New South Wales has two dental schools with different entry routes. The University of Sydney’s 4-year graduate Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) sets GPA and GAMSAT hurdles, then ranks standard domestic applicants on their GAMSAT section scores, with no interview. Charles Sturt University’s 5-year undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Science, taught at Orange, uses the UCAT-ANZ to select most applicants for an in-person panel interview, and sets aside at least half of each year’s places for applicants with a significant rural background and First Nations applicants.
Overview
Studying dentistry in New South Wales
Sydney’s DMD is taught at the Camperdown/Darlington campus, at Sydney Dental Hospital in Surry Hills and, in final year, at the Westmead Centre for Oral Health. Final-year students can take rural placements, which the Faculty describes as eight weeks long, in towns across NSW. Charles Sturt’s course was set up to train dentists for rural and regional Australia: teaching is at Orange, Year 4 clinic is at Orange or Bathurst, and final year is three 12-week placements at Charles Sturt clinics in Dubbo, Bathurst, Wagga Wagga or Albury or at external sites. Neither school publishes a bonded place or return-of-service condition for dentistry; the Commonwealth’s Bonded Medical Program covers medical courses only. Graduates of both courses can apply to the Dental Board of Australia, through Ahpra, for registration as a dentist.
Funding + places. Sydney anticipates 76 domestic DMD offers for 2027 entry: 30 Commonwealth supported and 46 domestic fee-paying, both marked TBC. Charles Sturt’s domestic places are Commonwealth supported; it publishes no annual number of places but sets aside at least 50% each year for applicants with a significant rural background and First Nations applicants. HECS-HELP is available to eligible students in Commonwealth supported places.
Schools
Dental schools in New South Wales
2 dental schools in New South Wales — click any school for the full profile including admission tests, ATAR, interview format and place types.
Two: the University of Sydney, which runs a 4-year graduate Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD), and Charles Sturt University, which runs a 5-year undergraduate Bachelor of Dental Science taught at its Orange campus.
Sydney is graduate-entry. On the standard pathway you need a bachelor’s degree with a UAC-assessed GPA of at least 5.0 out of 7 and at least 50 in every GAMSAT section, and domestic applicants are then ranked on their GAMSAT section scores, with no interview. Rural and Indigenous applicants can apply through facilitated entry schemes with lower hurdles. Charles Sturt is undergraduate entry. Most applicants are selected for an in-person panel interview at Orange on their UCAT-ANZ, and at least half of each year’s places are set aside for applicants with a significant rural background and First Nations applicants.
Yes. Charles Sturt sets aside at least 50% of places each year for applicants with a significant rural background and First Nations applicants. Rural applicants still sit the UCAT-ANZ, and they lodge the Rural and First Nations Applicants Supplementary Form with their UAC application, declaring five or more years of primary residence in an ASGS RA2–RA5 area. The course was set up to train dentists for rural and regional Australia, and final year is mostly clinical placement in regional NSW.
Charles Sturt publishes no minimum ATAR for its Bachelor of Dental Science and lists the course entry score as ‘TBA’. It selects applicants for interview on the UCAT-ANZ (or on GPA for current Charles Sturt students), not on ATAR. Sydney’s DMD is graduate-entry, so it uses a GPA hurdle and GAMSAT section scores rather than an ATAR.
It depends on the school. Charles Sturt uses the UCAT-ANZ to select applicants for interview, although First Nations applicants and current Charles Sturt students applying on GPA do not need it. Sydney’s DMD uses the GAMSAT, with a minimum of 50 in each section for standard applicants. You only sit the test required by the school you apply to.
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