2027 Entry Requirements & Interview Format
Adelaide University School of Dentistry in Adelaide, SA runs a school-leaver dentistry program for 2027 entry. Admission tests listed: UCAT-ANZ. Adelaide Dental holds multiple mini interviews (MMI). Decisions for 2027 entry: January 2027.
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Step-by-step: entry requirements, admission-test prep, personal statement, interview format and the key deadlines.
Open the guide →Format breakdown, school-specific sample questions, FAQs and prep tips from tutors who interviewed here.
Read the guide →Integrated + Case-based learning, 5 years (undergraduate entry), placements in Adelaide, rural South Australia, Canberra, Tasmania and Wyong (NSW).
See the course →Adelaide University delivers South Australia's only dental program — a 5-year, full-time-only undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) taught at the Adelaide City Campus (North Terrace) and anchored at the Adelaide Dental Hospital, selected on UCAT-ANZ and then an online MMI. The university was formed in January 2026 from the merger of the University of Adelaide and UniSA.
Adelaide runs South Australia's only dental school (est. 1920) as a 5-year undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS). Co-located with the Adelaide Dental Hospital — one of Australia's oldest dental teaching hospitals.
Adelaide University, formed in January 2026 from the merger of the University of Adelaide and UniSA, now delivers the BDS under SATAC code ABP116; applications for 2027 entry are open (SATAC applications 3 August - 30 September 2026, offers from January 2027).
Integrated curriculum. 5-year undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS). Taught at the Adelaide City Campus (North Terrace), with compulsory clinical placements from first year across hospital-based, community, rural and interstate settings, alongside simulation work in the Dental Simulation Clinic and clinics at Adelaide Dental Hospital. These placements may extend beyond the academic year and can include after-hours and weekend work.
The dental programme states that because of its highly integrated curriculum no credit or recognition of prior learning is available and all students must begin in Year 1. Interview format: MMI with minimum 6 stations × 10 minutes each.
The program is delivered by Adelaide University, formed in January 2026 from the merger of the University of Adelaide and UniSA, under SATAC code ABP116. The 2027-entry cycle is open: SATAC applications 3 August - 30 September 2026, interviews late November to December 2026, offers from January 2027.
Adelaide Dental is strong in these research areas:
Format: Multi-Mini Interview, domestic applicants (minimum 6 stations × 10 minutes, one interviewer per station, online via Zoom; Adelaide notes the format is reviewed each cycle and may change)
Adelaide Dental uses an MMI with a minimum of 6 stations × 10 minutes each for domestic applicants (who apply via SATAC).
International applicants apply via Adelaide's International Application System and sit a shorter structure — at least two stations of up to 10 minutes for a single-preference applicant (one scenario station plus one questions station), with up to four interviewers for applicants holding multiple preferences; ~100 are invited, and their offers are ranked hierarchically (interview first, then UCAT-ANZ, then academic) rather than on the domestic 40/40/20 split., Each station is led by one trained interviewer drawn from Adelaide University employees, academic titleholders, dental program alumni, health professionals and members of the wider community.
The published assessment criteria are problem solving, communication skills, teamwork, empathy, integrity, preparedness for the program, cultural awareness and motivation to do the program. Manual dexterity is not an interview criterion; fine and gross motor skills appear only in the separate Inherent Requirements statement.
All interviews are held over Zoom — there is no in-person, telephone or alternative-platform option, and requests for one are declined. Timeslots are booked first-come-first-served in the Admissions@Adelaide system and are scheduled in Adelaide time; arriving late ends the application, and no rescheduling is considered once the booking system closes.
Applicants must sit in a private location, must not communicate with anyone during the interview and must not access notes of any kind; breaching these conditions makes you ineligible for an offer. Admission offer weighting: Academic 40% + UCAT 20% + Interview 40%.
Adelaide University no longer publishes a BDS place count; its mandated student profile (SATAC code ABP116) records 76 students commencing the BDS in Semester 1 2026, of whom 29 were international — roughly 45-47 domestic. Approximately 300 applicants are invited to a domestic interview, with a minimum 50% of school-leaver invitations going to South Australians, and approximately 100 international applicants are invited. Bachelor of Oral Health (separate program): 28 commencing students in Semester 1 2026 (0 international), ~90 interviews.
Adelaide University School of Dentistry was founded in 1920 and is based in Adelaide.
Programmes offered:
These are real recordings of the interviewers you would meet, from a panel of 17 photoreal faces. Speak your answers out loud, get pressed with follow-ups, and receive rubric-scored feedback about two minutes after you finish, with a replay of your answers.
Try the AI interviewer| Entry pathway | Undergraduate (school-leaver) entry |
|---|---|
| ATAR | Minimum adjusted ATAR-equivalent selection rank of 90.00 for eligibility (selection rank = ATAR plus any adjustment factors) |
| UCAT-ANZ | the official UCAT-ANZ 2026 sitting (2027 entry, 17,341 candidates) had a Total Cognitive mean of 1,964/2700, a median of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340 |
| Interview format | Multiple mini interviews (MMI) |
| Decisions (2027 entry) | January 2027 |
| Admission overview | Adjusted ATAR-equivalent selection rank of 90.00+ for minimum eligibility (Adelaide University states it does not disclose ATAR cut-off scores, and its published ATAR profile for the Semester 1 2026 intake shows '<5' in every cell) plus UCAT-ANZ plus an online MMI; SACE Stage 2 prerequisites are one of Chemistry, Mathematical Methods, Specialist Mathematics or Physics PLUS one of Biology, Earth and Environmental Science, Chemistry or Physics — English is assumed knowledge, not a prerequisite; rural-background (approximately four reserved places) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathways available. |
|---|---|
| ATAR | Minimum adjusted ATAR-equivalent selection rank of 90.00 for eligibility (selection rank = ATAR plus any adjustment factors). Adelaide University says the ATAR actually required is 'typically much higher' but explicitly does not disclose cut-off scores from previous years, and its published ATAR profile for the Semester 1 2026 intake reports fewer than five ATAR-based offers ('<5' in every cell), so no lowest or median rank is available. No 98-99 figure is published by any primary source. |
| Contextual ATAR | Adjustment factors are applied through SATAC — the Universities Equity Scheme, plus subject adjustment factors under the Universities Language, Literacy and Mathematics Scheme. The published ATAR profile reports both raw ATAR and Selection Rank (ATAR plus any adjustment factors). |
| UCAT-ANZ | UCAT-ANZ alone ranks applicants for interview invitation (Sections 1-3 equally weighted; the Situational Judgement Test is used only to split tied candidates at the lower end). Adelaide University publishes no cut-off and states it 'will not comment on the competitiveness of your score'. For scale only — these are whole-cohort UCAT-ANZ figures, not an Adelaide threshold — the official UCAT-ANZ 2026 sitting (2027 entry, 17,341 candidates) had a Total Cognitive mean of 1,964/2700, a median of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340. Offers are then ranked Interview 40% + Academic 40% + UCAT-ANZ 20%. |
| Place types | Adelaide University does not publish a place count; its student profile shows 76 students commencing the BDS in Semester 1 2026, 29 of them international (roughly 45-47 domestic). ~300 applicants are invited to a domestic interview (minimum 50% of school-leaver invitations to South Australians) and ~100 international applicants. Bachelor of Oral Health (separate program): 28 commencing students in Semester 1 2026, ~90 interviews. |
| Indigenous pathway | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pathway — the Adelaide dental program allocates a number of places specifically to this pathway (quota not disclosed). Applicants apply through SATAC with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statutory Declaration uploaded within five working days, and are exempt from UCAT-ANZ. Every eligible applicant is interviewed, by a panel of three to four academics, clinicians and alumni (largely Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander panellists) for around 20 minutes, preceded by an informal yarn. |
| Bonded / rural | No bonded places — the Commonwealth Bonded Medical Program provides a Commonwealth Supported Place in a medical course only (universities must allocate 28.5% of commencing medical CSPs to it) and has no dental stream. Adelaide University reserves approximately four BDS places for rural-background applicants who have lived in a Modified Monash Model (MMM 2019) MM 2-7 area for at least five consecutive years or ten years cumulatively; they must still sit UCAT-ANZ, apply through SATAC, and upload a Rural Entry Pathway Statutory Declaration within five days of lodgement. |
| Specialities offered | Oral Surgery, Orthodontics, Public Dental Health, Indigenous Oral Health, Restorative Dentistry |
Working towards the UCAT score Adelaide Dental expects? Build a week-by-week plan from your test date — free for the first two weeks.
| Format | Multi-Mini Interview, domestic applicants (minimum 6 stations × 10 minutes, one interviewer per station, online via Zoom; Adelaide notes the format is reviewed each cycle and may change) |
|---|---|
| Interview window (2027 entry) | Late November to December 2026 for 2027 entry, plus a separate Northern Community Care stream round in late January 2027 (eligibility notified January 2027). Adelaide lists this stream only in its key-dates table and publishes no eligibility criteria or application route for it. |
| Decision date (2027 entry) | January 2027 |
| Post-interview chances | Adelaide University does not publish an interview-to-offer rate. As a rough indication only, ~300 domestic interview invitations sit against roughly 45-47 domestic students commencing in Semester 1 2026 — about 15% — but this is a commencement ratio, not an offer rate, and the same interview also covers applicants whose eligible preferences include the Bachelor of Medical Studies or Bachelor of Oral Health. |
Adelaide is an MMI school, not a panel school — a minimum of six 10-minute stations, one interviewer each, all delivered over Zoom, so rehearse station-timed answers to camera rather than long conversational interviews. Interview invitations are ranked on UCAT-ANZ performance alone, with Sections 1-3 equally weighted; Adelaide states explicitly that invitations 'do not consider an applicant's academic record', which makes UCAT the single highest-leverage activity. Your academic score carries weight only at the offer stage, where the published split is Interview 40% / Academic 40% / UCAT-ANZ 20%. Adelaide also cautions that interview content and conduct are reviewed and may change from year to year, so confirm the station count for your own cycle. The Adelaide Dental Hospital placement footprint is the program's clinical anchor — show you understand why a hospital-based teaching model differs from a private-clinic apprenticeship. Prepare against the published station criteria — problem solving, communication, teamwork, empathy, integrity, preparedness for the program, cultural awareness and motivation — rather than manual-dexterity anecdotes, which Adelaide does not list as an interview criterion (fine and gross motor skills appear only in the Inherent Requirements for enrolled students). If you hold BDS, Bachelor of Medical Studies and/or Bachelor of Oral Health preferences you sit one combined interview covering all eligible programs, and interstate applicants should note that a minimum 50% of school-leaver interview invitations go to South Australians. Adelaide also warns that rehearsed replies 'can diminish your overall performance', and states that personal statements, testimonials, references, awards, certificates and predicted results form no part of selection and will not be considered.
Two questions our tutors flagged as a strong fit for Adelaide Dental’s interview style. Try answering them out loud, then open Prometheus for the model answers and follow-up tips.
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