Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry: Average DAT, GPA, and How to Get In

Numbers below come from the school's own published materials as of July 2026 (each is linked to its source). Admissions stats shift every cycle — treat these as a snapshot and confirm on the school's official admissions page before you apply.

Meharry Medical College School of Dentistry is a private DDS program in Nashville, Tennessee, and one of the country's historically Black dental schools. If you're building a target list, here's exactly what Meharry has told applicants about its own program, straight from the school's own pages, with nothing rounded or guessed — and where Meharry simply doesn't publish a number, or publishes two conflicting ones, we say so plainly instead of picking one for you.

Meharry dental school stats at a glance

Meharry's average DAT score

Meharry doesn't publish an average or "competitive" DAT score anywhere on its site. The school's Admissions FAQ addresses DAT testing logistics and timing, but per the school's own admissions FAQ, it never states a numeric average or minimum for admitted or applicant classes. That means we can't hand you a Meharry-specific number here, and we're not going to invent one. The honest move is to check the school's admissions page for the current cycle directly, since expectations can shift between cycles.

Even without Meharry's own figure, you can still use the ADA's national data to see where your practice scores stand. Our DAT score percentiles guide walks through the ADA's official percentile tables on the new 200–600 scale, and our DAT score converter translates any score between the old 1–30 scale and the current scale so you can compare apples to apples.

Meharry's average GPA

Per the school's admissions FAQ, under the question "What is the average grade point average (GPA) of students admitted?," Meharry states: "Average of Applicants – 2578, Grade Point Average – 3.25, Basic Science Average – 3.03." No specific class or cycle year is attached to that figure anywhere on the page. Worth flagging: the same FAQ page's underlying HTML also contains a second, differently worded question with different numbers — 2,600 applicants, 3.35 overall GPA, 3.25 basic science GPA. Only the 3.25/3.03 version currently displays as a clickable question in the live accordion list; the 3.35/3.25 version reads like leftover CMS content with no matching visible question. We're presenting 3.25/3.03 as current, but flagging the discrepancy rather than hiding it — confirm directly with Meharry admissions if it matters to your strategy.

Class size and interview process

Per the school's admissions FAQ, "the class size is 75." That figure isn't tied to a specific entering-class year, but it's stated plainly and consistently on the school's current live page. On interviews, Meharry's own FAQ describes a two-panel process: every interviewed candidate gets two separate interviews, one drawing from Meharry basic science faculty and the other from School of Dentistry faculty (active and retired), School of Dentistry alumni, or Nashville-community dentists. Plan for two distinct conversations, not one.

Application deadline

Per Meharry's admissions FAQ, the answer to "What is the deadline for applications?" states: "The deadline for submitting all materials through ADEA AADSAS is December 13, 2025." The same page's class-size FAQ answer separately says applications should be complete "no later than December 13th," reinforcing that date. However, Meharry's separate main admissions overview page states the deadline as "December 15, 2025" — a minor inconsistency between two official pages on the same site. December 13, 2025 is the figure repeated twice on the FAQ page, but applicants should confirm the exact date directly with Meharry admissions before the cycle closes.

Tuition

Per Meharry's official 2025-26 "Estimated Budgets for Financial Aid – Dentistry" PDF, DDS tuition is $58,984 for each of the First, Second, Third, and Fourth years (12/11/11/9-month academic periods respectively), with a Post-Year-4 half-year tuition of $29,492. Fees vary by year: $17,532 in Year 1, $18,504 in Year 2, $10,160 in Year 3, and $10,260 in Year 4. The same document estimates total Year 1 Cost of Attendance — tuition, fees, and living expenses combined — at $122,076. Because Meharry is a private institution, there's no separate resident/non-resident tuition rate for the standard DDS track; a distinct, separately priced International Dental Program exists only for dentists trained outside CODA-accredited U.S./Canada programs.

What makes Meharry's DDS program distinct

A few things worth knowing beyond the raw numbers, all per the school's own site. Beyond the standard biology/chemistry/physics sequence, Meharry's DDS prerequisites specifically require Biochemistry (3 semester hours) and Calculus or Statistics (3 semester hours), with Anatomy/Physiology, Microbiology, and Histology/Cell Biology listed as "strongly recommended" additions. Meharry also runs a distinct International Track Program — a two-year advanced-standing pathway, following an initial six-week individualized preclinical assessment module, for dentists trained outside CODA-accredited U.S./Canada programs. That track is admitted through ADEA CAAPID rather than standard AADSAS, so if you trained abroad, you're applying through a different pipeline entirely.

FAQ: Meharry dental school admissions