Chances Of Dentistry!

Hi,

I'm a Year 12 student and I really want to study Dentistry. With the upcoming January AS-Level exams I am getting really stressed out and worried about how likely it is I will get a place seeing as I understand how fierce the competition was, particulary this year, and how much harder it is going to be to get a place in the upcoming years.

Basically, I've written down a profile of my achievements etc. and wanted to know what people thought my chances were of getting in, and also what else I could do to improve my chances.

Academic achievements:

GCSEs - 4A* and 10A's
Already achieved a B in Theology AS-Level last year.
AS-Level Predictions - Mathematics (A), Biology (A), Chemistry (A), Further Maths (B)

Work experience:

3 Weeks General practice, 1 week orthodontic work experience, 1 week abroad
Started voluntary work in charity shop once a week since November.
Worked in Kumon Centre teaching Mathematics and English to younger children - once a week for 6 months.
Participate in Maths Mentoring at school (teach a year 7 student maths one lunchtime a week).

Manual Dexterity:

Grade 6 Piano.

Univeristy experience:

Took part in a one week summer school at UCL.

Stuff which I am planning to do - have applied for a prefect and to be a peer mentor and am waiting to see if I got the place.

Thank-you!

Reply 1

Shopaholic94

.............anyone?!?!

Reply 2

paddie

We'd need to know your UKCAT score as that can make or break your application regardless of work experience and grades. (obvioiusly you haven't sat the test yet, so it's hard to say). :smile:

Reply 3

Shopaholic94

Original post by paddie

We'd need to know your UKCAT score as that can make or break your application regardless of work experience and grades. (obvioiusly you haven't sat the test yet, so it's hard to say). :smile:

Yeah thats obviously a factor. Thank-you for replying though :smile:

Reply 4

paddie

Original post by Shopaholic94

Yeah thats obviously a factor. Thank-you for replying though :smile:

Sorry I wasn't much help, it's hard to evaluate your chances when you've only done your GCSEs and still have a year left to apply. :smile:

You'll probably do more stuff over the year and improve on work experience and extra-curricular.

Reply 5

xPixie

Hey, I'm applying for dentistry this year so I could hopefully give you some help :tongue:

Your GCSEs seem fine, I'm assuming that achieved A*/A for Double/Triple Science, Maths & English Language. Your predicted grades for AS are also great! I'd advice you to drop Further Maths at A2 because most unis only accept it up to AS as I presume they think it's too similar to Maths (duh :tongue:

) & also Chem & Bio are nearly always compulsory for Dentistry :smile:

For the time being, concentrate on getting As in your AS levels :smile:

That's your main goal at the moment.

Your work experience is impressive, so is your voluntary work. I would advice you to take part in more extra-curricular activities at school as most unis want to see that you're integrated within school life.. Perhaps join a sports team or something along those lines?

As for competition getting more fiercer, I would say applicants for the 2011 entry has it harder than when you'll be applying as tuition fees will be rising & I'm guessing more people might be a bit iffy about applying for dentistry, though I could be wrong..

Hope that helped. :smile:

EDIT - Oh, one more thing! Do you think you could possibly do more manual dexterity? Piano is great, but I think they might want to 'see' your manual dexterity in hard copy (if that made any sense :tongue:

)

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 6

Shopaholic94

Original post by xPixie

Hey, I'm applying for dentistry this year so I could hopefully give you some help :tongue:

) & also Chem & Bio are nearly always compulsory for Dentistry :smile:

For the time being, concentrate on getting As in your AS levels :smile:

)

Thank-you soooo much! For my A* in GCSE I got them in Chemistry, English Literature and 2 A* in ICT. But I did get a GCSE in maths, statistics and additional maths at an A grade in all so I don't think that'll be a problem.

And yes, I will definitely drop further maths at AS because I'm finding really difficult and don't even know if I'll be able to get a B at this rate!