Average DAT Scores by Dental School in 2026

Average DAT scores by dental school for 2026 range from roughly 400-420 (new scale) at some state and access-focused programs up to 480-520+ at the most research-heavy private schools, with a national matriculant average around 440 (about a 21 AA on the old 1-30 scale). Below is a school-by-school table so you can stop guessing and actually see where your practice scores stack up against real target schools. Treat every number as directional — schools update these figures on their own schedule, and we'll show you exactly where to double-check them.

Average DAT Scores by School, 2026 Table

We built this table from schools' own published entering-class profiles and the data schools self-report to the ADEA Official Guide to Dental Schools. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 5 on purpose — a table claiming false precision to the exact point is more likely to be wrong than helpful. We also list the rough old-scale (1-30) equivalent, since forum threads, older advising handouts, and plenty of current students still talk in the old scale.

This is a representative sample, not all ~75+ CODA-accredited U.S. dental schools. For any school not shown here, or to confirm the exact current figure for a school above, go straight to the ADEA Dental School Explorer or that school's own admitted-student profile page. Averages move a few points most cycles; class size changes, new campuses, and shifting applicant pools can move them more.

Why "Average DAT Scores by Dental School" Is the Wrong Number to Chase Alone

An average is the midpoint of everyone who enrolled — which means roughly half the class scored below it. Schools admit on a whole file: GPA, science GPA, PAT, letters, experience hours, interview performance. A DAT score at or slightly above a school's average puts you in a normal, fundable range for that school — it doesn't guarantee anything, and a score well below it doesn't automatically disqualify you if the rest of your file is strong.

Use this table the way we used similar data when we were building our own school lists: as a filter, not a verdict. Sort your target schools into three rough buckets and plan your retake or application timing around them.

• Reach schools: your current practice score sits below their published average AA.
• Target schools: your practice score is at or within a few points of their average.
• Safety schools: your practice score is comfortably above their average.

If your real, consistent practice scores are landing below where you want to apply, that's a study-plan problem, not a bad-luck problem — and it's fixable with enough runway before your test date. See our guide on whether to take the DAT early or wait for a higher score if you're weighing timing against where you currently sit relative to these tables.

AA vs. TS vs. PAT: What Schools Actually Weigh

The table above uses AA (Academic Average) because it's the single number most schools lead with, but it's not the whole picture:

• AA averages five sections: Biology, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Reading Comprehension, and Quantitative Reasoning.
• TS (Total Science) is scored separately from just the 100 science questions (Bio, GC, OC) and is watched closely by schools that want to see raw science aptitude apart from reading and math.
• PAT is scored completely separately and isn't part of AA at all, but schools that emphasize hand skills and spatial reasoning weight it heavily in their own internal formulas — sometimes as much as AA.

A school's published "average DAT" almost always means average AA. If you're comparing your own score to a table like this one, compare AA to AA — don't accidentally stack your TS or PAT against someone else's AA column.

Old Scale vs. New 200-600 Scale, and Why Both Still Matter

Since March 2025, the DAT reports on a 200-600 scale in 10-point increments, with roughly 400 as the current national average across all test-takers. Before that, the DAT used a familiar 1-30 scale where 17 was about average, 20+ was solid, and 25+ put you around the top 1-2%. Plenty of advisors, older class-profile pages, and long-running forum threads still speak entirely in the old scale, so you'll be translating between the two for a while.

The conversions in our table are approximate on purpose. The ADA publishes an official concordance table for exact score equivalencies — use that, not a rough rule of thumb, if you need a precise conversion for a specific decision.

How to Use This Table to Build Your School List

1. Get a real baseline score first. A single free practice test tells you almost nothing reliable. Run several full-length, realistically timed tests before comparing yourself to any school's average — we built DATPractice's 40 full-lengths so students have a number they can trust.
2. Compare AA to AA, GPA to GPA. Don't mix scales or sections when benchmarking against a published figure.
3. Weight PAT separately for schools known to emphasize it — the public class-profile page rarely spells out internal weighting.
4. Re-check the current number before you apply. Confirm the live figure on the school's site or the ADEA guide before finalizing your list, especially for reach schools.
5. Don't apply only to your "average." Spread applications across reach, target, and safety schools based on your real practice-score range.

If you're still early enough to decide when to sit the exam relative to your coursework, our guide on when to take the DAT — junior or senior year walks through the timing tradeoffs that affect how much runway you have to move your score before applications open.

Free Data Sources vs. Compiled Tables: What to Trust

You'll find DAT-score tables like this one across advising sites, forums, and prep companies. Every compiled table — including ours — is a snapshot of self-reported school data that changes on its own schedule. The two sources closest to primary are the ADEA Official Guide to Dental Schools and each school's own admitted-student page. When a compiled table and a school's own page disagree, believe the school's own page.

What Actually Moves Your Score Enough to Change Which Row You're In

Score gaps between adjacent rows in that table are often just 10-20 points on the new scale — a point or two on the old scale. That's a closable gap with focused practice, but it won't close on inconsistent, unstructured studying. You need practice conditions that match the real exam and a way to find and fix your actual weak concepts, not just more hours logged.

We each scored in the top 3% on the real DAT, and neither of us got there by grinding random resources — we figured out exactly which practice conditions and review habits moved our scores, then built that process into one product so students don't have to piece together five subscriptions to do the same thing.