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Australian Dental school comparison

La Trobe Dental vs Melbourne Dental

La Trobe Dental and Melbourne Dental are both Australian dental schools, but the path to an offer at each is meaningfully different. Both sit in Victoria, so the state bonus schemes and clinical-placement networks broadly overlap — the differentiation comes from selection, interview and curriculum. La Trobe Dental uses no national admission test; Melbourne Dental uses GAMSAT.

That mismatch means either preparing two assessments or choosing the school whose test suits you. They also recruit at different stages: La Trobe Dental runs school-leaver (undergraduate) entry, Melbourne Dental runs graduate entry.

Side-by-side comparison

La Trobe Dental

Bendigo

Quick comparison

Location
Bendigo, Australia
Entry pathway
Undergraduate
Admission tests
None
GAMSAT
-
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
ATAR range 99.00-99.85 at Bendigo (selection rank floor with adjustments, to highest ATAR offered excluding adjustments). Confirmed via La Trobe FAQ + OzTREKK + MedView.
Interview format
Academic results only (no MMI / no formal interview)
Post-interview chance
N/A — academic results only.
Decision date
November

Melbourne Dental

Carlton

Quick comparison

Location
Carlton, Australia
Entry pathway
Graduate
Admission tests
GAMSAT
GAMSAT
No fixed minimum — competitive ranking only. UoM DDS uses an unweighted GAMSAT average (each of the three sections weighted equally), unlike UoM MD which uses ACER's standard weighting (Section 3 double-weighted). Applicants must choose a single GAMSAT sitting (cannot mix-and-match best section scores). 4-year GAMSAT validity. DAT and BMAT also accepted.
UCAT-ANZ
-
ATAR
-
Interview format
No interview — Standard Pathway offers ranked on GPA plus admissions-test score (equal weighting)
Post-interview chance
~40% of interviewees receive an offer.
Decision date
October-November
Compare different schools

La Trobe Dental vs Melbourne Dental - in detail

Admission tests compared

GAMSAT cut-offs. La Trobe Dental — not used or not published. Melbourne Dental — No fixed minimum — competitive ranking only. UoM DDS uses an unweighted GAMSAT average (each of the three sections weighted equally), unlike UoM MD which uses ACER's standard weighting (Section 3…

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

La Trobe Dental requires Year 12 ATAR typically 99.00-99.85 (selection rank with adjustments). English (study score 25) or EAL (30) prerequisite. No UCAT required for Year 12 entry; required only for non-Year-12 applicants. NO GAMSAT. International intake ~25 places. Next available intake 2027.

Melbourne Dental requires Bachelor degree with minimum weighted GPA 5.0/7.0; GAMSAT overall 50+ with section minima 50+; MMI.

ATAR. La Trobe Dental — ATAR range 99.00-99.85 at Bendigo (selection rank floor with adjustments, to highest ATAR offered excluding adjustments). Confirmed via La Trobe FAQ + OzTREKK + MedView. Melbourne Dental — no published cut-off.

Graduate-entry GPA. La Trobe Dental — not applicable or not published. Melbourne Dental — No fixed minimum — competitive ranking only. Ranking formula: weighted GPA (50%) + unweighted GAMSAT (or DAT/BMAT) (50%) → interview shortlist; interview adds further weighting (not publicly…

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

La Trobe Dental and Melbourne Dental interview in the same broad format, so the underlying prep approach is the same — practise ethics frameworks, Australian health-system topics (Medicare, rural workforce, Indigenous health) and (for MMI) structured station responses against a timer.

That said, the specifics differ slightly: La Trobe Dental runs academic results only (no mmi / no formal interview); Melbourne Dental runs no interview — standard pathway offers ranked on gpa plus admissions-test score (equal weighting). Mock practice tailored to each school's exact format is the highest-leverage prep.

Interview windows: La Trobe Dental interviews in No formal interview; Melbourne Dental in August-September.

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 Science (Honours). Bendigo is the sole campus for the degree. Annual indicative international tuition (2026) A 4-year graduate DDS. Year 1 foundations and pre-clinical simulation at Carlton. Years 2-4 clinical placements at the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourn

Intake size: La Trobe Dental — International intake 25 places (OzTREKK). Domestic intake not publicly disclosed by La Trobe.; Melbourne Dental — ~80 places per year (~40 CSP + ~10 Full-fee + ~30 International) — UoM does not publish current DDS breakdown publicly. Estimates from UoM Handbook archives + OzTREKK..

A larger cohort means more peer breadth; a smaller cohort means more tutor contact.

Post-interview offer rate

La Trobe Dental: N/A — academic results only. Melbourne Dental: ~40% of interviewees receive an offer.

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

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). UCAT is NOT required for Year 12 applicants (required only for non-Year-12 entry).

ATAR-only selection at Year 12; Regional Benefits Program drops the ATAR floor to 85 for rural applicants.

Melbourne Dental: Melbourne runs Australia's oldest dental school (est. 1897) as a 4-year graduate-entry Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS). Co-located with the Melbourne Dental Hospital at the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne — Australia's largest public dental teaching hospital. Pre-interview ranking weights GAMSAT and GPA broadly equally; the MMI then carries substantial weight in the final composite.

Which is right for you?

Start with the admission test: La Trobe Dental needs no national admission test, Melbourne Dental needs GAMSAT. Preparing for one well beats splitting your time across two. Both sit in Victoria, so a local applicant gets the same state bonus at each. They suit different stages too: La Trobe Dental is school-leaver (undergraduate) entry, Melbourne Dental is graduate entry.

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

La Trobe Dental uses no admission test. 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.

Where to go next

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

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