The Student Room Group

Apply For Dentistry Now, or Take a Gap Year?

Hi

I'm in a bit of a pickle

I start Year 13 in September.

My predicted grades will be bumped up to A*AB (A* in bio, A in PTE, B in chem) if I perform well in my September assessments and show evidence that I worked hard on my subjects during this summer holiday. My GCSE grades were 987776665. Due to COVID-19, I have no work experience, similar to most of us.

However, I intend to do a dentistry MOOC and some further reading and watch some TED Talks to provide evidence for my personal statement (which I haven't started yet).

I've also heard they look at A*A*A and above when considering inviting someone for a dentistry interview- does anyone know if this is true for Newcastle/plymouth? (Regarding interview invitations AND actual offers)

So my question is, would it be likely for me to get an interview?

Or should I focus the time that would've been spent on UCAT/Lectures/Further Reading on solidifying year 12 content so I can smash my A Levels and apply with those by taking a gap year?

If I were to do that, my main worry would be still not finding work experience and so it being slightly pointless besides getting better grades.

Also, if anyone knows of any dental work experience that's still available THIS August, that might solve some things

P.S. I'd be eligible for the contextual offer at Newcastle, which is apparently as low as BBB, but I'm worried about even being asked for an interview mainly.
If I were you, I would just go for it and apply this year as you have nothing to loose. If you manage to get in, then great. If you don't, then you had already considered this as an outcome anyway so you won't be too surprised, and you'll have next year to reapply.

With regards to the A*A*A cutoff, I'm not familiar with Plymouth with Newcastle dental schools specifically, but I highly doubt they only consider students with those grades - obviously having those predicted grades would give you an advantage, but as long as you have the required predicted grades, I see no reason to worry about that.

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you