Applicants must complete one year of the following subjects: General Biology with lab, General Chemistry with lab, Organic Chemistry with lab and Physics with lab. Additionally, six to nine hours of English must be completed as well. The LSU Dental school also mandates that a total of 12 hours of biology coursework must be completed. While not required, recommended courses included Genetics, General Microbiology, Biochemistry, Developmental Zoology and Histology.
To be accepted to the College of Science, students must maintain an overall GPA of 2.0. Competitive applications for the Dental School have a GPA between 3.4 and 3.6. English, science and mathematics courses must be passed with a "C" grade or higher. Additionally, LSU maintains that a student's overall science GPA is the best indicator for success in the dental program. As such, accepted applicants have an average GPA of 3.6. While not a requirement, this is something future applicants should aim for.
The Dental Admission Test, or DAT, is a standardized test that all dental applicants must take before admission into the program. Based on a scoring system between 0 and 30, competitive applicants score 18 or higher in the various categories of the DAT.
Hand-eye coordination is a key component to any dentist, regardless of GPA or DAT scores, and the LSU Dental School takes this into consideration. Prospective applicants must score at least a 17 on the Perceptual Ability subtest of the DAT. Furthermore, during the interview process students must complete a chalk-carving test for the admissions committee.
Students must also submit letters of recommendation from science professors who have worked with the student in a classroom setting. LSU also recommends that students submit a letter of evaluation from the rre-professional committee at their school. At LSU, that committee is the Premedical/Predental Review Committee from the College of Science.