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University of Pennsylvania School 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.
Penn Dental Medicine (officially the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine) is a private DMD program in Philadelphia. It's one of the more transparent programs about its class stats: the school's own class-profile page reports the entering Class of 2029's average DAT and GPA on both the old and new scoring scales, along with applicant and enrollee counts.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Avg DAT | Academic Average 23.49 old scale (470 new scale) |
| Avg GPA | Overall 3.85 / Science 3.82 |
| Class size | 178 enrollees |
| Deadline | December 1 (AADSAS, firm) |
| Tuition | $97,848 (DMD Year 1, 2026-2027) |
Average DAT score at Penn
Per the school's published class profile, Penn's entering Class of 2029 posted an Academic Average of 23.49 on the old 1–30 scale, which is 470 on the new 200–600 scale. Penn also breaks out section averages for that same class: Perceptual Ability 21.60 (460 new scale), Reading Comprehension 23.86 (470 new scale), and Total Science 23.32 (480 new scale). The page explicitly confirms both scales side by side, so there's no guessing at a conversion here — it's the school's own reported figure.
Average GPA at Penn
The same class-profile page lists the Class of 2029's cumulative average GPAs as 3.85 overall and 3.82 science, per the school's published class profile. Penn doesn't publish separate minimum or preferred GPA tiers on this page — just the one set of averages for the entering class.
Class size and applicant volume
Penn's class profile reports 2,999 applicants for the Class of 2029, with 178 students enrolling — 126 female and 52 male, per the school's published class profile. Penn doesn't publish a stated acceptance rate on that page, so we're not calculating one; the applicant and enrollee counts above are the only official figures.
Application deadline
Per the school's admissions page, Penn's AADSAS application deadline is December 1 and is described as firm. The page also notes the school receives over 3,400 applications and strongly encourages applying well before the deadline, with interview invitations issued on a rolling basis from September through March.
Tuition
Penn is a private DMD program with a single tuition rate — there's no in-state/out-of-state distinction. Penn's Student Registration and Financial Services page lists $97,848 for DMD Year 1 of the 2026-2027 academic year. Worth flagging: the exact per-year dollar table on that page renders dynamically, so this figure was surfaced via search indexing of the official srfs.upenn.edu domain rather than a direct visual read of the live table — treat it as a solid but not fully hand-verified number, and double-check the current cost page for the exact multi-year breakdown.
Their average is the bar. Beat it.
Penn's published Class of 2029 average sits at 470 on the new DAT scale (23.49 old scale) — walking into your application above that number, backed by consistent full-length practice scores, is the whole game.
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Where a 470 (23.49) AA lands nationally
Penn's published average AA of 470 on the new scale (23.49 on the old scale) can be read against the DAT's national percentile distribution. To see exactly where that score falls relative to other test-takers, or to convert your own score between scales, use our DAT score percentiles guide or our DAT score converter. Keep in mind Penn's figure is an average for an enrolled class, not a minimum or a guaranteed cutoff — it's a data point about where a recent entering class landed, not a bar every applicant must clear exactly.
What else stands out about Penn admissions
A few details in Penn's own published requirements are worth flagging. First, applicants must complete a minimum of 100 hours of dental observation before submitting their application, with at least 50 of those hours in general dental practices, per the official DMD admissions page. Second, for the 2026-2027 admissions cycle, only DAT scores from test dates of January 2024 or later are accepted, and unofficial scores are not considered. Third, prerequisite coursework requires letter grades of C or higher, including 2 semesters of biology, 3 semesters of chemistry, 1 semester of biochemistry, 2 semesters of physics, and 1 semester of math (calculus preferred) — with a minimum of 64 semester credit hours completed at the time of application and 96 by matriculation, per the school's admissions page.
FAQ: Penn dental school admissions
What DAT score do you need for Penn?
Penn doesn't publish a minimum DAT score. What it does publish is the entering Class of 2029's average: Academic Average 23.49 on the old scale (470 on the new 200-600 scale), with Perceptual Ability at 21.60 (460), Reading Comprehension at 23.86 (470), and Total Science at 23.32 (480), per the school's published class profile. That's an average for an enrolled class, not a floor every applicant must hit.
What GPA do you need for Penn dental school?
Penn doesn't publish a minimum GPA. The published Class of 2029 average is 3.85 overall and 3.82 science, per the school's class profile. As with the DAT figure, this is a class average rather than a stated cutoff.
How hard is it to get into Penn dental school?
Penn doesn't publish an acceptance rate, but its own numbers give a sense of scale: 2,999 applicants for 178 enrolled seats in the Class of 2029, per the school's published class profile. Penn also requires a minimum of 100 hours of dental observation before applying, with at least 50 of those hours in general dental practices, per the official admissions page.
When is the Penn dental school application deadline?
Per the school's admissions page, Penn's AADSAS deadline is December 1 and is described as firm. The school notes it receives over 3,400 applications and strongly encourages applying well before the deadline, with interview invitations going out on a rolling basis from September through March.