Accelerated 7-Year Bachelor of Arts (Chemistry) to Doctor of Dental Surgery Program (BA-DDS)

Description

University of Detroit Mercy offers a special academic program which enables highly qualified applicants to earn a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in addition to the baccalaureate degree in seven calendar years, rather than in the traditional eight years.

The selected students in the 7-Year BA CHEM/DDS Program spend most of the first three years at the McNichols Campus doing pre-dental studies in the College of Engineering & Science. The last four years are in the School of Dentistry.

In addition to the basic science courses required of all dental school applicants, 7-Year Program students must meet all of the requirements of the University Core Curriculum. This includes course work in speech, English, mathematics, religious studies, philosophy, history and culture, ethics, and social responsibility. They are also required to participate in a two-week orientation to dentistry in the summer after the first year, and two courses at the dental school in year three.

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  • Program Learning Outcomes

    Please review the catalog page for BA Chemistry and the Academic Policies Handbook for DDS for the Program Learning Outcomes.
  • Eligibility

    Only high school graduates of the months immediately preceding the beginning of undergraduate study at University of Detroit Mercy are eligible for consideration as a program participant. Transfer students or students who have already begun coursework at Detroit Mercy are ineligible.

    Once admitted, a program participant must be enrolled as a full-time student in each regular semester, including a two-week course at the Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry at the end of the Winter semester (beginning of the Summer) in year one of the program. All necessary undergraduate coursework must be completed at the McNichols Campus within the three calendar years immediately prior to the beginning of the formal dental school phase of the program.

    Students successfully completing all requirements of the program will be granted the bachelor of arts degree with a major in Chemistry and the Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. The bachelor of arts is awarded after the required credits at the Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry are completed to fulfill remaining undergraduate requirements.

  • Admissions Requirements

    The Selection Committee will consider for acceptance into the program an applicant who has met ALL of the following basic criteria:

    • Has been accepted for admission as a freshman student at University of Detroit Mercy.
    • Has submitted to the Admissions Office, following acceptance as a freshman student, a 350-400 word personal essay on a topic supplied at the time of application.
    • Has two letters of recommendation addressing the candidate's qualifications for the program.
    • Has achieved a high school ACT composite score of at least 28 (min of 26 on each subsection), or a combined SAT score of at least 1300 (min of 620 on ERW, min of 610 MATH), not super-scored. Applicants applying under the test-optional policy are eligible to apply. The average cumulative unweighted high school GPA for matriculants was a 3.85 and the average cumulative weighted high school GPA was a 4.14.
    • Has earned for the first six semesters of high school a grade point average of 3.5 overall on a 4.0 point scale, and the same for the combined mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology courses.
    • Has directed the high school office to supply to the Admissions Office an up-to-date high school transcript by January 15 of the application year.

    Applicants who have satisfied the above requirements will be reviewed by the 7-Year Dental Selection Committee. The Selection Committee will make the final determination on the limited number of students accepted into the program.

    Students accepted into the program should complete 25 hours of dentistry observation/shadowing, before starting courses at Detroit Mercy.

    An applicant will be eligible for admission to the dental school phase of study following the successful completion of all aspects of the initial three years of the program. This includes:

    • Successful completion of all required courses
    • Overall GPA of 3.6 or better, and science GPA of 3.5 or better
    • Scores of 20 or better on all sections of the DAT (the Dental Admission Test, the national standardized examination required of all applicants for admission to professional schools of dentistry) prior to August 1 in the second summer of the program
    • Complete at least 60 hours of shadowing with a U.S./Canada-based general dentist
    • Successful completion of AADSAS application prior to  August 1 in the second summer of the program and interview with Detroit Mercy's Dental School Admission's Committee
  • Application Procedures

    See the website for Detroit Mercy Admissions for the dates for early and regular submission of applications. All who are interested in being considered for admission into the 7-Year Program should specifically and clearly indicate this at the time they submit their applications for admission as entering freshmen into the University's College of Engineering & Science. Applications for the program are to be sent to the office of Undergraduate Admissions at the McNichols Campus, not to the program coordinator nor to the School of Dentistry.

    The student's overall application, essay, and interview will be used to determine which students are accepted into the limited number of seats in the program.

  • Bachelor Program Requirements - Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Chemistry (120 credits)

    Science Courses

    • CHM 1070 General Chemistry I (3 credits)
    • CHM 1100 General Chemistry Lab I (1 credit)
    • CHM 1080 General Chemistry II (3 credits)
    • CHM 1120 General Chemistry Lab II (1 credit)
    • CHM 2270 Organic Chemistry I (3 credits)
    • CHM 2250 Organic Chemistry Lab I (1 credit)
    • CHM 2290 Organic Chemistry II (3 credits)
    • CHM 2310 Advanced Organic and Inorganic Synthetic Laboratory (1 credit)
    • CHM 3200 Computers in Chemistry and Molecular Modeling (1 credit)
    • CHM 3330 Physical Chemistry Lab I (1 credit)
    • CHM 3410 Chemical Thermodynamics and Applications (3 credits)
    • CHM 3420 Chemical Dynamics and Quantum Chemistry (3 credits)
    • CHM 3870 Analytical Chemistry (3 credits)
    • CHM 3880 Analytical Chemistry Lab (1 credit)
    • CHM 4710 Biochemistry I (3 credits)
    • CHM 4720 Biochemistry II (3 credits)
    • CHM 4740 Recent Advances in Chemistry and Biochemistry (3 credits)
    • CHM 4990 Chemistry Senior Assessment (0 credits)
    • One upper-level Chemistry course from the following:
      • CHM 4750 Biochemistry Laboratory (1 credit)
      • CHM 4010 Inorganic Chemistry (3 credits)
      • CHM 4600 Medicinal Chemistry & Drug Discovery (3 credits)
      • CHM 4810 and CHM 4830 Instrumental Analysis (3 credits) & Instrumental Analysis Laboratory (1 credit)
    • BIO 1200 General Biology I (3 credits)
    • BIO 1210 General Biology Lab I (2 credits)
    • BIO 1220 General Biology II (3 credits)
    • BIO 1230 General Biology Lab II (2 credits)
    • BIO 4210 Microbiology (3 credits)
    • BIO 4630 Physiology (3 credits)
    • PHY 1300 Physics I (3 credits)
    • PHY 1310 Physics Lab I (1 credit)
    • PHY 1320 Physics II (3 credits)
    • DENT 1000 Introduction to Dentistry (0 credits)
    • DENT 3000 Integrated Biomedical Science I (3 credits)
    • DENT 3010 Integrated Biomedical Science II (3 credits)

    Additional Required Courses

    • MTH 1410 Calculus and Analytical Geometry I (4 credits)
    • MTH 1420 Calculus and Analytical Geometry II (4 credits)
    • PYC 1000 Introduction to Psychology (3 credits)
    • SOC 1000 Introduction to Sociology (3 credits)

    Students are encouraged to submit transcripts or test scores from Advanced Placement, dual enrollment, International Baccalaureate, etc.  In some cases, these will be transferred in. Pre-requisite courses required for admission to the School of Dentistry should be completed at a four-year institution and not a community college.

  • University Core Curriculum

    In addition to the courses required for this program listed above, the student must also fulfill the requirements of the University Core Curriculum for this program. Some of these courses may be satisfied by courses in your program. 

    Students in this Accelerated 7-Year BA-CHM/DDS program who complete their degree by transferring back credits from Detroit Mercy's dental school have been granted two core course exemptions:

    Core E1, E2*, E3 - one course may be waived.

    Core D3, IT3, IT4, IT5 - one course may be waived.

    Please review your Degree Evaluation or consult your academic advisor for more information.

    *E2 may be waived if a student has taken ENL 1300 and ENL 1310 (six semester hours of English are required).

  • Optional Concentration-BA Chemistry Research

    The Research Concentration within the B.A. Chemistry major is designed for students who are interested in pursuing further research in graduate school or careers in industry, medicine, and science education. A research concentration will offer students an opportunity to read and explore scientific literature, develop hypotheses, design and implement experiments, collect and analyze data and communicate their findings. The Research Concentration involves both course-based research experiences and mentored laboratory research experiences. Students will gain experience problem solving by using the scientific method.

    The concentration is a minimum of 9 credits and must include six credit hours from courses 3000+ level or higher.

    Inquiry-based laboratory or course-based undergraduate research experience (at least 2 credits)

    • BIO 1040 – Fundamentals of Bioinformatics (3 credits) 
    • BIO 2710 – Genetics Laboratory (2 credits) 
    • BIO 3201 – Applied Metagenomics (3 credits) 
    • BIO 3510 – Histology Laboratory (2 credits) 
    • BIO 3950 – Advanced Microbial Phage Genomics: SEA GENES (4 credits) 
    • BIO 4490 – Ecology Laboratory (2 credits) 
    • BIO 4640 – Physiology Laboratory (2 credits) 
    • BIO 4750 – Cell and Molecular Biology Laboratory (2 credits) 
    • CHM 1150 – Research in Chemistry Lab (1 credit) 
    • CHM 1980 – Introduction to Research Methods in Chemistry and Biochemistry (1 credit) 
    • CHM 4750 Biochemistry Laboratory (1 credit) 
    • CHM 4830 – Quantitative Analysis Laboratory (1 credit)

    Note-Another laboratory course could be acceptable if it has the research attribute.

    Laboratory Research (3-8 credits):

    Each student must take two (2) academic semesters and/or summers of mentored research and it must include the preparation and presentation of a thesis.

    • BIO 4920 (1-2 credits): Directed Studies: Laboratory Research
    • BIO 4930 (1-2 credits): Directed Studies: Advanced Laboratory Research
    • SCIE 4998 (0-1.5 credits): Undergraduate Research Thesis I
    • SCIE 4999 (0-1.5 credits): Undergraduate Research Thesis II
    -OR-
    • CHM 3980 (1-2 credits): Introduction to Undergraduate Research
    • CHM 4980 (1-2 credits): Undergraduate Research
    • SCIE 4998 (0-1.5 credits): Undergraduate Research Thesis I
    • SCIE 4999 (0-1.5 credits): Undergraduate Research Thesis II 
    -OR-
    • SCIE 4980 (0 credits): Undergraduate Research 
    • SCIE 4998 (0-1.5 credits): Undergraduate Research Thesis I
    • SCIE 4999 (0-1.5 credits): Undergraduate Research Thesis II
    -OR-
    • HON 4997 (1 credit): Honors Thesis Proposal
    • HON 4998 (1 credit): Honors Thesis Approval
    • HON 4999 (1 credit): Honors Thesis Defense 

    Research Portfolio (0 credits, Pass/Fail):

    Each student must prepare and submit a research portfolio containing the products from each of the courses in the research concentration. These include the presentations, reports, posters, research proposal, research reflections, final thesis, and final presentation. The research portfolio is the full story of the student's research trajectory and achievements. The portfolio is evaluated by the Research Concentration Committee.

     Total Credits: 9 credits

    Contact Kendra Evans, Ph.D., (kendrakr@udmercy.edu) for more information.

  • Dental School Courses Required to Complete BA-Chemistry degree

    Note that the bachelor degree is awarded after the completion of additional coursework from Detroit Mercy's School of Dentistry (after one or two semesters of coursework). These courses will be double-counted towards the DDS and BA degrees and will be used to complete remaining BA Chemistry requirements.

Program Contact Information

Program Coordinator: Elizabeth Roberts-Kirchhoff, Ph.D.
Engineering 245
Telephone: 313-993-1021
Email: robkires@udmercy.edu