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Australian Dental school comparison

Griffith Dental vs La Trobe Dental

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

Griffith Dental

Gold Coast

Quick comparison

Location
Gold Coast, Australia
Entry pathway
Undergraduate
Admission tests
UCAT-ANZ
GAMSAT
-
UCAT-ANZ
No discrete numerical cut-off published by Griffith — UCAT ANZ Total Score alone decides who is invited to GUDAP. No Tier-1 source supports the "~78th percentile" or "90th+ percentile" figures, so both are dropped. For scale only, the official UCAT ANZ 2026 distribution (17,341 candidates, three cognitive subtests scored out of 2700) has a mean total cognitive score of 1,964, a median of 1,950 and a 9th decile of 2,340. Scores from the 2022–2024 sittings were on the retired /3600 four-subtest scale (2024 mean 2,588) and cannot be converted to the current scale.
ATAR
Griffith publishes no ATAR or selection-rank threshold for BDHS. QTAC renders both the "Minimum Selection thresholds (ATAR/Selection Rank)" and "ATAR/Selection Rank profile" sections for Trimester 1 2026 with no values, and records 0 recent-secondary students admitted solely on the basis of ATAR/rank and 0 admitted where ATAR/rank plus additional criteria were considered — so neither a floor nor a median ATAR can be quoted. Academic attainment is only one weighted component alongside UCAT ANZ and GUDAP.
Interview format
GUDAP — Griffith University Dental Admissions Process (recorded, asynchronous multi-scenario online interview via SAMMI; no live interviewer)
Post-interview chance
Not published. For scale only: Griffith interviews around 300 candidates, and QTAC records 125 BDHS admissions for Trimester 1 2026, of whom 52 were international and 42 came from a higher-education background. These are not comparable populations and must not be divided into an interview-to-offer conversion rate.
Decision date
January

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

Griffith Dental vs La Trobe Dental - in detail

Admission tests compared

UCAT-ANZ cut-offs. Griffith Dental — No discrete numerical cut-off published by Griffith — UCAT ANZ Total Score alone decides who is invited to GUDAP. No Tier-1 source supports the "~78th percentile" or "90th+ percentile" figures, so… 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

Griffith Dental requires BDHS selection is a combined weighted score of three components — academic attainment, UCAT ANZ and the GUDAP interview — with invitations to GUDAP issued on UCAT ANZ Total Score alone. Griffith publishes no ATAR or selection-rank threshold, and QTAC states that Griffith's Guaranteed Admission Schemes do not apply to this program.

English plus one of Biology / Chemistry / Physics / Maths Methods (Units 3/4, C) is ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE, not a prerequisite — Griffith's degree page lists prerequisites as "NIL" and QTAC's Prerequisites field names only the minimum age requirement and the interview. BDHS is the entry point; the 2-year Master of Dentistry (5703) is the continuation.

No direct-entry BDS or DMD.

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. Griffith Dental — Griffith publishes no ATAR or selection-rank threshold for BDHS. QTAC renders both the "Minimum Selection thresholds (ATAR/Selection Rank)" and "ATAR/Selection Rank profile" sections for Trimester 1… 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

Griffith Dental uses MMI (GUDAP — Griffith University Dental Admissions Process (recorded, asynchronous multi-scenario online interview via SAMMI; no live interviewer)); 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, Griffith Dental is the better fit.

Interview windows: Griffith Dental interviews in 23–27 November 2026 (2027-entry cycle); 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: Integrated pathway: 3-year Bachelor of Dental Health Science (BDHS, 1577) → 2-year Master of Dentistry (MDent, 5703). No direct-entry BDS or DMD. Both 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: Griffith Dental — QTAC: 125 students admitted to BDHS for Trimester 1 2026, of whom 52 (41.6%) were international; 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

Griffith Dental: Not published. For scale only: Griffith interviews around 300 candidates, and QTAC records 125 BDHS admissions for Trimester 1 2026, of whom 52 were international and 42 came from a higher-education background. These are not comparable populations and must not be divided into an interview-to-offer conversion rate. 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

Griffith Dental: Griffith offers a single integrated dental pathway: 3-year Bachelor of Dental Health Science (BDHS, program 1577) → 2-year Master of Dentistry (MDent, program 5703). There is no direct-entry BDS and no DMD. Co-located with Gold Coast University Hospital and the Griffith Health Centre 117-chair dental clinic.

Selection is a combined weighted score of academic attainment + UCAT ANZ + the GUDAP interview, and QTAC confirms Griffith's Guaranteed Admission Schemes do not apply to this program — QTAC publishes no ATAR/selection-rank profile or minimum threshold for this course, so no ATAR floor can be quoted.

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: Griffith 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 — Griffith Dental draws heavily on Queensland 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

Griffith 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.

Where to go next

Griffith DentalEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full
La Trobe DentalEntry requirements, interview format and key dates in full

Other dental school comparisons

School data reviewed by the NextGen MedPrep editorial team.