Georgetown SMP - no predents?

[OriginalUsername]

I'm very interested in attending the SMP offered by Georgetown university, however this is stated on the program's website under the FAQ.

20. Do you accept pre-dental students?
"No, although some students decide to pursue dentistry following the program, and their performance does help increase their credentials."

I'm somewhat distraught by this. If I have a competitive GRE and GPA for the program then why should my goals of eventually going to dental school stop me from attending? I plan on making some calls later to try and possibly shed some light on the situation, but until then, does anyone here have experience regarding Georgetown's SMP? Did you know anyone in it who ended up going to dental school? Or any thoughts regarding what I could do regarding this situation?

Thanks!

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[bruwin2011]

I did the Georgetown SMP, and I don't know any one from my class, or the class above mine that went to dental school. 99% of us who graduated went on to medical school, or completely changed paths. I think the reason behind this is because it is more geared towards medical school with the classes (6 medical school classes) and course work, in addition to the guidance and support you received from the staff.

To be very honest, I would suggest not doing SMP if you want to go to dental school for a few reasons. a) it is extremely difficult to get a really good GPA out of the program. Georgetown has relationships with other medical schools/medical schools know what the SMP program is and recognize how hard it is to get a 3.5 GPA is. Dental schools might not recognize this, and will wonder why you don't have a 4.0 like all of the other post-bac/masters students b)the support issue- part of the 50K tuition is that you have a ton of support. They take care of letter writers/sending out transcripts, updates etc. They know how the admissions process works like the back of their hand and do everything to boost their success numbers by getting their students into medical school. As a pre-dent you will get some of this, however it probably wont be the same I think this could be frustrating. c) SMP is by far the most difficult academic environment you could be in, and being surrounded by crazy pre-meds is never fun lol

I suggest that you look and see if there are other SMP programs more towards dental school so that you can maximize the chance of getting in! I hope this helps!