UCLA 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.

UCLA School of Dentistry is a public D.D.S. program in Los Angeles, California. Here's what the school itself has published about the D.D.S. Class of 2029 (entering fall 2026) and the cycle immediately before it, with every figure linked back to the exact UCLA page it came from.

UCLA admissions stats at a glance

UCLA's average DAT score

UCLA's published DAT figures for the D.D.S. Class of 2029 are "DAT averages of 23 overall and in science, and 22 in perceptual ability," per the school's own "Introducing the D.D.S. Class of 2029" page. UCLA doesn't explicitly label which scale those numbers are on, but scores in the 22–24 range are the older 1–30 DAT scale rather than the newer 200–600 scale the ADA now uses for score reports. Worth noting: UCLA published the identical 23/23/22 figures for the prior Class of 2028 on its admission selection process page, so this looks like a stable multi-year average rather than a one-cycle number.

If you're trying to figure out where a 23 AA or 22 PAT on the old scale actually lands relative to today's applicant pool, our DAT score percentiles guide walks through the ADA's official concordance and percentile tables, and our DAT score converter will translate an old-scale number to its new-scale equivalent in one click — useful context before you compare your own practice scores to what UCLA has historically enrolled.

UCLA's average GPA

UCLA reports the D.D.S. Class of 2029 entered with a "3.87 overall GPA / 3.85 science GPA," per the same class-of-2029 announcement. The school specifically calls out that the 3.85 science figure "ranks highest of any entering class" in the school's 61-year history — a notable jump, since the prior Class of 2028 was reported at 3.87 overall / 3.84 science on the admission selection process page. In other words, the overall GPA bar has held steady around 3.87 while the science GPA has been climbing.

Class size, deadline, and tuition

The Class of 2029 has 88 students (68 female, 20 male), per UCLA's own announcement, and that same 88-student figure was confirmed for the Class of 2028 on the admission selection process page — so UCLA's class size looks consistent year over year. On timing, UCLA's application process page states the AADSAS deadline is "December 1, 11:59 p.m. (ET). Applications past the deadline will not be accepted," and applicants must also complete the DAT itself no later than December 31.

For tuition, UCLA's tuition and costs page lists $52,880 per year for California residents and $65,125 per year for non-residents for the 2026–2027 academic year (the non-resident figure is the $52,880 base tuition and fees plus a $12,245 non-resident supplemental tuition charge). UCLA's page notes that "all fees are subject to change without prior notification," so treat this as a snapshot rather than a locked-in number for your cycle.

A few UCLA admissions quirks worth knowing

A handful of details from UCLA's own admissions pages are easy to miss but can affect whether you're even eligible to apply. Biochemistry is a required prerequisite with no laboratory component required, while human or comparative anatomy is only "recommended," not required — an unusual setup compared to many other dental schools, per UCLA's admissions materials. UCLA also does not accept online coursework for prerequisites or Canadian DAT scores, and all required prerequisite coursework must be completed by June 30 of the year you seek admission. If any of these apply to your situation, confirm the current wording directly on UCLA's admissions pages before you plan your prerequisite schedule.

Bottom line

UCLA's own numbers — a 23/23/22 DAT average, a GPA north of 3.85, and 88 seats a year — describe a competitive, small entering class, but UCLA does not publish an acceptance rate or a minimum score cutoff on its admissions pages, so we're not going to manufacture one. Use the figures above as the honest, sourced baseline, and check UCLA's admissions pages directly for anything specific to your application cycle.