can i get into dentistry?
Im really hoping to get into bristol or manchester for dentistry. I ended up getting a 9 in physics, and 8s in all my other subjects for gcses. Im predicted A*AA for A levels in chemistry, biology and maths.
so far with work experience I have 2 weeks in 2 separate dental clinics and 1 week doing clerical work at a practice.
Ive done bronze, silver and gold of dofe, the national citizenship service which allowed me to raise £700 for charity and 4 years of volunteering at barnados. As well as this im currently doing HE+ (which is a Cambridge supercurricular thing)
As for hobbies, I do lots of manual dexterity projects like crocheting, knitting and sewing which has got me pretty good motor skills.
provided I get a good UCAT score, how likely am I to get into bristol uni and are there any other things i can do to boost my application?? Also are there any good books i can read as wider reading???
so far with work experience I have 2 weeks in 2 separate dental clinics and 1 week doing clerical work at a practice.
Ive done bronze, silver and gold of dofe, the national citizenship service which allowed me to raise £700 for charity and 4 years of volunteering at barnados. As well as this im currently doing HE+ (which is a Cambridge supercurricular thing)
As for hobbies, I do lots of manual dexterity projects like crocheting, knitting and sewing which has got me pretty good motor skills.
provided I get a good UCAT score, how likely am I to get into bristol uni and are there any other things i can do to boost my application?? Also are there any good books i can read as wider reading???
It seems you have a good collection of things so far. Wider reading does help but at the end it depends how well you put everything together in your personal statement. Its honestly hard to say how likely you can get into a uni since admissions are different across the board.
I wouldn't overload yourself with more things to add to your portfolio as just adding 2 or 3 things and talking about them passionately and how they've impacted your decisions to choose dentistry is whats important. if you end up having too many things to include, it ends up being listy and admissions hate seeing that.
Your other activities such as your knitting will probably be a very small paragraph, maybe just 1 or 2 lines as this wont really be of much relevance to your application.
Since you're already predicted quite high grades then the only concern for you is constructing all of those extracurriculars into something that shows you really want to get into dentistry and not just because you did it for the sake of it.
I wouldn't overload yourself with more things to add to your portfolio as just adding 2 or 3 things and talking about them passionately and how they've impacted your decisions to choose dentistry is whats important. if you end up having too many things to include, it ends up being listy and admissions hate seeing that.
Your other activities such as your knitting will probably be a very small paragraph, maybe just 1 or 2 lines as this wont really be of much relevance to your application.
Since you're already predicted quite high grades then the only concern for you is constructing all of those extracurriculars into something that shows you really want to get into dentistry and not just because you did it for the sake of it.
With your current stats, you certainly are capable of getting an offer.
All of the things you are doing are absolutely great for a dental application. One 9 and eight 8s is a great set of GCSE scores and enough to get past the Manchester and Bristol entry requirements. On paper, 2 weeks and 4 years of (hopefully regular and not once every two months kinda thing) volunteering at Barnardos is really sufficient for a strong applicant. However, I think the more important thing is to actually show what you've learnt. Having a great CV is all well and good but if you volunteer at say, a charity shop where you don't interact at all then you haven't really gained anything from that. Make sure your communication skills are up to par, make sure that you understand what your work experience actually entailed (I hope you brought a notebook and was furiously writing down any questions and anything interesting you noticed).
"Provided you get a UCAT score" is also a little bit shaky, Bristol will have an increased UCAT threshold, this year's medicine was around 2890 ish and dentistry will likely hover a little bit below that at around 2780 ish by my estimates, but I could be wrong. What is good, is that you've got the bulk work out of the way. Spend your summer, about a month focusing on the UCAT, if you want, do some volunteering, do some medical work experience to see if that's something you might want to pursue. Otherwise, I would probably spend the summer relaxing (as really it's the only time you have left before the A level year), maybe getting a little bit of interview stuff/knowledge out of the way and prep for your A-levels.
Bristol puts an emphasis on creativity in their interview, and Manchester (if memory serves me correct) tends to do an MMI followed by a group "chat". Bristol has the infamous "matchbox" task, so do with that what you will, although really it's no hurry. If you did your work experience during L6, or before L6, then I would maybe encourage you to go for 1 more week of work experience somewhere (anywhere really medical, or dental or otherwise), because if you have reflected on your work experience you will realize some things you did previously were a) horrendously wrong or b) mildly inappropriate, and make sure you learn what to do this time, and write everything down. Try and get some work experience in maxfax if you can, or with oral surgery (which should be a little less difficult with covid more or less over). Maybe do some online MOOCs, or online courses for dentistry.
In terms of books, really, just do whatever you fancy. I'm sure you know of the typical books - This is going to Hurt, A Breath of air (or something by Paul Kalanthi), The Smile Stealers, etc. (I even read like a quarter of a dental nurses' textbook but that was pretty useless so I don't recommend doing that), but they're really not gonna ask about any books in the interview. Read books if you're actually interested, don't read it for the sake of it. Hope this helps, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.
All of the things you are doing are absolutely great for a dental application. One 9 and eight 8s is a great set of GCSE scores and enough to get past the Manchester and Bristol entry requirements. On paper, 2 weeks and 4 years of (hopefully regular and not once every two months kinda thing) volunteering at Barnardos is really sufficient for a strong applicant. However, I think the more important thing is to actually show what you've learnt. Having a great CV is all well and good but if you volunteer at say, a charity shop where you don't interact at all then you haven't really gained anything from that. Make sure your communication skills are up to par, make sure that you understand what your work experience actually entailed (I hope you brought a notebook and was furiously writing down any questions and anything interesting you noticed).
"Provided you get a UCAT score" is also a little bit shaky, Bristol will have an increased UCAT threshold, this year's medicine was around 2890 ish and dentistry will likely hover a little bit below that at around 2780 ish by my estimates, but I could be wrong. What is good, is that you've got the bulk work out of the way. Spend your summer, about a month focusing on the UCAT, if you want, do some volunteering, do some medical work experience to see if that's something you might want to pursue. Otherwise, I would probably spend the summer relaxing (as really it's the only time you have left before the A level year), maybe getting a little bit of interview stuff/knowledge out of the way and prep for your A-levels.
Bristol puts an emphasis on creativity in their interview, and Manchester (if memory serves me correct) tends to do an MMI followed by a group "chat". Bristol has the infamous "matchbox" task, so do with that what you will, although really it's no hurry. If you did your work experience during L6, or before L6, then I would maybe encourage you to go for 1 more week of work experience somewhere (anywhere really medical, or dental or otherwise), because if you have reflected on your work experience you will realize some things you did previously were a) horrendously wrong or b) mildly inappropriate, and make sure you learn what to do this time, and write everything down. Try and get some work experience in maxfax if you can, or with oral surgery (which should be a little less difficult with covid more or less over). Maybe do some online MOOCs, or online courses for dentistry.
In terms of books, really, just do whatever you fancy. I'm sure you know of the typical books - This is going to Hurt, A Breath of air (or something by Paul Kalanthi), The Smile Stealers, etc. (I even read like a quarter of a dental nurses' textbook but that was pretty useless so I don't recommend doing that), but they're really not gonna ask about any books in the interview. Read books if you're actually interested, don't read it for the sake of it. Hope this helps, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Original post by Jane965
Im really hoping to get into bristol or manchester for dentistry. I ended up getting a 9 in physics, and 8s in all my other subjects for gcses. Im predicted A*AA for A levels in chemistry, biology and maths.
so far with work experience I have 2 weeks in 2 separate dental clinics and 1 week doing clerical work at a practice.
Ive done bronze, silver and gold of dofe, the national citizenship service which allowed me to raise £700 for charity and 4 years of volunteering at barnados. As well as this im currently doing HE+ (which is a Cambridge supercurricular thing)
As for hobbies, I do lots of manual dexterity projects like crocheting, knitting and sewing which has got me pretty good motor skills.
provided I get a good UCAT score, how likely am I to get into bristol uni and are there any other things i can do to boost my application?? Also are there any good books i can read as wider reading???
so far with work experience I have 2 weeks in 2 separate dental clinics and 1 week doing clerical work at a practice.
Ive done bronze, silver and gold of dofe, the national citizenship service which allowed me to raise £700 for charity and 4 years of volunteering at barnados. As well as this im currently doing HE+ (which is a Cambridge supercurricular thing)
As for hobbies, I do lots of manual dexterity projects like crocheting, knitting and sewing which has got me pretty good motor skills.
provided I get a good UCAT score, how likely am I to get into bristol uni and are there any other things i can do to boost my application?? Also are there any good books i can read as wider reading???
more than enough just focus on ucat and aim for 750 +
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