Newcastle Biomed Transfer into Dentistry

Hi! I would like to ask about newcastle’s internal transfer route into dentistry. Understand a good UCAT score is needed, is this aligned with the UCAT threshold for the regular admission route?

Anyone care to share some success stories / your actual UCAT score ?

Don't bother with the transfer. It's a lot more competitive than reapplying and you're limited to one dental school.

Yeah I know it is competitive but it seems like the only option for me. I had already taken a gap year to work + my school leaving qualification is not recognized by the BDS program (but it is for biomed) [Im international]. I dont wish to extend my break from studying anymore

Additionally, the dental council of my home country only recognises a few dental schools in the UK, newcastle being one of them, so it’s not like I have much options anyway. :/

Sorry to hear. You might want to double check with Newcastle via email or FOI request but the transfer is probably close to impossible for international students as there's a quota for international students studying dentistry and medicine in the UK. Are there any particular reasons to why you want to study in the UK? You could consider studying in your home country or another country which recognises your qualifications.

Thanks for your advice! I am also technically a British Citizen (im dual), even though I grew up and studied elsewhere. I was offered home fees for Biomed so I assume that gives me an advantage as I dont really classify as “international” though my qualifications are not local.

There’s only 1 dental school where I’m from and I got rejected twice so I’m looking to study in the UK since i get to pay home fees as well. The other countries like Australia/NZ are just way too expensive (over half a million dollars)

Double check everything with Newcastle before you make your final decision but I would still not recommend it.

Hiya, I've done biomed transfer to medicine this year (starting med this sept) so hopefully can help a bit. Definitely agree with Salamander's comment about transfer being very competitive - about 80 for med, 20 for dent showed interest in the transfer lecture but there were only up to 7 places available for med and 2 for dentistry and I know in 2020 they only filled 1 of the dent places.

For me I needed over 75% across my modules and over 65% in every individual module. There's also interview and ucat, as is the case with standard entry. I'm aware the dentistry transfer scheme is very similar to the med one I did, but they made my friend who got dent offer do another ucat in the summer before starting, whereas for med I could use my previous year score. You need to be mentally prepared to do three years of biomed if you're not successful in the transfer so make sure you're confident in your decision - but I wish you the best and if you succeed it makes getting in feel even sweeter!

Heyy I'm looking to apply for the transfer route to dentistry I'm going to be doing my ucat next couple of days, so do mean that if I was to get an offer I would then have to do it again next summer? Also what's the average ucat interview threshold? Ty

No idea why they made my friend do another ucat (she didn't seem to know either!) - with med transfer you can use ucat score from previous two years so assumed it was the same for dent transfer until that happened. You'll have a lecture about the transfer in November-December so you'll find out the exact process for dent transfer then.

Ucat threshold all depends on the scores of those who apply and they don't tell you afterwards what the threshold was. Generally though the threshold tends to be lower than standard entry (ncl standard entry ucat threshold is notoriously high) but remember you have to go through the trauma of chasing the 75/65 in your modules!

If you're going for the transfer I wish you the best! With a good work ethic it's defo achievable, but obviously as I always say you have to be prepared to do three years of biomed if things don't work out

Thank you for all the information and advice!!! I think I'll also talk about transferring to dental hygiene/therapy if the transfer doesn't work out