10 graduate from post-bac program
Ten students graduated from Texas A&M School of Dentistry’s Post-Baccalaureate Program June 18 and were granted automatic admission to dental school this fall.
Director of Student Development Dr. Kerin Burdette said the program has rigorous metrics, and only the best students are accepted. This year’s graduates were chosen from a candidate pool of 200.
“It’s an amazing group of individuals,” she said. “I’m so proud of the post-bac fellows. They worked so hard for an extra year to get into dental school. This is probably one of the most rewarding things I get to take part in.”
The post-bac program is a year-long opportunity for college graduates who wish to enter dental school but are a bit short on the proper qualifications. The program gives these graduates the chance to build a solid foundation in the knowledge required for dental school and a career in dentistry. It requires two summer sessions at Texas A&M School of Dentistry and two semesters of classes at UT Dallas.
“These fellows are just the students who needed a little bit of an extra push,” Burdette said. “That push could be improving their test scores, it could be taking additional upper-level science courses or it could be a combination of both.”
Post-bac graduate Ethan Castillo said the program helped set him up for success, and that “as long as you have patience and discipline, there’s really nothing left to stop you.”
Fellow graduate Jorge Garcia said he didn’t even know programs like the post-bac existed until a year ago, yet today it holds a special place in his heart. He said while the program helped him prepare for his future, it was the people he worked alongside that really made it special.
“Being there at the completion ceremony and sharing that special moment with my classmates, professors, parents and friends who each contributed in their own way to our education made me very happy,” he said. “The program itself is great, but it is the people in it that make it fulfilling. I couldn’t have been here without them.”
The graduates of the 2023-2024 Post-Baccalaureate Program are as follows:
- Alyssa Benitez
- Brianna Johnson
- Salma Canta
- Maria Lopez
- David Castaneda Picon
- Hanna Rodgers
- Ethan Castillo
- Stephanie Sanchez
- Jorge Garcia
- Karla Velazquez