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Is work experience in dental practice essential for dentistry application?!

Hi guys,
Im currently in year 13 doing Alevels and have recently decided to apply for dentistry. I had initially thought of applying for medicine and did a lot of relevant work experience in GP surgery, elderly care home, charity shop, voluntary work, kids nursery and pharmacy over the past 2 years. I have also applied for a one day dentistry course but thats about it. It is quite last min and im finding it really difficult to arrange workexperience at a dental practice. I was wondering if the work experience i have done would be enough along with some extra curricular activites to include in my application, or is it necessary to have some experience in a dental environment??
Reply 1
Avatar for Adenine9
Adenine9
2
It's pretty necessary as most universities have a requirement of two weeks minimum and will be expecting you to draw upon your clinical experience in your PS and interview. Why the sudden change to dentistry?
Might be better to apply next year so you have time to get some work experience as it can be tricky to get. Have you done your UKCAT for this year as there aren't many places that don't require it.
I found this link quite useful http://www.applyingfordentalschool.co.uk/university-requirements-.html, but its probably also worth checking the uni websites aswell

Original post by Zainab14
Hi guys,
Im currently in year 13 doing Alevels and have recently decided to apply for dentistry. I had initially thought of applying for medicine and did a lot of relevant work experience in GP surgery, elderly care home, charity shop, voluntary work, kids nursery and pharmacy over the past 2 years. I have also applied for a one day dentistry course but thats about it. It is quite last min and im finding it really difficult to arrange workexperience at a dental practice. I was wondering if the work experience i have done would be enough along with some extra curricular activites to include in my application, or is it necessary to have some experience in a dental environment??
Reply 4
Avatar for Zainab14
Zainab14
OP
2
Original post by Aaron Bernbaum
I found this link quite useful http://www.applyingfordentalschool.co.uk/university-requirements-.html, but its probably also worth checking the uni websites aswell


Thank you!!

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Hey!

Yeah, I would say the dental WE is definitely essential, HOWEVER you can still draw on the healthcare work you have already done, it could be really valuable in your interview. With the GP stuff - it will show the interviewers why you ad a change of mind. For the elderly home etc, most dental schools consider that just as valuable as dental WE, and is often expected too (however it doesn't count as dental WE).

Try and get some more in before interview - I know it's an absolute pain to organise and the universities know this, just be persistent.

Don't be disheartened! Good luck if you've applied already :smile:

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