HBCU Dental Schools: Howard and Meharry DDS Guide

Howard University College of Dentistry (HUCD) and Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry are the two HBCU dental schools granting the DDS degree. Both train clinicians to serve underserved populations and lead community oral health efforts, while operating in distinct clinical and regional settings.

If you are preparing your application or getting ready for an interview invitation, you can rehearse panel and one-on-one questions out loud with our dental school interview practice tool. Start your free week.

Located in Washington, D.C., Howard University College of Dentistry is the fifth oldest dental school in the nation, with clinics serving the community since 1881. Its mission is to provide education, service, and research that promote patient-centered, collaborative care and advocacy for the elimination of health disparities.

According to Howard's Doctor of Dental Surgery admissions page, the incoming predoctoral class size is 75-80 students. The Office of Admissions screens applications holistically, sends qualified files to faculty reviewers, and interviews 200-250 candidates per year between August and January.

You apply through the Associated American Dental Schools Application Service (AADSAS). The cycle opens in May and closes on February 1 of the entry year. Accepted students must finish a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited U.S. or Canadian college or university before enrollment, pass a Certiphi criminal background check, and submit a written acceptance with a $1,000 deposit.

For the Dental Admission Test (DAT), Howard accepts U.S. DAT and Canadian DAT scores that are no more than two years old. Applications are not reviewed without DAT scores, and the committee considers only your most recent score. Unofficial DAT scores may be emailed to HUCDAdmit@howard.edu while official scores process. For broader context on how these rules compare across U.S. programs, see our guide to dental school requirements.

• Minimum Science GPA for screening: 2.8 to be eligible for application screening.
• Competitive DAT scores: 18 Academic Average, 18 Total Science, and 20 Reading Comprehension.
• Required prerequisite semester hours (quarter hours in parentheses): English Composition and Literature 6 (9), Inorganic Chemistry with lab 8 (12), Organic Chemistry with lab 8 (12), Biochemistry 3 (5), Human Anatomy with lab 4 (6), Physics 8 (12), and Electives 22 (33).
• Recommended coursework: Physiology 4 semester hours (6 quarter hours), unless taken with Human Anatomy, and Microbiology 4 semester hours (6 quarter hours).
• Coursework policies: Online courses, introductory courses, AP credits, CLEP credits, and CR/S/P grades are not accepted for required courses (Pass/Fail was accepted only for Summer and Fall 2021 semesters).
• Key admissions dates: Take the DAT between May and July prior to your graduation year and submit AADSAS in August. Faculty review and interviews run August through January. First-round acceptances go out by email on December 1. Interim notifications for applicants not invited to interview go out in January, and the cycle closes February 1. Multiple-offer notifications go out April 1. Waitlist notifications go out April 15, and mandatory new student orientation takes place the third week of August.

Howard interviews are by invitation only and run from August through January until the class is full. Every invited applicant completes two separate conversations on interview day.

First, interviewees have a 25-30-minutes interview with an interviewing panel. Per Howard's DDS admissions page, the panel often consists of faculty, a student representative, and alumni, or two faculty members. Second, each student has an individual interview with the Director of Admissions.

Howard explicitly lists the personal interview alongside working or volunteering with underserved communities, work experience in dental settings, leadership, and community service as key selection factors. To prepare for both the panel and the Director of Admissions conversation, build specific stories around Howard's clinical and service footprint. You can also review common prompts across programs in our list of dental school interview questions.

Because your interview day includes both a multi-person panel and a one-on-one session with the Director of Admissions, plan how you will divide your examples so you do not repeat the exact same story word for word. In the panel, address the person who asked the question first, then make brief eye contact with the other panelists, whether they are faculty, a student representative, or alumni. In the Director of Admissions interview, be ready to discuss your academic readiness, your recent DAT performance, and how you documented your dental work experience and service to underserved communities in your AADSAS application.

• Team-based clinical modules: In Howard's clinics, students work with faculty at a 1:5 ratio and are paired with peers at their clinical level.
• Interprofessional collaboration: Dental students train alongside peers in Howard's pharmacy, medicine, and nursing programs, and rotate through Howard's postdoctoral clinics in Orthodontics, Pediatric Dentistry, and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.
• Local and international outreach: Students volunteer locally at Community Health Centers, Mission of Mercy, and Remote Area Medical (RAM) across the D.C. metropolitan area, and join faculty on international dental missions to Jamaica, Haiti, Guatemala, Sudan, and Tanzania.
• Research and leadership: Students conduct research at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), present at student table clinics, and organize the local health fair.

For high school seniors aiming directly for an HBCU dental degree, Howard offers a six-year B.S./D.D.S. Combined Education Program spanning the College of Arts and Sciences (Phase One) and the College of Dentistry (Phase Two). Students complete both degrees in six years instead of the traditional eight, earning the B.S. degree after the first two years and the D.D.S. degree upon finishing the full curriculum. See our guide to how long dental school takes.

Only students admitted to Howard University who matriculate into the College of Arts and Sciences in the fall semester immediately after high school graduation are eligible, and current freshmen or sophomores enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences may also be admitted to the program. Transfer students are not eligible. Admission to the College of Arts and Sciences does not automatically grant entry into the B.S./D.D.S. track. Final selection is mutually approved by the Preprofessional Advisory Committee of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Committee on Admissions of the College of Dentistry.

• B.S./D.D.S. high school preparation: Two or more years of foreign language (including literature), high school biology, chemistry, and physics, and mathematics (algebra, geometry, and trigonometry).
• B.S./D.D.S. minimums and deadline: Official high school transcripts showing at least a 3.5 GPA, official test scores with a minimum 26 ACT and 1950 SAT, two letters of recommendation (one from a science instructor and one from a high school counselor), a copy of your College of Arts and Sciences acceptance letter, and an essay demonstrating your interest in dentistry and service to people less privileged than yourself. Materials are due by March 1 to the Center for Preprofessional Education.
• International Dentist Program (IDP): Foreign-trained dentists apply through ADEA CAAPID by July 31 to join the third-year dental class (D3) for a two-year DDS track. The program admits up to 10 students per year and requires passing the NBDE Part I and II or the Integrated National Board Dental Examination (INBDE), a TOEFL score of 100 or higher, an ECE or WES evaluation, three letters of evaluation (one preferred from your dental school dean), and a $200 application fee.
• Certificate in Dental Hygiene: Established in 1934, Howard's two-year Dental Hygiene program requires an AS, AA, BS, or BA degree prior to enrollment, at least a 2.75 science GPA and 2.50 overall prerequisite GPA, and minimum 50% scores on the Math, Science, and English sections of the TEAS exam. Applications are due February 15 via the Common Application with a $45 fee.
• Postdoctoral specialty residencies: Howard offers CODA-accredited residencies in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (4 years), Orthodontics (2 years, founded in 1967 with over 200 graduates), Pediatric Dentistry (24 months, 6 positions per year, $43,912 tuition), General Practice Residency (1 year, 2 positions, $42,000 stipend, no tuition), and Advanced Education in General Dentistry (1 year).

Located in Nashville, Tennessee, Meharry Medical College is one of the nation's oldest historically Black academic health sciences centers and is celebrating 150 years of service under its motto, 'Worship of God Through Service to Mankind.' The School of Dentistry is one of five schools on campus, alongside the School of Medicine, School of Graduate Studies, School of Applied Computational Sciences, and School of Global Health.

Meharry's training model centers on 'Health Caring,' connecting research in social determinants of health, genomics, and precision health directly to clinical care for underserved populations. Dental students care for families at the campus dental clinic and through an expanding network of Meharry Medical Group clinics across Middle Tennessee.

Two signature service and pipeline programs highlight Meharry's community footprint:

• Wilda Seibert Adopt-A-Grandparent Program: Established nearly 30 years ago, this program provides free dental care to low-income seniors and has impacted more than 2,000 lives.
• G.O.A.L.S. (Go Out and Love Science): Operating for five years, this hands-on pipeline program introduces middle school students (including nearly 200 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders in a recent cohort) to careers in dentistry, medicine, and science.
• Confirming Meharry admissions details: Confirm current DDS class size, prerequisite tables, and interview day format directly in your ADEA AADSAS portal and your Meharry interview invitation email.

Our team put together this six-step preparation plan based on the selection criteria and timelines published by Howard and Meharry.

• Audit your prerequisite credits early: Verify that none of your required science or English courses were taken online, graded Pass/Fail (outside of Howard's Summer and Fall 2021 exception), or fulfilled through AP or CLEP credit. Make sure you have 4 semester hours of Human Anatomy with lab and 3 semester hours of Biochemistry on your transcript.
• Hit the Reading Comprehension target on the DAT: Howard lists a 20 in Reading Comprehension alongside an 18 Academic Average and 18 Total Science as competitive scores. Give reading comprehension timed practice equal weight with the natural sciences.
• Submit AADSAS in summer: Take the DAT between May and July and submit your AADSAS application in August so your file enters faculty review at the start of the August to January interview window.
• Document sustained service to underserved communities: Both schools evaluate your track record with underserved patients. In your AADSAS experiences section, log your clinical volunteering, community health fairs, or free clinic shifts with clear dates, supervisor contacts, and your exact chairside or outreach role so you can speak about specific patients and systemic barriers.
• Practice both panel and one-on-one interview dynamics: For Howard, rehearse answering a panel (faculty, a student representative, and alumni, or two faculty members) in a 25-30-minutes interview, followed by a focused second interview with the Director of Admissions.
• Connect your goals to each school's clinical model: Know the difference between Howard's 1:5 faculty-to-student clinical modules and D.C. / international mission trips and Meharry's Adopt-A-Grandparent senior care program and Middle Tennessee clinics.

Both Howard University College of Dentistry and Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry center their missions on eliminating health disparities and serving underserved communities. Tell us about a specific moment from your dental shadowing or community service when you saw a barrier to oral health care firsthand, and how that shapes why you want to train at an HBCU dental school.

• Howard University College of Dentistry: Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) Admissions
• Howard University College of Dentistry: B.S./D.D.S. Combined Education Program
• Howard University College of Dentistry: Student Affairs and Mission
• Howard University College of Dentistry: Programs and Admissions
• Howard University Graduate and Professional Bulletin (Dentistry Requirements and Programs)
• Meharry Medical College: School of Dentistry Overview