Applying to dentistry through biomedical science

Hello, I am currently at my final year of biomedical science degree and doing my UCAT exam to apply for dental school by October. I am currently reading a lot about people experiences and how are they finding it difficult and not receiving any offers even that they had a biomedical science degree. I am new to the field and I have only got two months to finish my application. I have spoken to some uni’s like Bristol and Newcastle and told them about my situation they said that I can apply through my current degree, but it’s still competitive. I am so nervous of what could happen if I get rejected. I have came long way for this. (The reason why I didn’t apply straight to dentistry because I couldn’t enter A levels as I came late to the UK, however I worked hard to achieve this goal and here I am). I really need advices of what I can do in terms of applying, graduate or undergraduate, and if not is there still ways I can fit through clearing please inform me ? Thank you

Reply 1

Scotland Yard

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

Graduate entry Medicine and Dentistry are quite possibly the most competitive courses in the UK - certainly the most competitive that I know of (saw a GEM programme once with a whopping competition ratio of 36 applicants per place :eek:

). You ideally want to ace the UCAT and aim for a 1st in your degree (the requirement is a 2:1 and that ought to do but this is the sort of thing where you really do want to go above and beyond to maximise your chances!) but even then, there's a possibility that you might be rejected. And that's OK! If you have a look at people applying for graduate entry med/dent, you'll see a large proportion don't get in on their first attempt - it sucks, yes, but ultimately if you ask for feedback, improve and keep trying, you'll succeed. Still a good idea to have a plan on what to do if you need to take a gap year or two before getting into dentistry.

In terms of graduate/undergraduate, you're more likely to get in via a standard undergraduate degree because it'll be less competitive. But you'll have to self-fund the tuition fees until you're eligible for the NHS bursary, which will only come into play in the last year or two of your degree. So economically, it's better for you to apply for an accelerated graduate course (that does attract some funding but you'll have to pay up ~£3k only during your first year in advance), but the trade-off is that it'll be more competitive. There are only a handful of graduate dentistry courses so you might have to apply to a mixture. Up to you really where you want to apply. Good luck!

(edited 8 months ago)

Reply 2

rashid7x

Thank you for your time and thanks for the advice my dear friend. I will take that into consideration. Just one point that wasn’t clear to me is the funding, I am not much familiar with this type of transformation from one degree to another. I am not sure if student finance will help me funds my second degree as I have talked to them before they said they might help me with the two first years I am totally sure. You mentioned something like NHS bursary which is the first time I heard of it could you please inform me more about how to finance so I can prepare myself from this point! Thank you so much.

Reply 3

Scotland Yard

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

Original post by rashid7x

Well, basically:
-The accelerated 4 year programme attracts student finance funding that will cover most of your fees, except for £3,465 during your first year, that you'll have to pay from your own pocket. On years 2 onwards there will be an NHS bursary that will cover anything that student finance won't cover.
-The regular 5/6 year degree would count as a second degree, so it attracts 0 funding from student finance. You'd have to self-fund the £9250 for the first years of your degree and then in the last year or two (I forget which one is it) there is a NHS bursary that will pay for your tuition fees, or at least a part of them (I'm unsure although the information is freely available on the NHS website). You will however be eligible for a maintenance loan.

All of this is if you're classed as a home student. I have no clue how it works for international students