La Trobe Dental
2027 Entry Requirements & Interview Format
La Trobe University Bachelor of Dental Science (Honours) in Bendigo, VIC runs a school-leaver dentistry program for 2027 entry. Published hurdles: ATAR — Standard code 2100211491. Decisions for 2027 entry: November 2026.
- Location
- Bendigo, Australia
- Established
- 2014
- Interviews (2027 entry)
- No formal interview
- Decisions (2027 entry)
- November 2026
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How to get into La Trobe Dental dentistry
Step-by-step: entry requirements, admission-test prep, personal statement, interview format and the key deadlines.
Open the guide →Prepare for the La Trobe Dental interview
Format breakdown, school-specific sample questions, FAQs and prep tips from tutors who interviewed here.
Read the guide →What the La Trobe Dental course is like
Integrated, 5 years (undergraduate entry), placements in Bendigo, Wodonga, Mildura, Melton, Ballarat and regional Victoria.
See the course →About La Trobe Dental
La Trobe's 5-year undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Science (Honours) is the sole campus for the degree at Bendigo, distinguished by no admission test at all (no UCAT-ANZ, no GAMSAT, no ISAT, for any applicant group), no interview on the two mainstream codes, and a dedicated Regional Entry VTAC code for applicants whose principal home address is in an ASGS-RA (2021) RA2–RA5 area, which adds 10–15 points to the ATAR under the Rural and Regional Student Access Scheme.
La Trobe's Regional Benefits Program is a regional-campus scholarship rather than an entry pathway, and it is not an ATAR floor for admission.
What makes La Trobe Dental different
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.
La Trobe Dental course & teaching
Integrated curriculum. 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 credit points is one year full-time), superseding the figure previously carried here; domestic Commonwealth Supported Place $13,003 per 120 credit points.
IELTS is the only English proficiency test accepted — 7.0 (Academic) with no individual band below 7.0.
La Trobe also publishes significant non-tuition costs: dentistry equipment and protective clothing of roughly A$5,000–6,000, immunisations up to A$1,030, about A$150 for uniform and name badge, plus a Working with Children check, an annually renewed national police check, NDIS worker screening and first aid/CPR certification.
Next intake is Semester 1 2027 — La Trobe advertises it as March 2027, while the VTAC/CourseSeeker offering record gives the start date as 28 February 2027.
The degree (course code HHDSB, CRICOS 0100799, taught at Bendigo by the La Trobe Rural Health School, 600 credit points, AQF Level 8 Bachelor Degree Honours) is accredited by the Australian Dental Council, and graduates may be eligible to apply for registration as a dentist with the Dental Board of Australia.
The ADC register lists the programme's accreditation as Reaccreditation, 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2026, with conditions — i.e. it is at the end of its current accreditation period and in a reaccreditation cycle.
La Trobe Dental research strengths
La Trobe Dental is strong in these research areas:
- Rural oral health
- Community dentistry
- Indigenous oral health
- Public dental policy
How the La Trobe Dental interview runs
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
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, no MMI and no interview is published as a selection step on the standard code (VTAC 2100211491) or the Regional Entry code (2100211501).
The one exception is the First Nations Australian Entry code (2100213601), where VTAC lists an Interview criterion under every applicant category: 'Applicants may be required to attend an interview. Details will be provided by telephone or mail to applicants required to attend.' That code also carries the RRSAS regional adjustment.
La Trobe Dental intake
No quota is published. La Trobe's own Student Profile and ATAR Distribution report (July 2026) gives the Semester 1 2026 commencing cohorts at the 1 April census date: 59 students on the standard entry code, including 22 international students (37.3%), and 67 students on the Regional Entry code, with no international students. CourseSeeker records no student profile for any of the three VTAC codes, so these figures come from La Trobe directly.
Where La Trobe Dental is
La Trobe University Bachelor of Dental Science (Honours) was founded in 2014 and is based in Bendigo.
Programmes offered:
- Rural Dentistry
- Community Oral Health
- Indigenous Oral Health
- General Dental Practice
What you need to apply to La Trobe Dental
La Trobe Dental at a glance
| Entry pathway | Undergraduate (school-leaver) entry |
|---|---|
| ATAR | Standard code 2100211491 |
| Decisions (2027 entry) | November 2026 |
| Admission overview | 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 | 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. |
| 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. 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. |
| 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 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. |
| Specialities offered | Rural Dentistry, Community Oral Health, Indigenous Oral Health, General Dental Practice |
How La Trobe Dental interviews applicants
| 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 |
|---|---|
| Interview window (2027 entry) | No formal interview |
| Decision date (2027 entry) | November 2026 |
| Post-interview chances | N/A — academic results only. |
La Trobe Dental is undergraduate, not graduate — and there is no GAMSAT or MMI. For Year 12 applicants the only lever is the selection rank, and it is brutal: in the 2026 intake the standard code's lowest offer went to an unadjusted ATAR of 95.85, with the lowest selection rank reported as 99.55 by La Trobe's own Student Profile report and 99.95 by CourseSeeker. Adjustments are what close that gap — Biology or Chemistry at study score 30 is worth 2 aggregate points each (max 4), and SEAS plus scholarship adjustments are capped at 10 points on this course. If your principal home address is in an ASGS-RA (2021) RA2–RA5 area, put the Regional Entry code (2100211501) on your VTAC preferences: it carries 10–15 RRSAS points and its 2026 lowest offer went to an unadjusted ATAR of 83.65 (selection rank 99.05). There is no UCAT-ANZ, GAMSAT or ISAT at any entry point. Applicants with prior higher education study are assessed on their full academic record; VET and work-and-life-experience applicants without an Australian Year 12 or equivalent are ineligible. Separately, La Trobe's Regional Benefits Program is a scholarship for regional-campus students, not an entry pathway — it needs an unadjusted ATAR of 90 for Dentistry – Regional Entry. The program is small and Bendigo-only, so applicants should understand what living and studying in regional Victoria for five years entails.
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Learn moreWhere La Trobe Dental's figures come from
Compiled from La Trobe University Bachelor of Dental Science (Honours)'s published admissions material and checked for internal consistency. Not independently re-checked against the official course page for 2027 entry — confirm the figures with the school before you rely on them.
La Trobe Dental — frequently asked questions
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