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Why Pursue a Dental Early Acceptance

The Dental Early Acceptance Program (DEAP) is a partnership between the University of Texas at San Antonio and UT Health San Antonio (UTHSA) that provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to earn a Bachelor of Science in Biology from UTSA and a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from UTHSA within seven years.

In the 3+4 program, you’ll spend your first three years at UTSA majoring in biology. After you complete your program requirements at UTSA, you’ll then transfer to the UT Health School of Dentistry to finish the remaining four-year curriculum. Once complete, you’ll graduate with both a B.S. in Biology from UTSA and a D.D.S. from UTHSA that will prepare you for a career in dentistry. Learn more at DEAP.

UTSA Health Professions

Although UTSA does not offer degrees in any healthcare specialization, we have many students who are taking advantage by completing their required pre-requisite coursework before they apply to a specialized educational program.

If you are considering pursuing a career in the healthcare industry, the UTSA Health Professions Office can help you:

  • Make sure you are completing the required pre-requisite courses
  • Identify your areas of strength and opportunities for growth
  • Create goals that will support your application
  • Navigate the application process
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Admission Requirements

When you apply to UTSA, you select the major you'd like to study. The choice of major will not impact if you get admitted to the University (all students must meet UTSA's general admission requirements); however, some majors will require additional admission requirements to be able to declare the major your freshman year.

Pre-Dentistry: There are no additional admission requirements to pursue pre-dentistry at UTSA other than meeting DEAP requirements if interested.  Depending on your declared major while pursuing dentistry pre-requisites, you may be required to meet unique admissions requirements for your declared major. Please reference the degree program you intend to pursue for more details!

Please note that this is not a major you can apply for. UTSA helps students complete the pre-requisites to get into this field. This program is offered through UTSA’s Health Professions Office. In order to participate in this program, incoming freshmen must first contact the Health Professions Office to:

  • Be an admitted and enrolled student at UTSA
  • Have 12 but less than 30 college credit hours. Students exceeding 30 semester hours due to Advanced Placement or Dual Credit courses are reviewed on a case by case basis
  • Be able to complete at least 90 semester credit hours at UTSA prior to matriculation to the Dental School through DEAP
  • Be in good academic standing with an overall and science GPA at around 3.4 or higher
  • Be a Texas resident and U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident
  • Meet with a DEAP advisor from the Health Professions Office
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Scholarships

Pro Tip: Even if you don't think you will qualify for financial aid, you should still submit the FAFSA! Information from the FAFSA could impact certain scholarships that are even merit-based.

UTSA Scholarship Hub

Through one general scholarship application, you can automatically be considered for dozens of scholarships at UTSA, including scholarships that are available for this major. In order to access all available scholarship applications on the UTSA Scholarship Hub, you must be an admitted student. If you are a student applying for admission, but have not yet been admitted, you may sign in and complete the Scholarship Hub’s General Application as long as you have authenticated your myUTSA ID and Passphrase. Once you are admitted to UTSA, please sign back in to the Scholarship Hub to see if there are any additional scholarship opportunities available for you to pursue.

UTSA Scholarship Hub

Careers, Salary & Skills

UTSA prepares you for future careers that are in demand. See possible careers below. This data is pulled by a third-party tool called Emsi, which pulls data from sources like the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, online job postings, other government databases and more to give you regional and national career outlook related to this academic program. On top of the resources your college will provide, the University Career Center offers several resources to help students identify and develop the global skills necessary to successfully pursue and achieve lifelong career goals.

The Honors Experience

Realize your full potential at The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Honors College. Rooted in experiential learning, our classes and programs are hands-on, project-based, and customizable to fit your individual goals. Students in any majors can get invited to our Honors College. Turn your passions into marketable skills for the future!

Why Join Honors?