Dental School Acceptance Rates – 2024

August 22, 2024

dental school acceptance rates

Getting into dental school is far from easy. Most dental programs are quite competitive, though they vary in terms of acceptance rate, from closer to 3% (extremely low) to closer to 30% (much higher odds, though still not so easy). In general, dental school acceptance rate numbers depend on two main factors: 1) the size of the cohort a school is accepting, and 2) the volume of applications. In other words, dental school acceptance rates may be low because schools accept very small cohorts, or because they have a high volume of applications, or both. That said, don鈥檛 let these numbers intimidate you. If your application is strong, your odds are good.

Continue reading for information about dental school admissions across the U.S., including highlights for 10 excellent programs. The following information will focus on Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) and Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) programs (click here to read about DMD vs DDS programs), though many dental schools offer a variety of program options.

What makes a competitive dental school applicant?

Two important numbers that factor into the competitiveness of your dental application include your undergraduate Grade Point Average (GPA) and your Dental Admissions Test (DAT). These scores will influence where you have a greater chance of admission. In sum:

  • Undergraduate GPA: The first thing you will need when applying for dental school is an undergrad degree, from which you will list your GPA. As you can see from the average GPAs listed below, dental school programs (especially the ones with lower acceptance rates) tend to take applicants who have undergraduate GPAs higher than 3.5/4.0.
  • Dental Admissions Test (DAT): The is the dental-school-equivalent of the MCATs. Scored between 1 and 30, the DAT allows dental schools to assess applicants鈥 ability to succeed in their programs. The exam includes four parts: Natural Sciences, Perceptual Ability, Reading Comprehension, and Quantitative Reasoning. For a competitive score, you鈥檒l want to rank in the top 25% of test takers. In order to get into dental schools with very low acceptance rates, you should strive to score above 20.0 (and if possible, above 22.0).

What makes a competitive dental school applicant? (Continued)

Though your GPA and DAT scores are important, the application doesn鈥檛 end there. Here are a few more elements that dental schools will look at when assessing your application:

  • Job shadowing experience: Many dental programs require applicants to have significant experience shadowing dentists, in order to learn how different dental practices function. You can gain job shadowing experience by asking your own dentist to shadow, as well as for recommendations of others.
  • Undergraduate coursework: Dental schools often require prerequisites in biology, chemistry, physics, and English composition, among other academic areas.
  • Extracurriculars: Extracurricular activities (related or unrelated to dentistry) can demonstrate to dental schools that you鈥檙e a dedicated student and community member.

Continue reading for 10 featured dental school programs, followed by the acceptance rate, average GPA, and average DAT score for each U.S. dental school.

Dental School Acceptance Rates – Top 10 Schools

1)

Harvard鈥檚 dental program is known to be one of the most prestigious, and also the oldest (founded in 1867). It offers a wide range of graduate specializations, including dental public health, endodontics, orthodontics, and pediatric dentistry. Academic departments within the school include Oral Health Policy and Epidemiology, Restorative Dentistry and Biomaterials Sciences, and more. The program prepares students for leadership roles in dental education, practice, and research.

  • Location: Boston, Massachusetts
  • Annual tuition: $71,030
  • Acceptance rate: 3.18%
  • Average GPA: 3.7
  • Average DAT score: 22

2)

This school of dentistry offers degrees in six main categories: Doctor of Dental Surgery (4-year degree), Dental Hygiene (2鈥3-year degrees), Internationally Trained Dentist Program (2-year degree), Specialized Graduate Programs (1-3-year degrees), Oral Health Sciences PhD and Master鈥檚 (1-year degree), and Dual Degree Programs (combining DDS with MBA or Oral Health PhD programs). Throughout all of these programs, University of Michigan emphasizes community-based and collaborative education, sending many of its graduates to provide dental care to underserved populations throughout Michigan.

  • Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
  • Annual tuition: $59,256
  • Acceptance rate: 9.4%
  • Average GPA: 3.62
  • Average DAT score: 19.6

Dental School Acceptance Rates (Continued)

3)

Students, residents, and faculty at the UCSF School of Dentistry handle over 120,000 patient visits each year at the UCSF Dental Center, and students participate in numerous community-based externship sites throughout the state. The school well-known for oral and craniofacial research (with a ), and the school emphasizes its multidisciplinary approach to improving patient care.

  • Location: San Francisco, California
  • Annual tuition: $17,668 (in-state); $21,749 (out-of-state)
  • Acceptance rate: 6.44%
  • Average GPA: 3.66
  • Average DAT score: 22.8

4)听

With a wide variety of excellent educational programs supported by internationally recognized faculty, UCLA prepares its dental students to become leaders in the field. DDS students participate in required 8-week rotations in the , where they are exposed to real-world dental practice models among diverse communities of patients throughout 21 clinic sites.

  • Location: Los Angeles, California
  • Annual tuition: $49,465
  • Acceptance rate: 6.36%
  • Average GPA: 3.72
  • Average DAT score: 22.0

Dental School Acceptance Rates (Continued)

5)

The 4-year DMD program at UPenn offers flexibility for students to tailor their education to their professional interests and goals. For example, it offers dual-degree options with education, bioethics, bioengineering, public health, business administration, and law. Through honors programs, clinical experiences, community outreach, summer research opportunities, and training opportunities such as the , this program is ideal for those who strive to determine their own unique pathways in the dental field.

  • Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Annual tuition: $89,690
  • Acceptance rate: 6.1%
  • Average GPA: 3.75
  • Average DAT score: 22.4

6)

With an innovative curriculum and a number of dual degree programs (such as those with the Business School, School of Public Health, and Teachers College) this school is a top pick for many future dentists. For those specifically interested in global public health, Columbia University College of Dental Medicine has a history of providing dental services to underserved communities around the world.

  • Location: New York, New York
  • Annual tuition: $93,758
  • Acceptance rate: 5.86%
  • Average GPA: 3.7
  • Average DAT score: 23.0

Dental School Acceptance Rates (Continued)

7)

Adams School of Dentistry provides top-notch patient care while educating some of the best oral healthcare professionals in North Carolina and beyond. The DDS program follows its unique curriculum. This works in four phases: basecamp, foundations of practice, guided and advanced clinical practice, and individualization. Within each phase, students also engage with three streams of curricular content. Those are: biomedical sciences, clinical and behavioral sciences, and health systems sciences.

  • Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
  • Annual tuition: $35,609 (in-state); $62,124 (out-of-state)
  • Acceptance rate: 5.43%
  • Average GPA: 3.67
  • Average DAT score: 22.1

8)

This top dental school boasts a number of special programs, including which trains dentists to meet the needs of rural and underserved populations in Washington state.

  • Location: Seattle, Washington
  • Annual tuition: $61,352 (in-state); $98,135 (out-of-state)
  • Acceptance rate: 10.08%
  • Average GPA: 3.65
  • Average DAT score: 22.0

Dental School Acceptance Rates (Continued)

9)

Founded in 1965, NYU College of Dentistry is the third oldest and the largest dental school in the U.S. The program is a pioneer for dental research, advancing treatments while treating diverse communities of patients in NYC and worldwide. NYU鈥檚 DDS program combines extensive clinical practice with rigorous coursework in biomedical, behavioral, and clinical sciences, as well as the social issues related to public health.

  • Location: New York, New York
  • Annual tuition: $102,848
  • Acceptance rate: 11%
  • Average GPA: 3.5
  • Average DAT score: 21.0

10)

University of Iowa College of Dentistry takes a holistic approach to dental education, believing that dentists need more than technical skills. DDS students are also trained in critical thinking, professionalism, health promotion, cultural competency, interprofessional practice, and practice management. Iowa dental students begin clinical experiences in their first year, and participate in Iowa鈥檚 well-known student research programs, as well as .

  • Location: Iowa City, Iowa
  • Annual tuition: $58,889 (in-state); $84,027 (out-of-state)
  • Acceptance rate: 9.3%
  • Average GPA: 3.75%
  • Average DAT score: 21.0

Dental School Acceptance Rate by State

Continue reading for a compiled list of acceptance rates, average DAT scores, and average GPAs for DDS and DMD programs throughout the United States.

School by State Acceptance Rate Average DAT Score Average GPA
ALABAMA
University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry 6.4% 21.0 3.75
ARIZONA
A.T. Still University Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health 13.8% 19.6 3.43
Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine鈥擜rizona 6.2% 20.2 3.5
CALIFORNIA
California Northstate University College of Dental Medicine 6.0% 19.7 3.45
Loma Linda University School of Dentistry 8.4% 20.6 3.5
University of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry 6.36% 22.0 3.72
University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry 6.44% 22.8 3.66
University of the Pacific Dugoni School of Dentistry 7.03% 22.2 3.57
USC Ostrow School of Dentistry 6.1% 20.5 3.7
Western University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine 2.8% 20.3 3.43

Dental School Acceptance Rate (Continued)

COLORADO
University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine 3.77% 21.0 3.61
CONNECTICUT
University of Connecticut School of Dental Medicine 3.83% 21.7 3.71
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Howard University College of Dentistry 6.51% 18.0 3.2
FLORIDA
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine School of Dental Medicine 3.2% 20.3 3.58
Nova Southeastern University College of Dental Medicine 5.4% 20.8 3.53
University of Florida College of Dentistry 5.5% 22.0 3.82
GEORGIA
Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University 11.3% 21.0 3.66
ILLINOIS
Midwestern University College of Dental Medicine 6% 18.7 3.25
Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine 7.91% 19.9 3.66
University of Illinois Chicago College of Dentistry 5.08% 20.5 3.6

Dental School Acceptance Rate (Continued)

INDIANA
Indiana University School of Dentistry 8.58% 19.9 3.6
IOWA
The University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics 9.3% 21.0 3.75
KENTUCKY
University of Kentucky College of Dentistry 5.89% 20.3 3.6
University of Louisville School of Dentistry 6.17% 20.3 3.56
LOUISIANA
Louisiana State University Health New Orleans School of Dentistry 9.33% 21.5 3.6
MAINE
University of New England College of Dental Medicine 8.13% 19.3 3.48
MARYLAND
University of Maryland School of Dentistry 6.68% 21.9 3.6
MASSACHUSETTS
Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine 5% 19.6 3.44
Harvard School of Dental Medicine 3.18% 22.0 3.85
Tufts University School of Dental Medicine 5% 20.0 3.42
MICHIGAN
University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry 9.4% 19.6 3.62
University of Michigan School of Dentistry 6.7% 21.8 3.73

List Continued

MINNESOTA
University of Minnesota School of Dentistry 10.21% 20.9 3.67
MISSISSIPPI
University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Dentistry 29.4% 20.0 3.73
MISSOURI
A.T. Still University Missouri School of Dentistry & Oral Health 3.92% 18.9 3.5
University of Missouri, Kansas City School of Dentistry 12.8% 20.5 3.76
NEBRASKA
Creighton University School of Dentistry 5.76% 21.0 3.63
University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry 8.81% 20.1 3.67
NEVADA
University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Dental Medicine 8.8% 20.57 3.49
NEW JERSEY
Rutgers School of Dental Medicine 4.4% 22.0 3.6
NEW YORK
Columbia University College of Dental Medicine 5.86% 23.0 3.7
NYU College of Dentistry 11% 21.0 3.5
Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine 4.86% 22.3 3.77
Touro College of Dental Medicine at New York Medical College 4.5% 21.2 3.46
University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine 5.25% 21.0 3.75

List Continued

NORTH CAROLINA
East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine 15.8% 20.45 3.6
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Adams School of Dentistry 5.43% 22.1 3.67
OHIO
Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine 3.2% 20.9 3.6
The Ohio State University College of Dentistry 12.55% 21.0 3.65
OKLAHOMA
University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry 7.04% 20.3 3.63
OREGON
Oregon Health & Science University School of Dentistry 7.9% 3.71 20.3
PENNSYLVANIA
Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry 5.51% 21.1 3.51
University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine 6.1% 22.4 3.75
University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine 5.26% 21.3 3.71
PUERTO RICO
University of Puerto Rico School of Dental Medicine 10% 17.0 3.5
SOUTH CAROLINA
Medical University of South Carolina Edwards College of Dental Medicine 2.74% 20.0 3.65
TENNESSEE
Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry 2.9% 17.0 3.5
University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry 7.2% 20.0 3.6

Dental School Acceptance Rate (Continued)

TEXAS
Texas A&M University School of Dentistry 7.2% 22.0 3.69
UT Health Houston School of Dentistry 6.56% 21.4 3.78
UT Health San Antonio School of Dentistry 6.3% 20.7 3.52
UTAH
Roseman University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine鈥擲outh Jordan, Utah 4.78% 19.1 3.28
University of Utah School of Dentistry 10.44% 21.3 3.66
VIRGINIA
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry 4.4% 21.4 3.66
WASHINGTON
University of Washington School of Dentistry 10.08%

 

 

22.0 3.65
WEST VIRGINIA
West Virginia University School of Dentistry 5.63% 19.2 3.65
WISCONSIN
Marquette University School of Dentistry 4.4% 20.7 3.57

Dental School Acceptance Rate – Additional Resources

Hopefully you have found this information on dental school acceptance rates useful as you prepare your applications for DMD and DDS programs. For further reading on dental school, we recommend the following articles: