.

(edited 7 years ago)

Hi,
I'm currently in year 12 and am hoping to study dentistry. I'm doing EPQ and I've heard that is looks good on your application and is often brought up and talked about in interviews. However EPQ is a LOT of work!
Looking through prospectuses a lot of uni's say they won't give extra credit to applicants with 4 A-levels instead of 3 so I don't know whether they would give credit to applicants having 5 AS levels instead of 4 (as many people may not get the opportunity to study 5).
That probably hasn't helped your decision much (sorry) but to be honest either option will show your academic ability so I'd take whichever you think you'll enjoy most :smile:

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 2

Elle.Alice

No problem :smile:

just make sure when you pick your question for EPQ that it actually is of interest to you else it'll be a nightmare to write!
Good luck with your GCSEs, I know they're a long way off but hey ho :smile:

Reply 3

Elle.Alice

Thank you!
I know the feeling, i've only got 9 school weeks left till I go on study leave! Trying not to freak out about it though :smile:

I'm taking biology, chemistry, physics and economics. I really like the look of Leeds, Newcastle and Bristol, unsure about my 4th choice of uni at the moment.

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

Reply 4

Rosaknows

To be honest, I don't think that 5th as level is needed; I go to a grammar school (same year as you) and almost no one takes 5 as its better to do really well in four than to do averagely in 5. It's your decision, but I think the four you have already chosen are good enough :rolleyes:

Reply 5

xoxoamyxoxo

Hi, im in year 13 and currently studying Chem, Bio, Maths & Further Maths and also doing the extended project this year. The Further Maths is alot more work than the exdented project and unless dentistry failed as a career for you then it probably isn't worth it for the amount of time you have to put in whereas if you link your extended project to dentistry like I did then. To be honest the extended porject doesn't take much time at all, I did all my research in a day, and I just have to write 5000 words now which will take max a day, and then presentation and evaulate, so I think it would be better to stick with your 4 AS's and take the extended project - plus it gives you something to talk about at interviews.

Hope that helps, if you have any questions let me know :smile:

Reply 6

Vian

Most dental schools only count Further Maths up to AS (despite the fact that its true difficulty arises in A2), showing that it's not nearly as highly regarded for dentistry as you might think. Also, I really doubt taking a 5^th AS would provide any advantage at all, though you can email dental schools if you want to make sure. I'd suggest simply focusing on 3.5 A-Levels to do as best you can.

However, if you really want to take up a 5^th option, I'd suggest the EPQ as it'd give you something to talk about in your interview (especially if it's related to dentistry).

Reply 7

JeevenSD

I did further maths as a fifth AS as well as an EPQ. I found that the further maths AS tied in quite well with normal maths so it wasn't completely irrelevant. But of course doing a fifth is completely optional and it didn't really help much for any of my UK dental school applications, but it might help if you need to apply internationally for dentistry. I did the EPQ in the summer after the end of year 12 so it didn't really cause too much of a hassle for me and the research was all fairly interesting.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 8

xoxoamyxoxo

No Physics isn't required, just Bio & Chemistry

Reply 9

xoxoamyxoxo

Original post by Jatz07

Hey,

However, on a more serious note, I was wondering - can you achieve grade a* in the EPQ?

Thanks in advance

Jatz

yep you can, at my college i have seen example A* EPQ and it doesn't seem that hard to achieve :smile:

Reply 10

ModernLove

I dont think EPQ would give you an advantage. I know people who have the exact same grades and predictions, one took EPQ the other didn't, the one with EPQ didn't do well in their UKCAT and the other did. Guess who got the offer. I'd rather just focus on UKCAT and work experience if I were you.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 11

Kartace

I'd say do the EPQ, after all further maths really isn't relevant to dentistry, whereas the ability to show logical thinking and scientific reasoning in an essay format is something you'll be expected to exhibit in university anyway. So for me it adds another dynamic to your character especially as you're already taking maths at A level. If i were the interviewer i would have much more to ask you about your EPQ than your further maths. Having said that, the UKCAT and getting an A grade in both Biology and Chemistry have to come in at a much higher importance.

For your EPQ, i would steer clear of clinical subjects like orthodontics, it's an extremely complex dental science and it would be hard to do it justice, unless you were to try and talk about orthodontics in the UK vs the USA or something. Try a topic like fluoridation of water sources or the controversy surrounding amalgam fillings, simple but effective and easy to find lots of information, research and conflicting opinions on, which will make the writing of your report all that much easier.

One final tiny point, people at "Queen Mary" prefer to be referred to as coming from "Barts and the London" to most intents and purposes we are basically a standalone dental school and we don't really have much association with QMUL in anything other than name, the only reason for that link is that a law that was passed a number of years ago, preventing standalone medical and dental school from awarding their own degrees and it required them to be affiliated to a larger body...in our case. Queen Mary university of London. Anyone attending Barts, even the lecturers call it 'Barts' and not 'QMUL', there's a bit of a rivalry to say the least! :tongue:

In addition to that, it might interest you to know that Barts are moving in to a brand new dental school next year and have a totally revamped curriculum aimed at producing the best and most widely skilled graduates. We have 5 year running courses in research based dentistry, mentoring children from the local areas into dental and medical careers as well as an increased clinical exposure with more outreach and hospital work. A lot of the work from year 3 is being put into year 2 as well as year 4 into year 3 etc. So as to allow for a faster progression and more clinical exposure.

Hope that's helped.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 12