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Medical University of South Carolina James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine: 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.
MUSC's James B. Edwards College of Dental Medicine is a public DMD program in Charleston, South Carolina, and the only dental school in the state. If you're building a target list, here's exactly what MUSC has told applicants about its own class, straight from dentistry.musc.edu and education.musc.edu, with nothing rounded or guessed.
MUSC dental school stats at a glance
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Avg DAT | 20 AA / 21 DAT (scale not labeled on the page; magnitude suggests old 1–30 scale) — per the school's admissions FAQ |
| Avg GPA | 3.65 cumulative / 3.59 science — per the school's admissions FAQ |
| Class size | 78 seats (Class of 2028); ~55 SC-resident / ~15 non-resident — per the school's Facts & Figures page |
| Deadline | AADSAS: May 13 – December 15; MUSC Supplemental: July 1, 2026 – December 15, 2026 — per the school's admissions FAQ |
| Tuition | 2026-27 Year 1: $39,313 (SC resident) / $79,096 (non-resident) — per the school's Cost of Attendance page |
MUSC's average DAT score
MUSC doesn't publish a dated, cohort-specific class profile with DAT stats. Instead, per the school's admissions FAQ, the page states plainly: "Average DAT: 20 AA/21 DAT" for accepted students. There's no scale label and no entering-class year attached to that figure — and it's not fully clear what the second number, "21 DAT," refers to beyond AA (it's most likely Total Science or an overall composite, but MUSC doesn't say). Given the magnitude of both numbers, this reads as the old 1–30 scale rather than the new 200–600 scale.
Because MUSC doesn't confirm which scale it's using, we're not going to guess a percentile for you. What we'd do instead: run "20 AA" and "21" through our free DAT score converter to see both scale equivalents side by side, then check where each lands using the ADA's own tables in our DAT score percentiles guide. That way you're comparing your own practice scores to MUSC's published number on an apples-to-apples basis, instead of assuming a scale that isn't stated.
MUSC's average GPA
Per the same admissions FAQ, MUSC states: "Average cumulative GPA: 3.65" and "Average science GPA: 3.59" for accepted students. As with the DAT figure, no class year is given on the page. Worth flagging: the same 3.65/3.59 figures have appeared in third-party aggregator write-ups attributed to the Class of 2016, so this may be a longstanding number MUSC's FAQ still publishes verbatim rather than a freshly updated stat for the most recent cycle. We couldn't confirm currency either way from the official page itself.
Class size and applicant pool
Per MUSC's Facts & Figures page, the Class of 2028 drew roughly 1,750 applicants for 78 seats, with a typical class split into about 55 seats reserved for South Carolina residents and about 15 for non-residents. Separately, MUSC's admissions FAQ cites 312 total D.M.D. students — that figure represents the full four-year program's enrollment across all classes, not a single entering class, so don't confuse it with the 78-seat figure.
Their average is the bar. Beat it.
MUSC's own FAQ puts its published DAT average at 20 AA / 21 DAT — walking into your application above that number, not at it, is the game. Consistent full-length practice under real timing is how you get there instead of guessing at a scale MUSC doesn't even label.
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Application deadline
Per MUSC's admissions page, applicants may submit AADSAS from May 13 through December 15. MUSC also requires its own supplemental application; for the cycle entering in 2027, that window runs July 1, 2026 through December 15, 2026. If you're applying to a different cycle, check the school's admissions page directly, since MUSC's supplemental window is tied to the specific entering year.
Tuition
Per MUSC's official Cost of Attendance page, 2026-27 Year 1 tuition is $39,313 for South Carolina residents and $79,096 for non-residents, with four-year total tuition running roughly $151,111 (resident) and $314,756 (non-resident). Note: a separate MUSC dental-site apply page lists lower per-semester tuition figures that don't reconcile cleanly with these annual totals; we're treating education.musc.edu's dedicated Cost of Attendance page as the authoritative source since it's MUSC's official tuition and financial-aid page. Check that page directly for the current cycle before you budget.
What makes MUSC's DMD program distinct
A few things worth knowing beyond the raw numbers, all per MUSC's own pages: interviews are conducted entirely virtually, consisting of a welcome/orientation session, two separate 30-minute one-on-one faculty interviews, a virtual campus tour, and a student Q&A. Students begin clinical patient care in their very first year, spending two half-days per week in clinics, and the college supplies patients for student training through its own screening clinic rather than requiring students to recruit their own patients. And as noted above, MUSC is the only dental school in South Carolina, which is part of why its ~78-seat class skews heavily toward SC residents.
FAQ: MUSC dental school admissions
What DAT score do you need for MUSC?
MUSC doesn't publish a hard DAT cutoff. Per the school's admissions FAQ, the published average for accepted students is written as "Average DAT: 20 AA/21 DAT." The page doesn't label which scale this is on or say what the second number refers to beyond AA, and given the magnitude it appears to be the old 1–30 scale rather than the new 200–600 scale. No entering-class year is attached to the figure, so treat it as a general benchmark rather than a cutoff for a specific cycle.
What GPA do you need for MUSC dental school?
Per MUSC's admissions FAQ, the published average for accepted students is "Average cumulative GPA: 3.65" and "Average science GPA: 3.59." The page does not state which class year this reflects, and the same numbers have shown up in third-party write-ups tied to an older Class of 2016 figure, so this may be a longstanding number rather than the most recent cycle's stat.
How hard is it to get into MUSC dental school?
Per MUSC's Facts & Figures page, the Class of 2028 drew roughly 1,750 applicants for 78 seats, split into about 55 seats for South Carolina residents and about 15 for non-residents. MUSC is the only dental school in South Carolina, which shapes that resident-heavy seat split.
When is the MUSC dental school application deadline?
Per MUSC's admissions page, AADSAS applications are accepted from May 13 through December 15. MUSC also requires its own supplemental application, which for the cycle entering in 2027 runs from July 1, 2026 through December 15, 2026.
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