Question 1

What admission tests do Charles Sturt Dental and La Trobe Dental use?

Accepted Answer

Charles Sturt 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.

Question 2

What UCAT-ANZ score do I need for Charles Sturt Dental vs La Trobe Dental?

Accepted Answer

Charles Sturt Dental — 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. 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.

Question 3

What ATAR do I need for Charles Sturt Dental vs La Trobe Dental?

Accepted Answer

Charles Sturt Dental — 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. 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.

Question 4

How do interviews differ between Charles Sturt Dental and La Trobe Dental?

Accepted Answer

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.. 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: November-December (Charles Sturt Dental); No formal interview (La Trobe Dental).

Question 5

What place types (CSP / BMP / Full-fee) do Charles Sturt Dental and La Trobe Dental offer?

Accepted Answer

Charles Sturt Dental — 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. 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.

Question 6

What Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entry pathways do Charles Sturt Dental and La Trobe Dental offer?

Accepted Answer

Charles Sturt Dental — 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. 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.

Question 7

Does Charles Sturt Dental or La Trobe Dental offer bonded / rural-entry places?

Accepted Answer

Charles Sturt Dental — ≥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. 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.

Question 8

When does each school release decisions?

Accepted Answer

Charles Sturt Dental typically releases dentistry offers Not published - Charles Sturt states only that interview invitations go out in the last week of October and interviews run late November/early December; offers are released afterwards through UAC's undergraduate offer rounds, whose dates applicants should check on the UAC site for their cycle.. 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.

Question 9

What curriculum style do Charles Sturt Dental and La Trobe Dental use?

Accepted Answer

Charles Sturt 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. Charles Sturt Dental specifics: 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 i 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

Question 10

Should I apply to both Charles Sturt Dental and La Trobe Dental?

Accepted Answer

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; Charles Sturt Dental and La Trobe Dental differ in their selection mechanics, so prepping both adds genuine optionality.

Comparison field	Charles Sturt DentalOrange	La Trobe DentalBendigo
Quick comparison
Location	Orange, Australia	Bendigo, Australia
Entry pathway	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
Admission tests	UCAT-ANZ	None
GAMSAT	-	-
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.	-
ATAR	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.	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	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.	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	Charles Sturt does not publish interview-to-offer conversion for the BDS - treat any percentage quoted elsewhere as guesswork, not data.	N/A — academic results only.
Decision date	Not published - Charles Sturt states only that interview invitations go out in the last week of October and interviews run late November/early December; offers are released afterwards through UAC's undergraduate offer rounds, whose dates applicants should check on the UAC site for their cycle.	November

ATAR	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.	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	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.	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 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.	-
CASPer	-	-
ISAT	-	-
GPA	-	-
Prerequisites	-	-
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.	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	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…	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	≥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 sup…	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	November-December	No formal interview
Interview details	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 Stur…	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	Rural Dentistry, Community Oral Health, Indigenous Oral Health, General Dental Practice	Rural Dentistry, Community Oral Health, Indigenous Oral Health, General Dental Practice
Established	2009	2014
Course type	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
What makes it 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 Aus…	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://study.csu.edu.au/courses/bachelor-dental-science	https://www.latrobe.edu.au/courses/bachelor-of-dental-science-honours

Charles Sturt Dental vs La Trobe Dental

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Charles Sturt Dental

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Charles Sturt Dental vs La Trobe Dental - in detail

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