First-Year Dentistry Student Surprised by Superstar Scholarship

First-year VCU School of Dentistry student Bracken Curtis just laughs when asked if he’s following in family footsteps by pursuing a dental career. 

Four men in his family, including his dad, two uncles and his grandfather, are all dentists.  

Curtis, one of four children, has two older brothers. The oldest is at VCU, in the orthodontics program, while the other is at dental school in Iowa.  

His sister is the lone holdout, career-wise, he joked. 

Curtis, 24, isn’t sure yet what specialty dental field, if any, he wants to pursue. He’s not leaning toward any particular area and is giving himself time to let his interests develop organically over the next few years. He can afford to take his time, he said, thanks to a surprise from VCU.  

I wanted early clinical exposure and then increased access as you progress through years three and four of dental school. VCU stood out in that way.

Bracken Curtis

Curtis is the 2024 VCU Dental Care/Abrahamian Superstar Scholarship recipient. The scholarship, which was created in 2022 and is the largest in the School of Dentistry’s history, provides up to $50,000 a year for four years. It is the only scholarship awarded to VCU dental students before they begin their first year. 

Curtis is the third recipient.    

The scholarship came out of nowhere, he said, but it was just the first of several ways VCU would surprise him. 

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Everyone in Curtis’s family had their reasons for wanting to pursue dentistry. For him, it comes down to one thing: relationships.  

“I discovered that I love patient interaction — building relationships with people is something that I value a lot,” said Curtis last fall, a few months into his first year. Many people visit their dentists at least twice annually, Curtis said, so “dentistry allows you to build those relationships.”  

A graduate of Brigham Young University, Curtis said he started applying for dental schools and sought out VCU on the advice of his oldest brother. He also reached out to current students to gain insight into their experiences, and it did not take long for VCU to rise to the top of his list. 

He wanted a renowned program that prioritized hands-on experience.  

“I wanted early clinical exposure and then increased access as you progress through years three and four of dental school,” he said. “VCU stood out in that way — the didactic learning is great here, but there are a lot of chances to work hands-on and practice dentistry.”  

There were other motivations, too. 

Curtis’s wife, Bella, was seeking her master’s degree as a physician’s assistant. She applied to programs in the Richmond area.   

But as they began hearing from their respective programs elsewhere around the country in the fall of 2023, none of them felt like the right fit, Curtis said. By the end of that year, he still hadn’t heard from VCU.  

He wondered if he’d missed his opportunity. Then came an email in late January 2024 inviting him to an interview, which happened a week later. Two weeks after that, he got a phone call while sitting in class. It was a VCU School of Dentistry admissions official offering him a spot within VCU’s dentistry program.  

But that wasn’t the only news.  

“I didn’t even know the scholarship existed,” Curtis said, on learning he’d been chosen to receive the Superstar Scholarship. “VCU itself was enough to sell me, but the scholarship was just really surprising — I don’t know of any other dental schools that have a scholarship like that. I’m really grateful and humbled because I know that I’m surrounded by a lot of very qualified individuals at this school. It was exciting to feel valued in that way.” 

Lyndon Cooper, D.D.S., Ph.D., dean of the VCU School of Dentistry, said the Superstar Scholarship, which recognizes students who have the potential to be gifted clinicians, scholars and national leaders in their fields, is one more way that VCU stands out nationally among dental schools.  

VCU is the only dental school in Virginia. Annual applications top 2,000 for roughly 100 seats.   

“VCU’s reputation already attracts the best and the brightest students, but the Superstar Scholarship solidifies our commitment to advancing our field by educating tomorrow’s dental leaders,” Dean Cooper said. “Growing this fund means more students will have the opportunity to leave their mark and ultimately elevate oral health care for everyone.”  

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Curtis said he and his wife knew they made the right call when they packed up and moved 2,541 miles east to Richmond in the weeks before dental school started last August. Bella Curtis started her program at South University in January.  

“The best thing about the school year so far — and the thing I wasn’t expecting — was just how much I love this class,” Curtis said about his peers. None of his research into VCU prepared him for such an environment, he said. It was yet another pleasant surprise.   

“It’s one of those things you worry about before coming into such a competitive program where there are naturally academically competitive people,” he said. “But it’s been really easy to make friends and everybody’s just really supportive of each other and we’re all just trying to break down those barriers so we can get through this and get our degrees.”  

The scholarship allows him to focus on his dream dentistry career without the worry of financial burden.    

“Dental school is really expensive, and this helps ease some of that burden,” he said. “I’m just trying to do the best I can in school now and learn everything I can and then figure out what best suits me.” 

If you would like to support student scholarships at the VCU School of Dentistry, please contact Gloria Greiner-Callihan, associate dean for development, at gfcallihan@vcu.edu or 804-828-8101.