When does each school release decisions?

Adelaide Dental typically releases dentistry offers January. La Trobe Dental releases dentistry offers November. AU MD offers run through GEMSAS (graduate consortium) or direct school portals; if one is earlier than the other you may need to defer a decision while waiting for the second.

Australian Dental school comparison

Adelaide Dental vs La Trobe Dental

Q: What admission tests do Adelaide Dental and La Trobe Dental use?

Adelaide Dental uses UCAT-ANZ. La Trobe Dental uses no admission test. The test mismatch means you may need to prep two assessments simultaneously, or you can pick the school whose admission test you're stronger in. GAMSAT is graduate-only and sat in March/September; UCAT-ANZ is undergraduate-leaning and sat in July; some schools (notably Bond and JCU) run their own selection model with no national test.

Q: What UCAT-ANZ score do I need for Adelaide Dental vs La Trobe Dental?

Adelaide Dental — 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%. La Trobe Dental — does not publish a UCAT-ANZ cut-off (may not use UCAT-ANZ; check the admission-test question above). These are the requirements on record for 2027-entry applicants. UCAT-ANZ cut-offs are cohort-dependent, so the headline number from one cycle is not guaranteed for the next — use it as a planning anchor, not a guarantee.

Q: What ATAR do I need for Adelaide Dental vs La Trobe Dental?

Adelaide Dental — 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. La Trobe Dental — 2026 intake (most recent completed cycle), ATAR-based offers only, across all offer rounds. Standard code 2100211491 — highest 99.95 ATAR / 99.95 selection rank; median 99.80 / 99.95; lowest 95.85 unadjusted, with the lowest selection rank reported as 99.55 by La Trobe's own Student Profile and ATAR Distribution report (July 2026) and as 99.95 by CourseSeeker and La Trobe's course-page widget. Regional Entry code 2100211501 — highest 99.95 / 99.95; median 95.8–95.90 / 99.95; lowest 83.65 / 99.05. First Nations Australian Entry code 2100213601 — suppressed (fewer than five ATAR-based offers). These are last-cycle outcomes, not published 2027 cut-offs: La Trobe publishes no guaranteed entry rank for this course. These are the requirements on record for 2027-entry applicants. Selection rank typically includes Educational Access Scheme bonuses, rural-origin uplift, and (where applicable) Indigenous-pathway adjustments — your raw ATAR is rarely the final figure used.

Q: How do interviews differ between Adelaide Dental and La Trobe Dental?

Adelaide Dental uses: 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). La Trobe Dental uses: Academic results only on the standard and Regional Entry codes (no MMI, no interview); First Nations Australian Entry applicants may be required to attend an interview. Different formats reward different skill sets. Plan separate prep streams for each. Interview windows: 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. (Adelaide Dental); No formal interview (La Trobe Dental).

Q: What place types (CSP / BMP / Full-fee) do Adelaide Dental and La Trobe Dental offer?

Adelaide Dental — 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. La Trobe Dental — All three VTAC codes (2100211491 standard, 2100211501 Regional Entry, 2100213601 First Nations Australian Entry) are Commonwealth Supported; international students pay full fees of A$86,000 per 120 credit points for 2027. La Trobe publishes no place quota for either group, but its Student Profile and ATAR Distribution report gives the Semester 1 2026 commencing cohorts: standard code 59 students, of whom 22 (37.3%) were international and 24 (40.7%) were admitted solely on ATAR; Regional Entry 67 students, of whom 54 (80.6%) were admitted solely on ATAR and none were international. (CourseSeeker itself records no student profile for these codes — the data comes from La Trobe's own report.) CSP (Commonwealth Supported Place) is the lowest student contribution; BMP (Bonded Medical Program) adds a 1-year return-of-service obligation in a Modified Monash Model 2-7 area after Fellowship; Full-fee places carry no bond but the highest tuition.

Q: What Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entry pathways do Adelaide Dental and La Trobe Dental offer?

Adelaide Dental — 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. La Trobe Dental — Dedicated entry stream: Bachelor of Dental Science (Honours) (First Nations Australian Entry), VTAC code 2100213601, Commonwealth Supported, open only to applicants who are First Nations Australian. It is the one stream where VTAC lists an Interview criterion — 'Applicants may be required to attend an interview' — applied across all five applicant categories, and it also carries the RRSAS regional adjustment. Fewer than five ATAR-based offers were made on this code in 2026, so its ATAR profile is suppressed. Aspire is La Trobe's general early-conditional-offer program, open to current Year 12 students only, with Community, Academic and Everyday streams and no Indigenous stream; La Trobe publishes no Aspire ATAR for this course. Both schools accept ATSI applicants through the standard pathway as well; the dedicated pathway typically offers adjusted academic thresholds plus wrap-around academic support.

Q: Does Adelaide Dental or La Trobe Dental offer bonded / rural-entry places?

Adelaide Dental — 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. La Trobe Dental — No bonded or return-of-service scheme applies to this course — La Trobe attaches no bonding condition to any of the three dentistry codes, and the Commonwealth Bonded Medical Program covers medical school places, not dentistry. The rural route is the Regional Entry VTAC code 2100211501: eligibility is a principal home address in an ASGS-RA (2021) RA2–RA5 area, and the RRSAS adds 10 / 12.5 / 15 aggregate points for RA2–RA3 / RA4 / RA5. No published ATAR entry floor. Separately, La Trobe's Regional Benefits Program is a scholarship for students enrolling at a regional campus, requiring an unadjusted ATAR of 90 for Dentistry – Regional Entry — it is not an admission threshold and carries no service obligation. The federal BMP allocates ~28.5% of CSP places nationally; individual schools sit above or below that benchmark depending on their workforce remit.

Q: What curriculum style do Adelaide Dental and La Trobe Dental use?

Adelaide Dental runs a Integrated curriculum. La Trobe Dental runs a Integrated curriculum. Both schools deliver teaching in the same broad style, so day-to-day study habits will feel similar. Adelaide Dental specifics: 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 a La Trobe Dental specifics: 5-year undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Science (Honours). Bendigo is the sole campus for the degree. Indicative tuition for 2027 entry: A$86,000 per 120 credit points for international students (120

Q: Should I apply to both Adelaide Dental and La Trobe Dental?

Yes — AU medical applicants typically lodge preferences across multiple schools via GEMSAS (graduate) or direct-undergraduate portals + state TACs (UAC for NSW, VTAC for VIC, QTAC for QLD, etc.). The two schools' selection mechanics differ enough that listing both is a legitimate diversification strategy. A common mistake is over-indexing on schools with the same test-and-interview profile; Adelaide Dental and La Trobe Dental differ in their selection mechanics, so prepping both adds genuine optionality.

Adelaide Dental and La Trobe Dental are both Australian dental schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Adelaide Dental is in South Australia while La Trobe Dental is in Victoria. State of origin matters here: several schools rank local applicants ahead of interstate ones.

Adelaide Dental uses UCAT-ANZ; La Trobe Dental uses no national admission test. That mismatch means either preparing two assessments or choosing the school whose test suits you. The interview formats diverge — MMI vs Interview — and the prep approaches for the two are fundamentally different.

Side-by-side comparison

Show only differences

Side-by-side comparison: Adelaide Dental and La Trobe Dental.
Comparison field	Adelaide DentalAdelaide	La Trobe DentalBendigo
Quick comparison
Location	Adelaide, Australia	Bendigo, Australia
Entry pathway	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
Admission tests	UCAT-ANZ	None
GAMSAT	-	-
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%.	-
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.	2026 intake (most recent completed cycle), ATAR-based offers only, across all offer rounds. Standard code 2100211491 — highest 99.95 ATAR / 99.95 selection rank; median 99.80 / 99.95; lowest 95.85 unadjusted, with the lowest selection rank reported as 99.55 by La Trobe's own Student Profile and ATAR Distribution report (July 2026) and as 99.95 by CourseSeeker and La Trobe's course-page widget. Regional Entry code 2100211501 — highest 99.95 / 99.95; median 95.8–95.90 / 99.95; lowest 83.65 / 99.05. First Nations Australian Entry code 2100213601 — suppressed (fewer than five ATAR-based offers). These are last-cycle outcomes, not published 2027 cut-offs: La Trobe publishes no guaranteed entry rank for this course.
Interview 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)	Academic results only on the standard and Regional Entry codes (no MMI, no interview); First Nations Australian Entry applicants may be required to attend an interview
Post-interview chance	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.	N/A — academic results only.
Decision date	January	November

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.	2026 intake (most recent completed cycle), ATAR-based offers only, across all offer rounds. Standard code 2100211491 — highest 99.95 ATAR / 99.95 selection rank; median 99.80 / 99.95; lowest 95.85 unadjusted, with the lowest selection rank reported as 99.55 by La Trobe's own Student Profile and ATAR Distribution report (July 2026) and as 99.95 by CourseSeeker and La Trobe's course-page widget. Regional Entry code 2100211501 — highest 99.95 / 99.95; median 95.8–95.90 / 99.95; lowest 83.65 / 99.05. First Nations Australian Entry code 2100213601 — suppressed (fewer than five ATAR-based offers). These are last-cycle outcomes, not published 2027 cut-offs: La Trobe publishes no guaranteed entry rank for this course.
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).	Rural and Regional Student Access Scheme (RRSAS) via the separate Regional Entry VTAC code 2100211501 — the applicant must reside (principal home address) in an ASGS-RA (2021) RA2–RA5 area; the adjustment is +10 aggregate points for RA2–RA3, +12.5 for RA4 and +15 for RA5. On the standard code 2100211491 the SEAS equity and scholarship adjustment is capped at 10 aggregate points, within La Trobe's overall 20-point cap on combined adjustments. No ATAR entry floor is published for either code. La Trobe's Regional Benefits Program is a separate regional-campus scholarship ($2,000/yr at ATAR 80–94.95, $5,000/yr at 95+) that requires an unadjusted ATAR of 90 for Dentistry – Regional Entry; 85 is its Physiotherapy figure, not a dentistry entry threshold.
GAMSAT	-	-
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%.	-
CASPer	-	-
ISAT	-	-
GPA	-	-
Prerequisites	-	-
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.	All three VTAC codes (2100211491 standard, 2100211501 Regional Entry, 2100213601 First Nations Australian Entry) are Commonwealth Supported; international students pay full fees of A$86,000 per 120 credit points for 2027. La Trobe publishes no place quota for either group, but its Student Profile and ATAR Distribution report gives the Semester 1 2026 commencing cohorts: standard code 59 students, of whom 22 (37.3%) were international and 24 (40.7%) were admitted solely on ATAR; Regional Entry 67 students, of whom 54 (80.6%) were admitted solely on ATAR and none were international. (CourseSeeker itself records no student profile for these codes — the data comes from La Trobe's own report.)
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 Abor…	Dedicated entry stream: Bachelor of Dental Science (Honours) (First Nations Australian Entry), VTAC code 2100213601, Commonwealth Supported, open only to applicants who are First Nations Australian. I…
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 bonded or return-of-service scheme applies to this course — La Trobe attaches no bonding condition to any of the three dentistry codes, and the Commonwealth Bonded Medical Program covers medical sc…

Interview window	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.	No formal interview
Interview details	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…	La Trobe Bachelor of Dental Science (Honours) selects on academic results only — ATAR for Year 12 applicants, prior academic record for eligible non-Year-12 applicants. No UCAT-ANZ, no GAMSAT, no ISAT…

Specialities	Oral Surgery, Orthodontics, Public Dental Health, Indigenous Oral Health, Restorative Dentistry	Rural Dentistry, Community Oral Health, Indigenous Oral Health, General Dental Practice
Established	1920	2014
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it different	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 dent…	La Trobe's sole dental program is a 5-year undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Science (Honours) at the Bendigo campus — NOT a graduate DDS (no graduate-entry DDS exists at La Trobe per public sources).…
Official course page	https://adelaide.edu.au/study/degrees/bachelor-of-dental-surgery/dom/	https://www.latrobe.edu.au/courses/bachelor-of-dental-science-honours

Adelaide Dental

Adelaide

Quick comparison

Location: Adelaide, Australia
Entry pathway: Undergraduate
Admission tests: UCAT-ANZ
GAMSAT: -
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%.
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.
Interview 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)
Post-interview chance: 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.
Decision date: January

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).
GAMSAT: -
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%.
CASPer: -
ISAT: -
GPA: -
Prerequisites: -
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 Abor…
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…

La Trobe Dental

Bendigo

Quick comparison

Location: Bendigo, Australia
Entry pathway: Undergraduate
Admission tests: None
GAMSAT: -
UCAT-ANZ: -
ATAR: 2026 intake (most recent completed cycle), ATAR-based offers only, across all offer rounds. Standard code 2100211491 — highest 99.95 ATAR / 99.95 selection rank; median 99.80 / 99.95; lowest 95.85 unadjusted, with the lowest selection rank reported as 99.55 by La Trobe's own Student Profile and ATAR Distribution report (July 2026) and as 99.95 by CourseSeeker and La Trobe's course-page widget. Regional Entry code 2100211501 — highest 99.95 / 99.95; median 95.8–95.90 / 99.95; lowest 83.65 / 99.05. First Nations Australian Entry code 2100213601 — suppressed (fewer than five ATAR-based offers). These are last-cycle outcomes, not published 2027 cut-offs: La Trobe publishes no guaranteed entry rank for this course.
Interview format: Academic results only on the standard and Regional Entry codes (no MMI, no interview); First Nations Australian Entry applicants may be required to attend an interview
Post-interview chance: N/A — academic results only.
Decision date: November

ATAR: 2026 intake (most recent completed cycle), ATAR-based offers only, across all offer rounds. Standard code 2100211491 — highest 99.95 ATAR / 99.95 selection rank; median 99.80 / 99.95; lowest 95.85 unadjusted, with the lowest selection rank reported as 99.55 by La Trobe's own Student Profile and ATAR Distribution report (July 2026) and as 99.95 by CourseSeeker and La Trobe's course-page widget. Regional Entry code 2100211501 — highest 99.95 / 99.95; median 95.8–95.90 / 99.95; lowest 83.65 / 99.05. First Nations Australian Entry code 2100213601 — suppressed (fewer than five ATAR-based offers). These are last-cycle outcomes, not published 2027 cut-offs: La Trobe publishes no guaranteed entry rank for this course.
Contextual ATAR: Rural and Regional Student Access Scheme (RRSAS) via the separate Regional Entry VTAC code 2100211501 — the applicant must reside (principal home address) in an ASGS-RA (2021) RA2–RA5 area; the adjustment is +10 aggregate points for RA2–RA3, +12.5 for RA4 and +15 for RA5. On the standard code 2100211491 the SEAS equity and scholarship adjustment is capped at 10 aggregate points, within La Trobe's overall 20-point cap on combined adjustments. No ATAR entry floor is published for either code. La Trobe's Regional Benefits Program is a separate regional-campus scholarship ($2,000/yr at ATAR 80–94.95, $5,000/yr at 95+) that requires an unadjusted ATAR of 90 for Dentistry – Regional Entry; 85 is its Physiotherapy figure, not a dentistry entry threshold.
GAMSAT: -
UCAT-ANZ: -
CASPer: -
ISAT: -
GPA: -
Prerequisites: -
Place types: All three VTAC codes (2100211491 standard, 2100211501 Regional Entry, 2100213601 First Nations Australian Entry) are Commonwealth Supported; international students pay full fees of A$86,000 per 120 credit points for 2027. La Trobe publishes no place quota for either group, but its Student Profile and ATAR Distribution report gives the Semester 1 2026 commencing cohorts: standard code 59 students, of whom 22 (37.3%) were international and 24 (40.7%) were admitted solely on ATAR; Regional Entry 67 students, of whom 54 (80.6%) were admitted solely on ATAR and none were international. (CourseSeeker itself records no student profile for these codes — the data comes from La Trobe's own report.)
Indigenous pathway: Dedicated entry stream: Bachelor of Dental Science (Honours) (First Nations Australian Entry), VTAC code 2100213601, Commonwealth Supported, open only to applicants who are First Nations Australian. I…
Bonded / rural: No bonded or return-of-service scheme applies to this course — La Trobe attaches no bonding condition to any of the three dentistry codes, and the Commonwealth Bonded Medical Program covers medical sc…

Adelaide Dental vs La Trobe Dental - in detail

Admission tests compared

UCAT-ANZ cut-offs. Adelaide Dental — 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… La Trobe Dental — no published cut-off.

Timing shapes the choice as much as the score. GAMSAT is graduate-only and sits in March and September; UCAT-ANZ is mostly undergraduate and sits in July. A few schools run their own selection model with no national test at all.

ATAR and academic profile

Adelaide Dental requires 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.

La Trobe Dental requires 2026 intake (most recent completed cycle).

Standard code 2100211491: highest ATAR 99.95 / selection rank 99.95; median 99.80 / 99.95; lowest offer to an unadjusted ATAR of 95.85 — sources differ on the lowest selection rank, with CourseSeeker and La Trobe's course-page widget showing 99.95 and La Trobe's own Student Profile and ATAR Distribution report (July 2026) showing 99.55.

Regional Entry code 2100211501: lowest 83.65 unadjusted / 99.05 selection rank; median 95.8–95.90 / 99.95; highest 99.95 / 99.95. VCE prerequisite, Units 3 and 4: a study score of at least 30 in English (EAL) or at least 25 in English other than EAL. No UCAT-ANZ, no GAMSAT and no ISAT for any applicant group.

Biology or Chemistry at study score 30 adds 2 aggregate points each, maximum 4. VET and work-and-life-experience applicants without an Australian Year 12 or equivalent are ineligible.

La Trobe publishes no place quota, but its Student Profile report gives the Semester 1 2026 commencing cohorts: 59 students on the standard code, of whom 22 (37.3%) were international, and 67 on Regional Entry, with no international students. Next available intake 2027.

ATAR. Adelaide Dental — 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… La Trobe Dental — 2026 intake (most recent completed cycle), ATAR-based offers only, across all offer rounds.

Standard code 2100211491 — highest 99.95 ATAR / 99.95 selection rank; median 99.80 / 99.95; lowest 95.85…

Read every ATAR figure as a selection rank, not a raw score. Educational access bonuses, rural-origin uplift and Indigenous pathways all adjust it, so the published number is rarely the one that decides your application.

Interview formats

Adelaide Dental uses MMI (Multi-Mini Interview, domestic applicants (minimum 6 stations × 10 minutes, one interviewer per station, online via Zoom; Adelaide notes the format is…); La Trobe Dental uses Interview (Academic results only on the standard and Regional Entry codes (no MMI, no interview); First Nations Australian Entry applicants may be required…).

These two formats reward different skills — MMI emphasises breadth, station-recovery and structured answers under time pressure, while Interview rewards malleability and intellectual honesty.

If your strengths lie in conversational depth, either may suit you more. If you prefer discrete capsule answers under time pressure, Adelaide Dental is the better fit.

Interview windows: Adelaide Dental interviews in 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.; La Trobe Dental in No formal interview.

Curriculum and teaching style

Both schools deliver a Integrated-style curriculum, so day-to-day study habits will feel similar across years 1-3.

Specifics: 5-year undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS). Taught at the Adelaide City Campus (North Terrace), with compulsory clinical placements from fi 5-year undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Science (Honours). Bendigo is the sole campus for the degree. Indicative tuition for 2027 entry: A$86,000 per

Intake size: Adelaide Dental — Adelaide University no longer publishes a BDS place count; its mandated student profile (SATAC code ABP116) records 76 students commencing the BDS…; La Trobe Dental — No quota is published. A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

Adelaide Dental: 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.

La Trobe Dental: N/A — academic results only.

Post-interview odds give you the clearest signal of how competitive each school is at the final stage — a school with a 60% post-interview success rate is structurally easier to convert than one at 25%, even if the interview thresholds look identical on paper.

What makes each distinctive

Adelaide Dental: 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).

La Trobe Dental: La Trobe's sole dental program is a 5-year undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Science (Honours) at the Bendigo campus — NOT a graduate DDS (no graduate-entry DDS exists at La Trobe per public sources). No admission test for anyone — no UCAT-ANZ, no GAMSAT and no ISAT, for Year 12 or non-Year-12 applicants.

Selection runs on ATAR / academic record plus adjustments (Biology or Chemistry study score 30 = 2 aggregate points each, max 4; SEAS and scholarship adjustment capped at 10 aggregate points on VTAC code 2100211491, against La Trobe's overall 20-point cap).

Rural applicants apply through a separate Regional Entry VTAC code (2100211501), which requires a principal home address in an ASGS-RA (2021) RA2–RA5 area and adds 10 points (RA2–RA3), 12.5 points (RA4) or 15 points (RA5) under the Rural and Regional Student Access Scheme (RRSAS).

La Trobe's Regional Benefits Program is a separate thing — a scholarship, not an entry pathway: $2,000 a year for an ATAR of 80–94.95 and $5,000 a year for 95+, and for Dentistry – Regional Entry it requires an unadjusted ATAR of 90 (85 is the Physiotherapy figure).

No ATAR entry floor is published for any of the three dentistry codes.

Which is right for you?

Start with the admission test: Adelaide Dental needs UCAT-ANZ, La Trobe Dental needs no national admission test. Preparing for one well beats splitting your time across two. Check your state of origin before you apply — Adelaide Dental draws heavily on South Australia applicants and La Trobe Dental on Victoria, and an interstate application often faces a materially higher bar.

Your preference list should ultimately weight: which admission test you can realistically score well in, whether your state of origin gives you a bonus at either school, and where you'd actually want to live for four to five years.

Common questions