The university, in cooperation with the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, offers an accelerated program that enables selected students to earn a combined baccalaureate and dental degree after a minimum of seven years of study at the two institutions.
The program includes three academic years during which time credit hours are earned toward the baccalaureate degree. The next four years are spent in the regular program of dental education in Philadelphia.
During the first three years at Lehigh, students are expected to make satisfactory progress in the academic areas as well as in the areas of personal growth, developing those attributed ultimately needed to become a dentist. Students must maintain a minimum overall and science GPA of 3.5 throughout the three years at Lehigh and are required to take the Dental Admissions Test with a minimum of 18 in all subject areas.
The dental school reserved the right to withdraw an acceptance if academic or personal concerns cause the college to question a student’s ability to function as a dentist. The dental school also reserves the right to require that students spend additional time at Lehigh if the school feels that this is necessary to insure the student’s academic or personal maturation.
Application to the program occurs when a student applies to Lehigh University. The dental school takes action on the applicant in the spring of an academic year. Final decisions are forwarded to Lehigh University about March 20. The applicant is notified of joint acceptance by Lehigh University.