What should i do

Hi, I'm a Year 10 student and I really want to study dentistry. In my Year 10 mock exams, I got three 7s, two 9s, and three 8s. I’ve done work experience at a primary school, but I originally wanted to do it in the healthcare sector. Unfortunately, many placements were taken by students doing apprenticeships.

I'm feeling a bit unsure about what steps I need to take next. How can I improve my chances of getting into dentistry, especially at universities like King's College London (KCL) or Queen Mary University (QMU)? I know the acceptance rates are really low, and it’s starting to feel overwhelming. I would really appreciate some guidance on what I should be doing now to improve my chances.

Reply 1

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

Enjoy yourself and study for your GCSEs! Stuff you do now won’t go on your application because it’ll be too long ago really to be talked about (stick to stuff done during late year 11 into year 12 is what i was told)

Reply 2

Flower2007!

Original post

by username6278660

Hi, I'm a Year 10 student and I really want to study dentistry. In my Year 10 mock exams, I got three 7s, two 9s, and three 8s. I’ve done work experience at a primary school, but I originally wanted to do it in the healthcare sector. Unfortunately, many placements were taken by students doing apprenticeships.
I'm feeling a bit unsure about what steps I need to take next. How can I improve my chances of getting into dentistry, especially at universities like King's College London (KCL) or Queen Mary University (QMU)? I know the acceptance rates are really low, and it’s starting to feel overwhelming. I would really appreciate some guidance on what I should be doing now to improve my chances.

don’t be overwhelmed, you’re in y10 and seem determined, there’s so much you can do in the next two years to improve your chances!
okay so well done on your mock grades esp for y10, but for the real thing you’re gonna wanna aim for 8s and 9s especially for kcl! if you only get like 8s tho then dw because they count is as the same amount of points as a 9 because they’re both A*, but yeah. maybe one 7 or smth is fine but below that and your chances for kcl will be decreasing as they do consider gcses a lot idky.

icl thats the biggest thing you can do for now because you’re only in y10. you can try work experience but you’ll probably have to do another one in y11 summer then because the unis like these types of experiences to be relevant and recent. you can maybe start volunteering after y10 so that on your ps you can say you’ve done it for a few years which shows longevity (kcl likes that), but even then, if you started at the end of y11 or a little later it wouldn’t rly disadvantage you or anytning. just as long as it’s more than a couple months or smth bc that doesn’t show much commitment but worst case scenario, anything is better than nothing.

try doing some reading for now if you have time. you’ll want to do most of this supercurricular stuff in y12 tbh but you can start now if you rly wanna. attend events and lectures or watch some lectures online and make notes. learn about different treatments and give some presentations on them eg water fluoridation if you get a chance. but again it’s quite early on and ppl typically do all this stuff in y12. fr the most important thing for now is gcses. getting those 8s and 9s will put you in a rly good position.

for wex later on, for me i just had to call up every dental clinic near me as i’m not widening participation sadly so i have no special programmes to join or anything. every single one said they don’t have availability apart from 1. i did it for one week (that was all that i could do there) although most people say it’s best to do two weeks so try as hard as possible to get that instead.

acceptance rates are terrifyingly low but don’t be discouraged. even if the worst happens and you get rejections, you can take a gap year. i know this will sound like a silly idea as it’s not what you have in mind and you’re still at very early stages, but what else can you do in that situation? a lottttttt of people have to take gap years for dent because of how competitive it is.

in y11 summer maybe you can start to do some reading ahead on the subjects you’ll take at a level (there are videos on youtube about bridging the knowledge gap from gcse to a level , for example i think ms estruch did one for bio). work really hard for a levels because kcl and qm need A*AA. you get lower than that and you have not much change at all unless you already got an offer in which case they may (V SMALL CHANCE THO) accept like AAA or smth on results day. do not bank on this. if on results day you get less than A*AA with no offers, you pretty much have to resit or change degrees. qm does NOT accept resits though so you wouldn’t be able to apply there anymore. kcl accepts resits but you’d be slightly disadvantaged because they do prefer people that got the grades the first time. but still go for it

sorry for such a long and maybe scary message. i’m just speaking from
experience. i’m having to take a gap year and maybe even a second :frown:

i don’t want you to end up like me because it’s stressful. dent applications, especially at kcl and qm is cutthroat. btw don’t listen to people discouraging you from applying to kcl and qm bc of how competitive it is. if you are clever and know you have a chance, go for it. don’t compromise. it’s wise to have some safer options definitely! but if you rly are set on staying in london then go for it as long as your stats are good

any more questions pls lmk and best of luck w gcses next year