

▪ Dental schools begin screening applications as early as June
▪ Apply through Associated American Dental Schools Application Service (AADSAS) by going to the www.adea.org website, click on "AADSAS", and open an account
▪ Gather letters of evaluation from faculty and others

Take the Dental Admissions Test (DAT)

▪ Since the DAT is computer-based, there is considerable flexibility in scheduling a time to take it. However, one should keep the following in mind:

▪ Most students take the DAT during spring semester of their junior year
▪ If you need to re-take the exam, you must wait at least 90 days

Senior Year

▪ Take advantage of "mock" interview practice provided by the Career Center staff before dental school admissions interviews
▪ Complete forms for financial aid

***References:
American Dental Association, www.ada.org, Applying to Dental School (Freshman-Senior Timeline).

For further information regarding admissions at UIC College of Dentistry, please contact Braulia Espinosa, Assistant Director of Admissions at bespin1@uic.edu

Through a partnership with the Chicago Dental Society (CDS), on February 22, 2008, the IPDCC launched it’s first meeting at the CDS Annual Midwinter Meetings. The “Kick-Off” event was a huge success! Approximately 110 PreDental students from the following 8 PreDental clubs participated: University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Chicago State University, Northwestern University, Benedictine University, Loyola University, DePaul University and the Illinois Institute of Technology.

The day started with brunch followed by a series of presentations on dental school admissions, mentoring and careers in dental. Ms. Ann Shorrock, Director of Admissions at UIC and moderator for the event, provided an overview of the dental school admissions process. Dr. Rhonna Cohen, Associate Professor at UIC and PreDental Advisor, discussed the value of PreDental clubs and preparing for dental school. Mentoring was the focus of Dr. Darryl Pendleton, Associate Dean for Student and Diversity Affairs at UIC presentation. Ms. Beverly Skoog, Career Guidance Programs Liaison at the American Dental Association spoke on the role of organized dentistry and programs to assist PreDental students, and Dr. Phillip Marucha, Professor and Associate Dean for Research at UIC, provided the students with an summary of Oral Health Sciences Research.

Due to the success of this event, IPDCC decided to implement a follow up event next year at the CDS 144th Midwinter Meeting as well asexplore opportunities for the 2009 Illinois State Dental Society Annual Meeting.

For further information regarding the IPDCC, please contact Darryl Pendleton, Associate Dean of Student and Diversity Affairs UIC College of Dentistry at dpendle@uic.edu.