The Dental Admission Test (DAT) is the standardized exam that all dental school applicants must complete to apply to dental schools in the U.S. The American Dental Association (ADA) has announced significant updates to the DAT scoring system and how it affects your application, starting on March 1, 2025. In this article, we review the official DAT score conversion table, or "concordance table" for the DAT to correlate two-digit DAT scores to three-digit DAT scores.
DAT Score Conversion Table
According to the American Dental Association (ADA), the official conversion table for linking new DAT scores to the old DAT scores is below. There is a separate conversion table for linking old two-digit scores to the new three-digit scores.
Conversion table for linking old DAT scores to the new DAT score reporting scale:
If you have already taken your DAT exam and received a 2-digit score, use the table below to correlate your 2-digit DAT score to the new 3-digit DAT score scale.
New DAT Score Percentiles
The ADA has not released DAT score percentiles since 2017. However, in January 2025, the ADA released new DAT percentiles, based on over 30,000 DAT attempts. Percentiles indicate what percentage of test takers score that specific score, or lower. A higher percentile indicates better performance. For example, a 95th percentile score means that 95% of test-takers score below that score, and only 5% of test takers score above that score.
Implications of the New DAT Scoring for Applicants
Validity of Previous Scores
Dental schools will continue to accept applicants who apply with a two-digit score, even after March 2025. You can apply to dental schools with either a two-digit score or a three-digit score.
AADSAS Application Process
The application process through the ADEA AADSAS (American Dental Education Association Associated American Dental Schools Application Service) will accommodate both scoring systems. Dental school applicants will be able to self-report their scores, regardless of whether they are two-digit or three-digit scores. All official scores will be sent from the ADA to ADEA AADSAS, as has previously been done, even before the score change.
The upcoming changes to the DAT scoring system reflects a commitment to enhancing the precision of the dental school admissions process.
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About the Author: Dr. Andrew Ghadimi, DDS
Dr. Andrew graduated from UCLA's School of Dentistry and served on the ADEA AADSAS Advisory Board, helping run the dental school application, AADSAS. He also served as the National Pre-Dental Liaison for the American Dental Education Association (ADEA), the same organization that runs the dental school application. While at UCLA's School of Dentistry, he also served on the Council of Students, Residents, and Fellows Board, as the Pre-Dental Chair for California. He has mentored and advised 450+ pre-dentals on their journey to dental school and helped pre-dentals receive over $1,000,000 in scholarships in addition to acceptances to some of the most competitive dental schools in the country, including Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, UF, UCLA, and many others.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to UCLA, UCLA School of Dentistry, ADEA, or any other organization.