Question 1

What admission tests do Charles Sturt Dental and Melbourne Dental use?

Accepted Answer

Charles Sturt Dental uses UCAT-ANZ. Melbourne Dental uses GAMSAT. 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 GAMSAT score do I need for Charles Sturt Dental vs Melbourne Dental?

Accepted Answer

Charles Sturt Dental — does not publish a GAMSAT cut-off (may not use GAMSAT; check the admission-test question above). Melbourne Dental — No minimum GAMSAT score — UoM publishes no DDS cut-off and ranks competitively. Domestic applicants and international applicants residing in Australia must use GAMSAT. International applicants residing outside Australia may use GAMSAT, UK GAMSAT, the US DAT, the Canadian DAT or the UK BMAT. UoM publishes no DDS-specific GAMSAT weighting — treat the section weighting as unstated (the equal-section rule that circulates belongs to the Melbourne MD). ACER computes the overall score as (1 × Humanities and Social Sciences + 1 × Written Communication + 2 × Biological and Physical Sciences) ÷ 4; results are valid for up to four consecutive years in Australia, and admissions bodies automatically take the highest-performing whole score set rather than a mix of best sections. These are the requirements on record for 2027-entry applicants. GAMSAT results are valid for four years with ACER, but some graduate MD programs accept only the most recent two cycles — verify before relying on an older sitting.

Question 3

What UCAT-ANZ score do I need for Charles Sturt Dental vs Melbourne 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. Melbourne 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 4

What ATAR do I need for Charles Sturt Dental vs Melbourne 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. Melbourne Dental — ATAR data not published in the structured AU requirements; see free-text admission requirements on the school page. 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 5

What GPA do I need for Charles Sturt Dental vs Melbourne Dental?

Accepted Answer

Charles Sturt Dental — GPA not published in the structured AU requirements. Melbourne Dental — No fixed minimum — competitive ranking only. UoM ranks Standard and Indigenous pathway applicants on an entry score its Handbook calls a GPA and its course page now calls a Weighted Average Mark (WAM), computed the same way: the most recent bachelor degree (including Honours) regardless of later graduate study, over the last three undergraduate years, weighted 1 : 2 : 2 from the first of those three years to the final year. Guaranteed pathway applicants are exempt — their whole bachelor-degree WAM is the entry score. 2020 results are treated specially: honours completed in 2020 counts, and subjects completed before the pandemic count, but all other 2020 subject results are excluded. Offers — not interview invitations — are made on a combined ranked list where rank by GPA and rank by GAMSAT (or DAT/BMAT) are given equal weighting; there is no interview component at all. Up to 2 places per year may go to applicants re-ranked on strong cognate postgraduate study. These are the requirements on record for 2027-entry applicants. Many AU graduate MD programs treat the GPA as a hurdle (above the floor, all candidates are weighted equally on GAMSAT and interview) rather than as a sliding-scale rank — confirm each school's specific model.

Question 6

How do interviews differ between Charles Sturt Dental and Melbourne 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.. Melbourne Dental uses: Academic ranking only (no MMI / no interview). Different formats reward different skill sets. Plan separate prep streams for each. Interview windows: November-December (Charles Sturt Dental); No interview (Melbourne Dental).

Question 7

What place types (CSP / BMP / Full-fee) do Charles Sturt Dental and Melbourne 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. Melbourne Dental — UoM publishes a single course-wide quota of 91 places per year (2026 Handbook, MC-DDENSUR) and does NOT publish a CSP / Australian fee place / international breakdown. Commonwealth Supported Places are explicitly "limited" and to be considered you must submit a complete application before the deadline; domestic applicants are automatically considered for an Australian fee place if they meet entry requirements. There is no named bonded or rural DDS quota, but rurality is a recognised consideration — the Handbook directs the Selection Committee to weigh "evidence of rurality for rural applicants" under special entry schemes, and Graduate Access Melbourne lists a rural background as a category that may attract CSP consideration. 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 8

What Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entry pathways do Charles Sturt Dental and Melbourne 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. Melbourne Dental — Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander applicants are given priority access to the DDS via the University of Melbourne Indigenous pathway; a Confirmation document or Statutory Declaration goes to mdhs-indigenous-admissions@unimelb.edu.au. Unlike the Melbourne MD's Indigenous pathway, DDS Indigenous-pathway applicants are still assessed on the standard entry score — UoM states the WAM is used for "eligible Standard and Indigenous pathway applicants". UoM publishes no GAMSAT waiver and no minimum GPA for the DDS Indigenous pathway; the GAMSAT-waiver and GPA 5.0 rules that circulate belong to the Melbourne MD, a separate course with a separate selection process. 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 9

Does Charles Sturt Dental or Melbourne 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. Melbourne Dental — bonded/rural data not published in the structured AU requirements. The federal BMP allocates ~28.5% of CSP places nationally; individual schools sit above or below that benchmark depending on their workforce remit.

Question 10

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.. Melbourne Dental releases dentistry offers October (first round); November-December (subsequent rounds). 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 11

What curriculum style do Charles Sturt Dental and Melbourne Dental use?

Accepted Answer

Charles Sturt Dental runs a Integrated curriculum. Melbourne 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 Melbourne Dental specifics: 4-year (48-month) graduate DDS, listed by UoM as on campus at Parkville. Year 1 is foundations plus pre-clinical simulation, including a haptic virtual-reality laboratory, at the Melbourne Dental Scho

Question 12

Should I apply to both Charles Sturt Dental and Melbourne 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 Melbourne Dental differ in their selection mechanics, so prepping both adds genuine optionality.

Comparison field	Charles Sturt DentalOrange	Melbourne DentalParkville
Quick comparison
Location	Orange, Australia	Parkville, Australia
Entry pathway	Undergraduate	Graduate
Admission tests	UCAT-ANZ	GAMSAT
GAMSAT	-	No minimum GAMSAT score — UoM publishes no DDS cut-off and ranks competitively. Domestic applicants and international applicants residing in Australia must use GAMSAT. International applicants residing outside Australia may use GAMSAT, UK GAMSAT, the US DAT, the Canadian DAT or the UK BMAT. UoM publishes no DDS-specific GAMSAT weighting — treat the section weighting as unstated (the equal-section rule that circulates belongs to the Melbourne MD). ACER computes the overall score as (1 × Humanities and Social Sciences + 1 × Written Communication + 2 × Biological and Physical Sciences) ÷ 4; results are valid for up to four consecutive years in Australia, and admissions bodies automatically take the highest-performing whole score set rather than a mix of best sections.
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.	-
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 ranking only (no MMI / no 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 — no interview.
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.	October (first round); November-December (subsequent rounds)

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.	-
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.	-
GAMSAT	-	No minimum GAMSAT score — UoM publishes no DDS cut-off and ranks competitively. Domestic applicants and international applicants residing in Australia must use GAMSAT. International applicants residing outside Australia may use GAMSAT, UK GAMSAT, the US DAT, the Canadian DAT or the UK BMAT. UoM publishes no DDS-specific GAMSAT weighting — treat the section weighting as unstated (the equal-section rule that circulates belongs to the Melbourne MD). ACER computes the overall score as (1 × Humanities and Social Sciences + 1 × Written Communication + 2 × Biological and Physical Sciences) ÷ 4; results are valid for up to four consecutive years in Australia, and admissions bodies automatically take the highest-performing whole score set rather than a mix of best sections.
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	-	No fixed minimum — competitive ranking only. UoM ranks Standard and Indigenous pathway applicants on an entry score its Handbook calls a GPA and its course page now calls a Weighted Average Mark (WAM), computed the same way: the most recent bachelor degree (including Honours) regardless of later graduate study, over the last three undergraduate years, weighted 1 : 2 : 2 from the first of those three years to the final year. Guaranteed pathway applicants are exempt — their whole bachelor-degree WAM is the entry score. 2020 results are treated specially: honours completed in 2020 counts, and subjects completed before the pandemic count, but all other 2020 subject results are excluded. Offers — not interview invitations — are made on a combined ranked list where rank by GPA and rank by GAMSAT (or DAT/BMAT) are given equal weighting; there is no interview component at all. Up to 2 places per year may go to applicants re-ranked on strong cognate postgraduate study.
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.	UoM publishes a single course-wide quota of 91 places per year (2026 Handbook, MC-DDENSUR) and does NOT publish a CSP / Australian fee place / international breakdown. Commonwealth Supported Places are explicitly "limited" and to be considered you must submit a complete application before the deadline; domestic applicants are automatically considered for an Australian fee place if they meet entry requirements. There is no named bonded or rural DDS quota, but rurality is a recognised consideration — the Handbook directs the Selection Committee to weigh "evidence of rurality for rural applicants" under special entry schemes, and Graduate Access Melbourne lists a rural background as a category that may attract CSP consideration.
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…	Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander applicants are given priority access to the DDS via the University of Melbourne Indigenous pathway; a Confirmation document or Statutory Declaration goes to md…
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…	-

Interview window	November-December	No 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…	Melbourne DDS runs no interview of any kind — no MMI, no panel, no communication-skills screen. Selection is a single combined ranked list in which rank by GPA/WAM and rank by GAMSAT (or, for internat…

Specialities	Rural Dentistry, Community Oral Health, Indigenous Oral Health, General Dental Practice	Oral Surgery, Orthodontics, Paediatric Dentistry, Public Dental Health, Dental Research
Established	2009	1897
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…	Melbourne's dental school traces to the Australian College of Dentistry, founded 1897 and affiliated with the University in 1904; the graduate 4-year Doctor of Dental Surgery itself dates from the 201…
Official course page	https://study.csu.edu.au/courses/bachelor-dental-science	https://study.unimelb.edu.au/find/courses/graduate/doctor-of-dental-surgery/

Charles Sturt Dental vs Melbourne Dental

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Charles Sturt Dental

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