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US Dental School Rankings & Comparison

US dental (DDS/DMD) programs have no official national ranking, so the honest way to compare them is on transparent, published admissions metrics — how your GPA and DAT line up with each school's enrolled class, its realistic acceptance rate, class size and in-state residency preference.

Every per-school figure below comes from our maintained dataset — we never invent numbers. See the full US dental schools guide.

How we compare these schools
78
CODA-accredited US dental schools
12,491
Applicants for Fall 2024 entry
6,719
First-year students enrolled (Fall 2024)
1997
Year US News dropped dental rankings after a boycott

National context figures from the ADA Health Policy Institute and the Baltimore Sun — see sources at the foot of the page.

Unlike US medical schools, dental programs have never had a recognized national league table. US News & World Report tried to rate them in the mid-1990s, but the dental schools' association advised its members not to take part, arguing that a single table could not fairly capture a degree that blends classroom science with hands-on clinical and laboratory training. Facing a boycott, US News abandoned the project in 1997 and has never reinstated it.

Because there is no authoritative list, the sensible way to compare programs is on published admissions metrics rather than reputation. All 78 US dental schools that lead to licensure are accredited by CODA to the same baseline standards, so a DDS or DMD from any accredited program qualifies you to sit licensure exams and practice as a general dentist — which is why, for most graduates, accreditation matters far more than prestige.

The factor most applicants underestimate is state residency. Public dental schools exist largely to train dentists for their own state, so a published acceptance rate can be far rosier for residents than for out-of-state applicants competing for a handful of remaining seats. We flag each school's in-state preference so you can read its numbers in context, and we suggest pairing a few reach programs (where your stats sit below the class median) with target and likely schools where you are at or above it — weighting public schools in your home state where residency is your advantage.

How we compare these schools

There is no government or US News ranking of US dental schools, so any single ordering is a judgement call rather than an official scoreboard. Our approach is deliberately metric-driven, using only fields that exist in our dataset for each school: median cumulative GPA, median science GPA, the published acceptance rate, class size, and the school's in-state residency preference (with the in-state matriculation share shown where we have it).

We deliberately do not show an MCAT column: dental admissions use the DAT (Dental Admission Test), not the MCAT. Where we hold a school's reported DAT Academic Average it appears in that school's individual profile rather than as a sortable column, because our structured data captures DAT figures as free text rather than a single comparable number. Any metric we lack for a given school is simply omitted for that row rather than guessed.

To read the table sensibly, compare your own GPA and DAT against a school's enrolled-class medians to gauge fit, then adjust the headline acceptance rate for residency: at public schools with a strong in-state preference, the real odds for out-of-state applicants are materially lower than the blended rate suggests, while the same school may be very attainable for residents. Treat the metrics as a starting filter for a balanced shortlist, then weigh non-quantified factors — curriculum style, clinical and patient-population exposure, cost and debt, location, and post-graduation residency placement — that no ranking number can fully capture.

Compare US dental schools by the numbers

All 78 CODA-accredited US dental schools in our dataset. Sort by any column, or search by name, city or degree. Click a school for its full profile, DAT details and how-to-get-in guide.

Narrowed it down already? Compare 2 or 3 programs side by side to see the same metrics stacked against each other rather than sorted in a list.

Showing 78 of 78 CODA-accredited US dental schools. Acceptance rate is the school's published blended rate; at strong in-state schools the real odds for out-of-state applicants are materially lower. An em-dash means we don't hold that metric for the school rather than a value of zero.

How to read the metrics

Median GPA & science GPA

The enrolled class's middle cumulative and science (biology, chemistry, physics, math) GPAs. If your GPA sits below a school's median, treat it as a reach; at or above, a target or likely.

Acceptance rate

The school's published blended rate. At strong in-state schools this overstates out-of-state odds, which can be a fraction of the headline number — always read it alongside the residency flag.

Class size

Approximate entering-class size. Larger classes can mean more seats but also more applicants; smaller classes often run more selective, tighter-knit cohorts.

Residency preference

Whether the school leans toward in-state applicants. “Strong in-state” public schools may fill most of the class with residents; the in-state share is shown where we hold it.

39 of the 78 schools in our dataset have a strong in-state preference. Across the set, the median published acceptance rate is 6.5% and the median enrolled GPA is 3.62 — useful baselines to benchmark any individual school against.

Accreditation, not prestige, is what lets you practice

CODA is the only dental-education accreditor recognized by the US Department of Education, reviewing more than 1,400 dental and dental-related programs nationwide. Every school on this page is accredited to the same standard, so the DDS or DMD it awards qualifies you to sit licensure exams and work as a general dentist. Use the metrics to build a realistic shortlist — not to chase a name.

Frequently asked questions

Build your US dental school shortlist

Compare DAT and GPA profiles, in-state preference and interview formats across every CODA-accredited US dental school.

Browse US dental schools US MD medical schools

Sources

National context figures are sourced below. Per-school metrics come from our maintained US dental schools dataset; each school's profile links its own primary sources.

Reviewed by the NextGenMedPrep Admissions Team, admissions editorial team at NextGenMedPrep. Last reviewed: August 14, 2026