studying dentistry abroad in france

Hello,

This year, I will retake my A-levels because I am unable to practise dentistry in the UK and must instead pursue a postgraduate degree, as I didn't get a good ucat. I therefore considered the next best option, which is to practise dentistry abroad.

have completed my entire education in the UK. i would like to know more about the French dental school application procedure. I should probably mention that I was born in France, am a citizen of France, and have a French passport. I'm not sure if I would be treated like a French student or an international student. Please inform me of the costs, requirements, and deadlines for dentistry abroad. I am authorised to live permanently in the UK.

Reply 1

Redsnail*

Hi there, I hope I can help you with this question.

I think you should check, I know Sheffield accepts resit applicants, but they ask very high resit grades, same for Queen Belfast And Manchester.
This what I found online, so you should check and not taking my word for it, as the graduate entry option is very competitive and beyond expensive:
Belfast AAA AAB at A-level or a maximum of one A- level grade below the standard accepted in the previous year, if lower.
Birmingham AAA Only with extenuating circumstances
Bristol AAA The department will consider applicants who resit their qualifications.
Cardiff AAA We do not accept resits for A-levels (or equivalent) unless you have been successful at interview and accept our offer as your Firm choice.
Glasgow AAA Qualifications must be obtained at the first sitting (SO... NO)
KCL A*AA Allows resits
Leeds AAA Allows one resit attempt*
Liverpool AAA Only with extenuating circumstances
Manchester AAA (A*AA for Resit) Yes but need BBB in first sit
Queen Mary AAA Only if extenuating circumstances are linked to Equalities Act 2010
Newcastle AAA Only with extenuating circumstances
Plymouth AAA - AAA Yes but ABB required at first sit
Sheffield AAA Resit allowed
Email the unis and see what they say.

Now for the Abroad option, great as you can speak a different language, meet new people, so basically a long term Erasmus and bla bla lol. First you need to choose the university where to study in France and sit the competitive exam called PASS. You must be strategic with your choice as this will determin if you get in or not. In the first year you will learn several modules, the first year is the same for all the limited seats courses: Med, Dent and Pharm. During those 9 months you will learn the topics covered in the final test: PASS. However, most of the people I met who were succesful took private tutoring, imagine 40 hours a week of studying plus tutoring. You see, most people fail on the Physics portion of the exam because although the topics are covered during the year, the questions on the exam are harder on purpose to mantain the 20% quota. Then they make a distinction within the quota for resident and non-resident students. Number of seats for non-residents, regardless of their nationality, it is even smaller. Thus, if you are French but resident abroad you qualify as non-resident for quota purposes but you will pay public fees as you are French aka EU citizen. They will know you are not resident from your school certificates from the UK so there is no point in trying to hide it lol. They will ask you to do "equivalence de diplômes" of your transcripts anyways, signed by local authorities etc. They used to have the same program in Belgium which was scrapped and exchanged for the national exam. The national exam is duable, but you must be extremely strong in Math and Physics, Chem and Bio are more managable. To mantain the quota the Belgium test centers some years make more difficult one sections, the next another. They also have a situational judgement, but that is way easier than the UK version. The thing is that in Belgium you can take the entry exam only twice, after that you need to wait 5 years. In France if you "fail" PASS you can transfer in a course without capped seats and ask some of your exams to be condoned for prior learning, so you do not need to sit the same exam twice. Most french students go on and study something else or go to study privately in Spain, Italy or eastern EU. If you speak French as a native or almost I suggest you to make a solid plan. If you really want to study in France, register to study PASS, then register to sit the national exam in Belgium, thirdly apply to Dentistry in another EU country by studying in English as a back up (Malta, Italy, Spain, Greece, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuenia, Estonia etc). All of those countries have unis teaching Dentistry in English, some have state fees other private fees, some have entry tests, some do not. The first option is obviously your preference (France), the second (Belgium) it is in my opinion close enough and allows you study in French or Flemish, the third option is to study somewhere else in English. The other EU country that I know that has undergraduate Dentistry in French is Romania, but I am not well informed about that program. With a EU degree you can practice anywhere, in France they care about the language, more than were you graduated, since these days even French doctors graduated abroad. Apply to all three options and see who takes you. The belgium unis have free or very cheap preparatory courses for the exams available in person or online starting from June and the exam is in September of the same year of entry. Belgium is 2h train away from London (UK) and 1h train from Lille (FR), so quite convenient, I have family there. If you do not get in France at least you have other options to fall into. Remeber, after graduation if you want to practice in France: Your language skills, your final degree scores and the national "concur" will allow you to get a place in the hospital/town and specialization you like.I hope it helps :smile: