Apply to Dental Hygiene

Admission to the Dental Hygiene program is a competitive process and is separate from the student's admission to ETSU. A limited number of students are admitted annually. Please note that the program has one start date per year, and that is for the fall semester. Each applicant is evaluated on the basis of academic record and personal interview.

Our application is open January 15th to March 1st each year. Please read Application Process section below before applying.
Apply Here
*See bottom of this page for a video tutorial of the ADEA DHCAS application

Current ETSU Students: Schedule with Emily Here  

Prospecitve ETSU students, call 423-439-5051 to get scheduled with Emily. 

Candidate Admisson Eligibility

The ETSU Dental Hygiene program has 24 seats on ETSU main campus each fall semester.

Applicants must meet the minimum admission requirements: 

• Minimum college GPA of 3.0 or better on a 4.0 scale  
• Complete required prerequisites with a minimum grade of C or better
• 
  
  Complete ETSU's Compass Core requirements

ADEA DHCAS GPA Information

Prerequisites for the Program

If you are a transfer student and would like to see what courses might transfer over for ETSU, please refer to our Transfer Equivalency Table or contact our admissions team. 

Application Process

Note: During the 2024 application cycle, the Dental Hygiene program received 100 applications. The accepted class for fall 2024 had an average overall and science GPA of 3.9. 

• The Dental Hygiene program at East Tennessee State University utilizes the American Dental Education Association Dental Hygiene Centralized Application Service (ADEA DHCAS) for annual application submissions and opens January 15th every year.  
• Official college transcripts need to be submitted to the ADEA DHCAS. More information on transcript submission here. 
  
  
  
• Complete ADEA DHCAS application and all admission materials by March 1st. Please submit application materials between January 15th and March 1st to be considered for admission during the following fall semester. 
• Attend personal interview with the Dental Hygiene Admissions Committee. Note: Personal interviews are set up after applications are screened. Only the most competitive applicants will be contacted for an interview.

Selection Criteria

• Overall GPA - calculated at the end of the spring semester a student applies
• Science GPA - (consisting of A&P I, A&P II, Microbiology, and Chemistry) - calculated at the end of the spring semester a student applies
• Interview 
• Essay - prompt provided within the ADEA DHCAS application

Additional Criteria to Enhance Acceptance

All additional criteria is optional, but strongly encouraged and will need to be uploaded into the ADEA DHCAS application when it opens on January 15th.