Dental Schools in Arkansas (1): DAT Averages, GPA & True Cost

Arkansas has exactly one dental school: Lyon College School of Dental Medicine. That single fact shapes your whole application strategy — there is no second in-state option to fall back on, so a Arkansas residency is either a decisive advantage at one school or it is worth nothing at all.

If you are a resident, this page is the most important cost decision you will make. Residency is the single largest lever on the price of a dental degree, and it is decided long before your DAT. What your DAT decides is how many of these doors are open.

Every dental school in Arkansas

School	City	Type	Avg DAT (AA)	Avg GPA	True 4-yr cost
Lyon College School of Dental Medicine	Little Rock	Private	19	3.50	—

Cost figures are estimates modelled from cost-of-attendance data published circa 2022, assuming the full cost is financed with federal loans and interest accrues in school. With one exception (Michigan) every row in the model is an out-of-state or private figure — so if you are a Arkansas resident applying to a public school here, your real number is likely to be meaningfully lower. See the full model and all 64 schools →

What in-state residency is worth in Arkansas

We will not invent a number here. Our model carries exactly one measured in-state row across all 64 schools — the University of Michigan — and there the gap between the in-state and out-of-state price of the identical degree, in the identical building, is $113,721.

That is the honest scale of the residency lever, and it is why the cost column above is a ceiling rather than a quote for Arkansas residents at public schools. What it means practically: if you have residency somewhere, a public school in that state is almost always your cheapest path to the same license — and your DAT is what decides whether they take you.

What DAT score do you need for a Arkansas dental school?

Published academic averages at Arkansas schools run 19 on the 1–30 scale. The highest of them sits at roughly the 39th percentile of all test takers.

Be careful how you read those numbers: an average is the midpoint of an admitted class. About half of the students admitted scored below it. It is not a cutoff, and clearing it does not mean you are in — committees weigh GPA, experience, interviews and residency alongside it. What a higher score reliably buys you is optionality: more schools whose average you clear, and therefore more chance to choose the cheaper seat instead of taking the only one offered.

Put your own score into the ROI calculator → and see which of these schools open up — and what the next point is worth in dollars.

FAQ

How many dental schools are in Arkansas?

Arkansas has 1 accredited dental school: Lyon College School of Dental Medicine.

Which Arkansas dental school has the lowest DAT average?

Of the Arkansas schools that publish one, Lyon College School of Dental Medicine has the lowest academic average at 19. An average is the midpoint of an admitted class, not a minimum — roughly half of that class scored below it, and meeting it does not imply admission.

Is it easier to get into dental school as a Arkansas resident?

At public dental schools, residency is usually a significant advantage in both admission and price. Many public schools reserve most of their seats for residents, and the tuition difference is large: at the one school in our model with both figures (Michigan), in-state costs $113,721 less over four years than out-of-state for the same degree. Check each school's own residency policy, as they vary.

Dental Schools in Arkansas