How to get into Charles Sturt Dental Dentistry
Your 2027 Entry step-by-step guide
Charles Sturt University School of Dentistry and Medical Sciences in Orange, NSW runs a school-leaver dentistry program for 2027 entry. Admission tests listed: UCAT-ANZ. Charles Sturt Dental holds a panel interview: November 2026-December 2026.
- Interviews (2027 entry)
- November 2026-December 2026
- Decisions (2027 entry)
- Not published - Charles Sturt states only that interview invitations go out in the last week of October 2026 and interviews run late November 2026/early December 2026; offers are released afterwards through UAC's undergraduate offer rounds, whose dates applicants should check on the UAC site for their cycle.
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Charles Sturt Dental expects Charles Sturt publishes no ATAR requirement for the BDS (its entry score is listed as "TBA") and there is no portfolio. Selection for interview runs on UCAT-ANZ for the general pathway, on UCAT-ANZ plus the Rural and First Nations Applicants Supplementary Form for the rural pathway, and on GPA for current Charles Sturt students.
UAC publishes an ATAR profile for ATAR-based offers in semester 1, 2026 (2026 entry): lowest ATAR 97.70, median 98.20, highest 99.70.
Treat that as descriptive, not as a cut-off - UAC's student profile for the same cohort shows fewer than 5 of 45 commencing students were admitted solely on the basis of ATAR (22, or 48.89%, came from prior higher education study and 19, or 42.22%, were international), so the profile reflects a very small school-leaver subgroup rather than a selection threshold.
The ~93-95 aggregator figure has no Tier-1 basis and should be dropped. UAC lists assumed knowledge of Chemistry, Mathematics Advanced and Physics, with English Standard recommended.
Applications for the 2027 intake close through UAC at 11.59pm AEST on 13 September 2026; no late applications are accepted. for Dentistry (BDS/DMD) and uses In-person panel interview at the Orange campus (late November/early December).
Charles Sturt publishes no number of interview days for the current cycle and no longer offers the online-interview fallback that appeared in its 2022 handbook. for interviews in the 2027 Entry cycle.
Entry is undergraduate and selection uses UCAT-ANZ; applications close through GEMSAS or your state TAC (UAC, VTAC, QTAC, SATAC, TISC), and CSP, BMP and full-fee places are all capped, so treat the standard above as a threshold to clear rather than a target to aim at.
This guide is written for 2027 Entry applicants and updated annually before each GEMSAS / UAC cycle. Sources include Charles Sturt University School of Dentistry and Medical Sciences's official course page, GEMSAS, the UCAT-ANZ Consortium, ACER (GAMSAT), and direct conversations with current students. Read time: ~12 minutes.
Compiled from Charles Sturt University School of Dentistry and Medical Sciences's published admissions material and checked for internal consistency. Not independently re-checked against the official course page for 2027 entry — confirm the figures with the school before you rely on them.
Charles Sturt Dental at a glance
| ATAR | UAC's ATAR profile for ATAR-based offers in semester 1, 2026 records a lowest ATAR of 97.70, a median of 98.20 and a highest of 99.70 (selection ranks identical) |
|---|---|
| UCAT-ANZ | Note the UCAT-ANZ cognitive total has been out of 2700 (Verbal Reasoning + Decision Making + Quantitative Reasoning) since the 2025 sitting, which fed 2026 entry |
| Interview format | In-person panel interview at the Orange campus (late November/early December). Charles Sturt publishes no number of interview days for the current cycle and no longer offers the online-interview fallback that appeared in its 2022 handbook. |
| Interviews (2027 entry) | November 2026-December 2026 |
| Decisions (2027 entry) | Not published - Charles Sturt states only that interview invitations go out in the last week of October 2026 and interviews run late November 2026/early December 2026; offers are released afterwards through UAC's undergraduate offer rounds, whose dates applicants should check on the UAC site for their cycle. |
Charles Sturt Dental entry requirements
| Pathway | Undergraduate (school-leaver) entry |
|---|---|
| ATAR floor | Charles Sturt publishes no minimum ATAR for the BDS and lists the course entry score as "TBA"; its published selection criteria use UCAT-ANZ (or GPA for internal applicants) to select for interview, not ATAR. UAC's ATAR profile for ATAR-based offers in semester 1, 2026 records a lowest ATAR of 97.70, a median of 98.20 and a highest of 99.70 (selection ranks identical). Read that as a description of a very small group, not a bar: UAC's student profile for the same 2026 cohort shows fewer than 5 of 45 commencing students were admitted solely on the basis of ATAR, while 22 (48.89%) entered from prior higher education study and 19 (42.22%) were international. |
| Contextual ATAR | No course-specific ATAR adjustment applies - ATAR is not part of Charles Sturt's published selection criteria for the BDS, and the course entry score is listed as "TBA" (the university's general adjustment-factor scheme is linked from the page but does not attach to this course's published criteria). The rural/First Nations advantage is a place sub-quota - at least 50% of places each year - not an ATAR concession. |
| Admission tests | UCAT-ANZ |
| UCAT-ANZ | UCAT-ANZ is required on both the general and rural pathways; First Nations applicants are exempt, and UAC tells current Charles Sturt students on the internal GPA pathway that they do not need it. No numerical cut-off is published, and Charles Sturt does not publish how it uses the score beyond UAC's statement that applicants may be selected for interview "on the basis of their UCAT score". Note the UCAT-ANZ cognitive total has been out of 2700 (Verbal Reasoning + Decision Making + Quantitative Reasoning) since the 2025 sitting, which fed 2026 entry; the 2024 and earlier sittings included Abstract Reasoning and were scored on the retired /3600 scale. Situational Judgement is reported separately as a band, scaled 300-900. |
| Interview | In-person panel interview at the Orange campus (late November/early December). Charles Sturt publishes no number of interview days for the current cycle and no longer offers the online-interview fallback that appeared in its 2022 handbook. |
| Place types | Commonwealth Supported Places for domestic students (indicative $12,956 per year; Charles Sturt states CSP places in this course are limited), plus a separate international full-fee intake (CRICOS 074610F, indicative A$74,960 per year). Charles Sturt does not publish the annual number of places, though UAC's student profile records 45 students commencing in 2026, 19 of them international. At least 50% of places are reserved each year for the rural/First Nations sub-quota. There is no Bonded Medical Program allocation - that scheme is medicine-only. |
| Indigenous pathway | First Nations applicants do not sit UCAT. They must have completed the NSW HSC or a tertiary equivalent, apply through UAC, upload the rural/First Nations supplementary form, and provide confirmation of First Nations identity before interview (a certified confirmation of identity from a registered community organisation with a common seal, or failing that a self-declaration statutory declaration plus either a genealogy document or a letter of support on official letterhead from a recognised community member or organisation). The interview is a culturally appropriate panel with both First Nations and non-First Nations members, which Charles Sturt says will assess the applicant's academic abilities and motivation, the support necessary (if any) to ensure a successful learning experience, and the applicant's suitability to practise as a dentist. |
| Bonded / rural | ≥50% of places reserved for applicants with significant rural background or First Nation applicants — the most aggressive rural quota of any dental program in NSW. Rural applicants lodge the rural supplementary form with their UAC application. Note Charles Sturt uses two names for the same document: its pathway text calls it the "Rural and Indigenous Pathway form", while the download itself is titled "Rural and First Nations Applicants Supplementary Form". On it you declare five or more years (consecutive or cumulative) of primary residence in an ASGS RA2-RA5 area. Supporting documents are not submitted with the form but must be brought to interview if you are selected. Rural applicants still sit UCAT-ANZ - only First Nations applicants are exempt - and the form closes with the application on 13 September 2026 for the 2027 intake. No bonded return-of-service attaches to these places. |
Charles Sturt publishes no ATAR requirement for the BDS (its entry score is listed as "TBA") and there is no portfolio. Selection for interview runs on UCAT-ANZ for the general pathway, on UCAT-ANZ plus the Rural and First Nations Applicants Supplementary Form for the rural pathway, and on GPA for current Charles Sturt students.
UAC publishes an ATAR profile for ATAR-based offers in semester 1, 2026 (2026 entry): lowest ATAR 97.70, median 98.20, highest 99.70.
Treat that as descriptive, not as a cut-off - UAC's student profile for the same cohort shows fewer than 5 of 45 commencing students were admitted solely on the basis of ATAR (22, or 48.89%, came from prior higher education study and 19, or 42.22%, were international), so the profile reflects a very small school-leaver subgroup rather than a selection threshold.
The ~93-95 aggregator figure has no Tier-1 basis and should be dropped. UAC lists assumed knowledge of Chemistry, Mathematics Advanced and Physics, with English Standard recommended. Applications for the 2027 intake close through UAC at 11.59pm AEST on 13 September 2026; no late applications are accepted.
Year 12 ATAR (or equivalent international qualification) plus the admission test are the academic gateway; interview performance then determines the final offer.
UCAT-ANZ
UCAT-ANZ is a 2-hour computer-based aptitude test (Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning, and a separately-banded Situational Judgement Test). Sat between July and early August. The UCAT-ANZ Consortium operates separately from the UK UCAT — scores are NOT interchangeable.
Working towards the UCAT score Charles Sturt Dental expects? Build a week-by-week plan from your test date — free for the first two weeks.
Written submissions
Australia has no equivalent of the UK's single UCAS personal statement. GEMSAS graduate-entry applications use GAMSAT + GPA without a written component; most state-TAC undergraduate applications use ATAR + UCAT-ANZ without a written component. The schools that DO require written content (JCU portfolio, Notre Dame Sydney/Fremantle questionnaire, Wollongong short answers, Bond essays) each ask different, school-specific questions. Treat each school's prompt set as a discrete short-answer test - do not recycle a single document across multiple schools.
Limits are school-specific. JCU portfolio responses: typically 250-500 words per question. Notre Dame questionnaire: 250-400 words per response. Wollongong short answers: ~300 words each. Bond essays: 500 words. Read the current cycle's prompt brief for each school carefully - limits and prompts shift cycle-to-cycle.
Five things that win
Four things that lose
Worked-example opener (do not copy — for shape only)
"During my work-experience week at a community dental practice, I watched a hygienist coach a nervous teenager through her first scale and polish. The clinical work took ten minutes; the trust-building took the other twenty. That ratio - slow patient-facing care woven through technical skill - is what made me commit to dentistry…"
Notice: a specific scene rather than a cliché, a precise detail (the nine-minute conversation), and a closing sentence that bridges to the next paragraph. We have a step-by-step written-submissions service if you want a tutor to help shape yours.
The Panel interview at Charles Sturt Dental
Charles Sturt Dental uses In-person panel interview at the Orange campus (late November/early December). Charles Sturt publishes no number of interview days for the current cycle and no longer offers the online-interview fallback that appeared in its 2022 handbook.. For 2027 entry, interviews typically take place in November 2026-December 2026. Final decisions are released Not published - Charles Sturt states only that interview invitations go out in the last week of October 2026 and interviews run late November 2026/early December 2026; offers are released afterwards through UAC's undergraduate offer rounds, whose dates applicants should check on the UAC site for their cycle..
At Charles Sturt Dental, expect the following from the panel interview. Panel-style interview - typically 20-40 minutes with 2-4 interviewers (a mix of academic staff and clinicians, sometimes a current student or admissions specialist). Questions probe in depth; expect follow-ups that test how you reason rather than what you've memorised.
How the Charles Sturt Dental Panel actually runs
Charles Sturt Dental runs an in-person panel interview at the Orange campus in late November/early December; applicants are notified in the last week of October and must attend in person. Charles Sturt states the panel assesses communication skills, motivation for a career in dentistry, commitment to rural and regional dental practice, problem solving, decision making and spatial awareness.
It publishes no number of interview days, and neither manual dexterity nor ethics stations appear among its published criteria.
The rural sub-quota is defined on ASGS remoteness areas, not Modified Monash: an applicant must have spent five or more years (consecutive or cumulative) with their primary residence in an ASGS RA2-RA5 area, declared on the Rural and First Nations Applicants Supplementary Form uploaded with the UAC application.
Where only part of a year was spent in an eligible area (e.g. schooling in a major city with holidays in a regional area), only the weeks actually spent in an RA2-RA5 area count towards the five years. Charles Sturt directs applicants to the DoctorConnect locator to check a specific location's classification.
Supporting documents are not lodged with the form but must be brought to interview.
What they assess
What Charles Sturt Dental assessors are scoring: Panel interviewers want to understand how you think - not just what you say. They're looking for intellectual humility, structured reasoning, evidence of reflection on real experience (not theoretical), and a realistic awareness of the demands of dentistry.
Common station / question themes
- Portfolio / written submission deep dive (multiple follow-ups on every claim)
- Motivation for Dentistry (with realistic awareness of the career)
- Work-experience reflection (what you learned, what surprised you)
- Ethical scenarios with multiple follow-ups
- Academic curiosity (often a tutor will ask about a recent journal article or biomedical concept)
- Knowledge of the school and curriculum
- Hot topics in Australian healthcare (Medicare, rural workforce, Indigenous health, mental health)
- Hypotheticals that test reasoning under pressure
Sample questions you might face at Charles Sturt Dental
Tell us about a moment in your work experience that changed how you think about dentistry.
You've written about [X] in your portfolio - tell us more about that.
If you read about a new study claiming [biomedical fact], how would you decide whether to trust it?
What do you understand about the workforce challenges facing rural and remote Australia?
A 16-year-old asks for the contraceptive pill but doesn't want her parents to know. How do you approach this?
Why this school over the other nine medical schools you could have applied to?
Describe a setback you've had and what you learned.
How would you cope with a patient dying on your shift?
Model-answer guidance: “Why dentistry?”
Our panel-interview prep covers ethics frameworks (SPIES, the four pillars), structured behavioural answers (STAR), and live mock interviews with admissions specialists.
Practise the Charles Sturt Dental interview
Rehearse the real format before the day — on demand with our AI interviewers, or live with a tutor.
Sit a mock with photoreal AI interviewers — any time
A timed MMI or panel interview on video — Australian & international voices — with interviewers who listen, react and press with follow-ups. Rubric-scored feedback and a replay the moment you finish.
Live mocks with a tutor who’s been in the room
A full Charles Sturt Dental-style mock with a medic or dentist tutor — honest scoring against real marking criteria, a station-by-station debrief and a written action plan.
Book a mock interviewMonth-by-month timeline for 2027 Entry
The cycle runs roughly January 2025 (start of prep) through GEMSAS preference lock and state-TAC deadlines in September 2026, MMIs in October-December 2026, to first-round offers in December 2026 and course start in late January / early February 2027. Here are the milestones you cannot miss.
Decide and start work / clinical experience
Confirm medicine or dentistry as your career direction. Start banking clinical exposure (hospital volunteering, GP shadowing, aged-care or disability-support roles) and non-clinical experience (research assistant, peer tutoring, leadership). Australian schools weight reflection over hours - track what each placement taught you.
Begin UCAT-ANZ / GAMSAT prep
Open your prep window 6-9 months before the test sitting. UCAT-ANZ candidates focus on the 4 sub-tests (Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitative Reasoning, Situational Judgement). GAMSAT candidates focus on Section I (Humanities), Section II (Written Communication) and Section III (Sciences) - the Section III sciences gap is the most common reason graduates under-perform.
GAMSAT March sitting
ACER GAMSAT March test date. Scores released early May. Most graduate-entry applicants sit GAMSAT in March of their apply year so results are available before GEMSAS preferences open.
UCAT-ANZ registration + GEMSAS portal info
UCAT-ANZ registration opens (test sat in July). GEMSAS portal information released for graduate-entry medicine. ATAR-tracking begins for current Year 12 applicants.
GEMSAS portal opens + UCAT-ANZ booking
GAMSAT March results released (late May). GEMSAS applications open 1 May and close 29 May across the ten consortium schools (ANU, Deakin, Griffith, Macquarie, Melbourne, Notre Dame Fremantle, Notre Dame Sydney, UQ, UWA, Wollongong). Sydney, Flinders and Monash are NOT in GEMSAS and need separate direct applications. UCAT-ANZ booking deadline is 15 May.
GEMSAS preference entry opens
Rank up to 6 preferences across the 8 GEMSAS schools. ACER GAMSAT September registration window opens (a second sitting option for applicants who under-performed in March).
UCAT-ANZ test window
Take UCAT-ANZ between early July and early August. There is one sitting per cycle - no retake until the following year. Results are released to state TACs (UAC, VTAC, QTAC, SATAC, TISC) in October. State TACs (UAC, VTAC, QTAC, SATAC, TISC) accept undergraduate medicine preferences from July onwards.
GEMSAS preferences lock + direct apps close
GEMSAS interview offers issued in early September; consortium interviews run September-October. ACER GAMSAT September sitting - too late for this cycle, results land mid-November. JCU QTAC + JCU-portal applications close 30 September. State-TAC medicine preferences close 25-30 September. (Bond's QTAC round does not open until January.)
MMI invitations issued
Most graduate-entry consortium schools issue MMI invitations through October. Bond runs its structured interview cycle. UCAT-ANZ results released to state TACs for undergraduate ranking. State TAC preference changes typically close late October.
MMIs run + ATAR results
MMIs run across consortium schools, Bond, JCU and Macquarie through October-December. ATAR results released to state TACs for school-leaver undergraduate applicants. GAMSAT September results released for applicants who sat the second window.
First-round offers
First-round offers released by GEMSAS, state TACs and direct-application schools. Acceptance deadlines are typically within 10 days of offer - reply on time or forfeit the place. Some schools release a second offer round in early January.
Late offers + course start
Late-round offers released through January. Deferral requests due. Orientation week is scheduled by most schools for late January or early February, with first-year teaching commencing late January / early February.
What makes Charles Sturt Dental different
Charles Sturt was established with an explicit rural workforce mission — a dental program built around rural and regional practice, developed in cooperation with the Australian Dental Council, the Australian Dental Association, local dentists and oral health practitioners. Placements anchored at Orange and Wagga Wagga campus dental clinics with strong community engagement across Central West and Riverina NSW. Charles Sturt publishes no bonded or return-of-service condition on its dental places - the Commonwealth's Bonded Medical Program covers medical courses only. What is real is the sub-quota: at least 50% of places each year are set aside for applicants with a significant rural background or First Nations applicants.
Notable research areas
Curriculum (Integrated)
5-year undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Science (BDS) at the Orange campus with clinical placements at Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange, Wagga Wagga. Interview is an in-person panel at Orange in late November/early December, assessing communication, motivation for dentistry, commitment to rural and regional practice, problem solving, decision making and spatial awareness. Clinical placements sit in the final two years of the course, at sites across the region including Albury-Wodonga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga; UAC notes travel, accommodation and related placement expenses are the student's responsibility.
Location: Orange, Australia
Founded in 2009. Whether the city suits you matters - five or six years is a long commitment. Visit on an open day if you can; current students will be the most honest assessors of culture and clinical placement quality.
Read the full Charles Sturt Dental course guide — integrated, 5 years (undergraduate entry), with placements in Orange, Bathurst, Dubbo, Wagga Wagga, Albury and regional NSW.
Application statistics for Charles Sturt Dental
Charles Sturt Dental intake
Charles Sturt does not publish an annual number of places for the BDS - no figure appears on the course page or in handbook entry 4409DS01. UAC does publish a student profile: 45 students commenced the course in 2026, of whom 22 (48.89%) came from prior higher education study, 19 (42.22%) were international, and fewer than 5 were admitted solely on the basis of ATAR. That is commencing students, not places offered, so treat it as scale rather than an intake quota. Charles Sturt does publish the split: at least 50% of places each year are set aside for significant-rural-background or First Nations applicants, and a minimum of 30 interviews are reserved for current Charles Sturt students.
How Charles Sturt Dental selects, at a glance
Source: Charles Sturt University School of Dentistry and Medical Sciences admissions data; GEMSAS / state-TAC published statistics; ACER (GAMSAT) and UCAT-ANZ Consortium decile data; recent FOI responses.
Six mistakes that derail dentistry applications
Charles Sturt Dental — frequently asked questions
Sources for this Charles Sturt Dental guide
Apply to Charles Sturt Dental with confidence
We have helped hundreds of applicants turn their GAMSAT / UCAT-ANZ, portfolio and MMI prep into offers from Charles Sturt Dental and other Australian dentistry schools.