Disciplines beyond medicine
GAMSAT for dentistry
Graduate-entry dentistry uses the same test as medicine and almost none of the same rules. Four Australian schools score it four different ways, one of them has no minimum score at all, and not a single dentistry course anywhere runs through GEMSAS.
- 5dentistry courses admitting on GAMSAT
- 4in Australia
- 1in the UK
- 0that use GEMSAS
The single most useful fact on this page
Dentistry does not go through GEMSAS.Melbourne’s DDS, UQ’s DMD, Sydney’s DMD and UWA’s DMD are all direct applications to the university, with their own deadlines and their own forms — even at the schools whose medicine course does use GEMSAS.
Almost every GAMSAT guide is written about medicine, so almost every GAMSAT guide tells you to apply through GEMSAS and rank preferences. For dentistry that advice is simply wrong, and following it means missing the application entirely. At Sydney it goes further: the MD and the DMD are two separate applications, not two preferences on one.
Four Australian courses, four different rules
These are not variations on a theme. The scoring method, the minimum and the weighting all differ by institution.
| Institution | How GAMSAT is scored | Minimum | How it is weighted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Melbourne — DDS | Unweighted average of the three sections | None at all | 50% WAM, 50% GAMSAT. No interview. |
| UQ — DMD | Unweighted average, to six decimal places | Section 50; no overall minimum | GAMSAT 70% + SJT 30% — the heaviest GAMSAT weighting anywhere |
| Sydney — DMD | Section scores only — no overall and no average is used | Section 50; no overall exists to have one | Combination formula deliberately unpublished |
| UWA — DMD | ACER weighted overall (1:1:2) | Overall 55 — the highest in the country | Shortlist 50:50 GPA to GAMSAT — not the 60:40 UWA uses for its own MD |
Melbourne’s DDS really does have no minimum — do not carry the MD rule across
Melbourne states it plainly: “No minimum GAMSAT score is required for the DDS, however selection into this course is highly competitive.” There is no overall minimum and no per-section minimum.
The 50-per-section rule that applies to Melbourne’s medicine course does not apply to its dentistry course. This is the most commonly mis-stated fact about Australian dentistry admissions, and it matters in the direction that costs people applications: a candidate with a 48 in one section is eligible for the DDS and would wrongly rule themselves out on the MD rule.
One sourcing caveat we will not bury: Melbourne’s statement that the DDS uses an average of the three sections appears in its International Admissions Guide, and its domestic-facing pages are silent on the weighting. We have not assumed it from the MD rule, and it has not been confirmed on a domestic page.
Two of these are worth restating because they run opposite to what candidates assume. UQ’s DMD puts 70% of the decision on the GAMSAT, which is more than any medicine course in this dataset — dentistry is the more test-driven pathway at UQ, not the less. UWA’s DMD sets the highest bar to apply anywhere in Australia at an overall of 55, but a minimum is a floor, not a competitive threshold. The difference between those two things is the whole point of the cutoffs page.
The UK route, and the thing it does not require
One dentistry course outside Australia admits on GAMSAT — and it does not need you to have a degree.
University of Plymouth (Dentistry) admits to BDS Dental Surgery — A206 on GAMSAT, and it is genuinely unusual: non-graduates are eligible. Plymouth states it directly — “although the GAMSAT is called a graduate admissions test, you do not need to be a graduate to sit the GAMSAT or apply with this qualification.” There is no GPA requirement because there is no degree requirement.
| Entry year | Overall | Type | Sections |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 entry | 53 | Actual cutoff | Sections: S1 46, S2 45, S3 56 |
Note the shape of that result: Section 3 at 56 against Section 2 at 45. Plymouth publishes per-section outcomes as well as an overall, which almost nobody does, and the spread tells you where the ranking was actually decided. Full record on the Plymouth dentistry page.
Two courses ACER lists that do not use GAMSAT at all
Check the university, not ACER’s summary
ACER’s admissions pages list Melbourne’s Doctor of Optometry and UWA’s Doctor of Podiatric Medicineamong courses requiring GAMSAT. Both are wrong. Melbourne’s Optometry uses no admissions test at all— selection is on WAM. UWA’s Podiatric Medicine runs on sWAM ≥65 plus interview.
We mention it on a dentistry page because these are the courses sitting immediately beside dentistry in ACER’s own list, and because every competitor builds its institution tables from that list and inherits the errors. Sitting a A$568 exam for a course that does not use it is an expensive way to find out. Our figures come from each university’s own pages — see sources and methodology.
What this means for how you prepare
The scoring differences are not academic. If you are applying to UWA, ACER’s weighted overall is what counts and Section 3 is worth double inside it. If you are applying to Melbourne or UQ, the average is unweighted and Section 3 is worth exactly the same as Sections 1 and 2 — so a strong humanities candidate is materially better off there than the weighted number suggests. If you are applying to Sydney, there is no overall score at all and each section stands alone.
That is the same test producing four different answers to “is my score good enough”. Run yours through the score calculator, which computes both the weighted and unweighted figures, and read weighted vs unweighted before you decide where to apply.
Frequently asked questions
Can you use the GAMSAT for dentistry?
Yes. 5 dentistry courses admit on GAMSAT — 4 in Australia (Melbourne, UQ, Sydney and UWA) and 1 in the UK (Plymouth). It is the same test and the same score; only the way institutions use it differs.
What GAMSAT score do I need for dentistry?
There is no single answer, and anyone giving you one is guessing. Melbourne sets no minimum at all; UWA sets the highest in the country at 55 overall; UQ and Sydney set section minimums of 50 with no overall minimum. None of the Australian schools publishes an actual cut-off, and Sydney explicitly refuses to.
Do dentistry applications go through GEMSAS?
No. Every dentistry course in this dataset is a direct application to the university. At Sydney, the MD and the DMD are two separate applications rather than two preferences within one.
Is dentistry easier to get into than medicine with the GAMSAT?
Not reliably, and the comparison is the wrong shape. UQ weights the GAMSAT at 70% for dentistry — more than for its own medicine course — so a strong test score carries further there, while a weaker one is harder to offset. Melbourne’s DDS removes the section minimum but pairs the GAMSAT with WAM at 50:50 and holds no interview. The pathways differ in shape, not in difficulty.
Do I need a degree for dentistry via GAMSAT?
In Australia, yes. In the UK, Plymouth’s BDS explicitly does not require one — one of very few GAMSAT routes anywhere open to non-graduates. See eligibility.