Bulletin of Dental Education Article

ADEA has released the data report for the U.S. Dental School Applicants and Enrollees, 2025 Entering Class. The data report is available on the ADEA Oral Health Applicants and Enrollees webpage, in the Predoctoral Oral Health Students section.

Key findings from this year’s report include:

• The applicant pool continues to show long‑term resilience, reaching its highest level in a decade after rebounding quickly from the 2020 dip and accelerating again in 2023.
• First‑time, first‑year enrollment increased as well, with the 2025 entering class being the largest cohort since 2000.
• Applicant growth is beginning to outpace available seats, reflected in a higher applicant‑to‑enrollee ratio; overall admissions patterns remain consistent across U.S. Census regions.

The report provides a detailed analysis of the applicants and first-time, first-year enrollees in the 2025 U.S. predoctoral dental school entering class, including characteristics such as state of residence at the time of application, academic credentials (GPA and DAT score) and major field of study. It also features a 26-year trend overview, from 2000 to 2025.

In addition to the national report, ADEA has updated two dashboards in the ADEA Data Portal:

• The Applicant Analysis Dashboard (open to all ADEA members) provides national benchmarks for applicants, accepted applicants, non-accepted applicants and first-time, first-year enrollees.
• Your School’s Applicants Dashboard (restricted access) allows your institution to compare its applicant pool with national benchmarks over one or more years.

• Users can explore results by categories such as applicant’s undergraduate institution location, mean GPA, mean DAT scores and undergraduate major.
• If you would like to access your school’s applicants dashboard, please request access through the dashboard.

All ADEA members have access free-of-charge to the ADEA Data Portal available at dataportal.adea.org.

Please direct any questions to adeadata@adea.org.

Published on April 8, 2026