Starting a Pre-Dental Club

[HenryH]

I e-mailed one of the advisors in the Biology department about starting a Pre-Dental Club, and he told me that I'd first have to find a national organization which I could begin a local chapter of (similar to the local AMSA chapter at my school).

I searched Google and couldn't find a single one. Does anyone else know of any nationally-incorporated dental organizations that I could start a chapter of?

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[MilDoc23]

I have no idea, however, my friend and I just started a predental society at boston college about a year ago. Again, it is not affiliated with or a chapter of a national student dental association.
It was quite a bureaucratic process though.

 

[Dr. Dai Phan]

I e-mailed one of the advisors in the Biology department about starting a Pre-Dental Club, and he told me that I'd first have to find a national organization which I could begin a local chapter of (similar to the local AMSA chapter at my school).

I searched Google and couldn't find a single one. Does anyone else know of any nationally-incorporated dental organizations that I could start a chapter of?

What are you trying to achieve by starting a dental club? I think there is a tremendous amount of information you can get from this site here. Come and see my Dentistry Mentoring Thread where you can get straight non-biased advices from many dental professionals. DP

 

[sicspeed]

Hey there HenryH

I would look into ASDA. They are a great organization, and have "chapters" that would allow you to start a pre-dental club. Good luck!

 

[Sbosu]

Im pretty sure Delta Delta Sigma (DDS get it..ha) which we have here at Ohio State is a nation organization with multiple chapters, check it out, i could be wrong though.

 

[MrTeeth]

Im pretty sure Delta Delta Sigma (DDS get it..ha) which we have here at Ohio State is a nation organization with multiple chapters, check it out, i could be wrong though.

I think that is a national organization because my school U of Washington also has Delta Delta Sigma, pre-dental club. You can try contacting the presidents or officers from those clubs and talk to them on how to get one set up at your school as well. Good luck!!

 

[djeffreyt]

At most schools you don't need a national organization to sponsor you. It's not like you are starting an homor society or a fraternity. Even most academic-related student organizations have no national association . rather than talk to a biology advisor, you might start by going to the student services and asking around. Most schools have a department that deals with student academic and special/shared-interest organizations. You should ask them what the process entails as, generally speaking, professors and advisors often don't know much about a school beyond their own little departments.

 

[HenryH]

Thanks for the informative responses from everyone.

I checked the website for ASDA, but the only local "chapters" they affiliate with are run by current dental students.

I checked into Delta Delta Sigma -- it sounds like a pretty good idea, but I don't know a thing about operating a "fraternity"; a pre-dental "club" is one thing, but I've never stepped foot into a fraternity house.

Djeffreyt: I think you're right about contacting the university's student affairs/organizations office instead of going through an advisor, because the advisor is very adamant about only starting chapters of national, pre-established organizations. Further, he also claims that he (or another Biology advisor) would have to be an advisor to the club.

Besides -- other than ASDA and Delta Delta Sigma, I haven't stumbled across a single other nationally-organized dental club.

 

[reapply2007]

For a small fee you can become a local branch of the reapply2007 society. Very select membership but great perks.

I also suggest calling your state dental association. Perhaps you could become affiliated through them as a student organization.

 

[djeffreyt]

Thanks for the informative responses from everyone.

I checked the website for ASDA, but the only local "chapters" they affiliate with are run by current dental students.

I checked into Delta Delta Sigma -- it sounds like a pretty good idea, but I don't know a thing about operating a "fraternity"; a pre-dental "club" is one thing, but I've never stepped foot into a fraternity house.

Djeffreyt: I think you're right about contacting the university's student affairs/organizations office instead of going through an advisor, because the advisor is very adamant about only starting chapters of national, pre-established organizations. Further, he also claims that he (or another Biology advisor) would have to be an advisor to the club.

Besides -- other than ASDA and Delta Delta Sigma, I haven't stumbled across a single other nationally-organized dental club.

It's different at every school. Some schools do need a faculty member to sign off on the student organization IF IT IS AN ACADEMIC ORGANIZATION but usually that's not the case if it is a, say, Kayaking Club. At the school I went to, they broke student organization into several varietys. The academic ones required advisors, but they also got little perks, like extra $ from the Associated Student Body for activities.

Anyways, good luck on this...it's not easy to do what you're about to undertake, but if you can find a small core of people to work with who also want to start a club, you should be able to do it.