Is dental school easier to get into than medical school?
As of 2022, dental school is harder to get into than medical school: whereas 13.1% of dental school applications were successful in 2022-2023, 41.9% of students were accepted to medical school from 2021 to 2023/24.
Although the number for med school may seem high, remember that the requirements for even applying are already very rigorous.
Feeling a little intimidated by dental school’s crazy competitiveness? There are plenty of other high paying careers in allied health besides dentistry.
How to get into dental school: 5 major steps
To get into dental school, you’ll need to have started a bachelor’s (you don’t need to have finished college to start your application, but you will need to complete your degree eventually).
1. Have a strong GPA and take lots of science classes
Dental schools don’t require you to major in anything specific, but they will expect you to have a strong science foundation, with good grades in biology, chemistry, and physics, usually with lab components. Dental schools often look at your science and math GPA separately from your overall GPA.
Dental schools will also want letters of recommendation (usually several) from a science instructor, so work hard to build relationships with your professors. Some dental schools also accept a “committee letter” from a pre-health program rather than letters of recommendation. Ask your academic advisor if your college offers this service.
2. Do great on the DAT
You’ll need to take the Dental Admission Test, which takes 4.5 hours to complete and costs $525.
The DAT is a grueling exam that consists of multiple parts: reading comprehension, perceptual ability, quantitative reasoning, biology, general chemistry, and organic chemistry. Your final score is referred to as your “academic average.”
Some dental schools may be more interested in how you did on certain parts of the test. For example, some place high importance on “quantitative reasoning,” while others mostly care about your science scores. Dental programs usually disclose this information on their website.
3. Job-shadow a dentist
Most dental schools expect you to have 30 to 100 hours (or more) of observation at a dentist’s office, usually with multiple dentists. Be friendly with the dentists you job shadow; one of them will be writing yet another letter of recommendation for you.
4. Jump through all the final hoops
Many dental programs have other miscellaneous requirements. Some require you to volunteer your time through community service, take an interpersonal skills assessment such as CASPer, pass a manual dexterity test, or undergo a drugs test.
You’ll also need to muster up letters of recommendation from former professors and the dentists you job shadowed.
5. Apply via the AADSAS
With college, the DAT, and job-shadowing under your belt, you can apply for dental schools via the ADEA AADSAS (Associated American Dental Schools Application Service). The AADSAS is a unified service that allows you to send your DAT scores, transcripts, letters of recommendation, and any other materials to multiple dental schools at once.
The application has 4 main components:
- Academic history: your transcripts/grades
- Personal information: your up-to-date email, address, and telephone number
- Supporting information: your main personal statement and letters of recommendation
- Program materials: any additional essays or information required by specific schools
After you’ve submitted your application, universities will (hopefully) contact you for an interview.
Does it matter what dental school you get into?
Yes and no. All accredited dental schools allow you to become a dentist, and dentists make good money, regardless of their alma mater. So don’t worry too much if you only apply to less selective dental schools.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, dentists’ median earnings are $159,530 per year.
That said, not all dental schools are an equally good investment.
To find out which dental schools give you the biggest bang for your buck, we analyzed data from the National Center for Education Statistics on median earnings and student loan debt of dental school grads. We don’t have data on all dental schools, since they don’t all submit complete data, but we were able to run the numbers for 52 of the 69 accredited dental schools.
We found that 4 years after leaving dental school, graduates’ median salaries ranged greatly: from $164,107 per year for the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, to $91,410 for the University of Utah. This is a difference of $81,040 annually.
Top earning dental schools
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities – $164,107
- University of Florida – $163,296
- East Carolina University – $162,247
Lowest earning dental schools
- University of Utah – $91,410
- University of Southern California – $99,495
- Medical University of South Carolina – $102,370
Conversely, some dental schools are saddling graduates with far more student loans than others. At graduation, students at the schools below had the most and least student debt (note that this doesn’t include undergrad loans).
Dental schools with the highest average debt
- University of Southern California – $99,495
- New York University – $124,055
- Case Western Reserve University – $140,038
Dental schools with the lowest average debt
- University of Connecticut – $132,469
- East Carolina University – $132,899
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston – $161,854
The dental schools with the best economic value
To determine which dental schools are the best value for money, offering the optimal combination of high earnings and low costs, we turned to our signature degree ranking methodology. Our system ranks colleges by return on investment (ROI). Note that our rankings only include colleges that submit data to the NCES, and for-profit colleges are not included.
By value for money, the top 3 best-value dental schools are:
- East Carolina University
- University of Connecticut
- Texas A & M University, College Station
