The Student Room Group

Should I apply for dentistry?

I'm a year 13 student who just finished their Alevels. I got AAB with the B in maths. I didn't apply to dentistry last year because I wasn't fully sure if I wanted to do it over medicine.

I applied for medicine but I did some more dentistry work experience and decided I would want to do the course, especially with the state of medicine in the UK now. Unfortunately the deadline had already passed and I ended up not getting offers in med but had a UCAT score of 2810.

I'm looking into o studying abroad for dentistry in Bulgaria but would preferably study within the UK, as I don't want to be too far from my family😭. I don't want to risk taking a gap year and not getting in for dentistry and being in the same situation.

I know that Bristol, Plymouth, Leeds and Sheffield(?) accept resits but I would only be resitting my maths alevel. So would they accept me with the two A's as I know most people who apply are in their first cycle and are predicted all A*s. And because I didn't apply to dentistry initially Im not sure whether I will do well in the process of interviews etc.

I regret not applying this year as I am a BAME student and go to a state school so would have been eligible for contectual offer and I might have even gotten in.

I don't want to try through graduate entry as I've heard it's very competitive and I would rather just study for 6 years abroad.

I don't know whether I should take the risk and apply or not next year. Please give me some advice.
Reply 1
Original post by username6586713
I'm a year 13 student who just finished their Alevels. I got AAB with the B in maths. I didn't apply to dentistry last year because I wasn't fully sure if I wanted to do it over medicine.
I applied for medicine but I did some more dentistry work experience and decided I would want to do the course, especially with the state of medicine in the UK now. Unfortunately the deadline had already passed and I ended up not getting offers in med but had a UCAT score of 2810.
I'm looking into o studying abroad for dentistry in Bulgaria but would preferably study within the UK, as I don't want to be too far from my family😭. I don't want to risk taking a gap year and not getting in for dentistry and being in the same situation.
I know that Bristol, Plymouth, Leeds and Sheffield(?) accept resits but I would only be resitting my maths alevel. So would they accept me with the two A's as I know most people who apply are in their first cycle and are predicted all A*s. And because I didn't apply to dentistry initially Im not sure whether I will do well in the process of interviews etc.
I regret not applying this year as I am a BAME student and go to a state school so would have been eligible for contectual offer and I might have even gotten in.
I don't want to try through graduate entry as I've heard it's very competitive and I would rather just study for 6 years abroad.
I don't know whether I should take the risk and apply or not next year. Please give me some advice.


Hiya, I just finished my A-Levels too and I will be going to Georgia to do Dentistry instead of Bulgaria. I mainly chose Georgia instead because it is a LOT cheaper, the deadline for several universities in Bulgaria has passed and I didn’t want to sit an entrance exam as I did not think I would pass it - I didn’t do very well in my A-Levels. It also doesn’t require an interview so it is a good place. Dentistry abroad would just be 5 years, not 6.

Although it will be scary moving away from family, all of us are going to be in the same boat so it forms a very supportive community. If you truly want to study Dentistry, it is worth taking the risk.

Also, although some universities do accept resits, I think they prefer studies to be completed within a two-year period(?) so I would just research about that as I am not SUPER sure about that.

The university that I will be attending is called European University of Tbilisi. We chose this over other universities mainly because of location. It is close to supermarkets, pharmacies, restaurants and accommodations. Also, they are the only university with their own private dental clinic called EU Dent.

The agent that we have chosen to do this with is called Medlink - they offer free consultations so you can discuss your current situation and your options with them. They also offer several different countries too.

Graduate entry will be super hard especially for Dentistry. Although it seems like such a tough thing to do at the moment, it will be so worth it in the long run. You’re not the only one in this situation - there’s so many of us and you’ll easily meet people on your course and around you.

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