Applying for dental school

So you want to be a dentist?

Every year, around September time, I often receive emails or messages asking about the dental application process, and I usually direct people towards one of my earliest blogposts- “The journey so far”.
After going back to this post, I have realised it’s not actually that helpful! So….delving through all the hard research that I did during the time I applied for dentistry, I have decided to write a post based on my experience of the whole application process (if I can remember that far back!), offering some advice and help to those embarking on this process. I will also be doing a separate post on the interview process too at a later date.

I am currently on the graduate entry BDS course at King’s College London, so most of this advice will be from a graduate point of view, but may still be useful for those who are not graduates.

If you have already submitted your application through UCAS and have secured an interview you may want to skip this post and go straight to my blog on “Surviving Interviews”.

Why did I choose dentistry?

Unfortunately I’m not one of those who has always known I have wanted to study dentistry since “the day I could walk” and nor did I want to do dentistry because of some horrific ordeal in my life that resulted in a new born passion. Boring, I know. I chose to study dentistry after thorough research (both regarding the profession and the demands of the BDS course), work experience and a comprehensive understanding of what the profession entails. This took careful consideration, weighing up the pros and cons, establishing my motivations and expectations and thoroughly considering whether or not I could hack a further 4 years of education. It was only then, when I was certain of all these things, that I knew dentistry was right for me.

I have always been a very “hands-on” type of person with a very strong interest in science in general, but not really any specific passion in one single profession except that I knew I wanted to help people and make their lives better. Armed with this, I made my way through the world, first by choosing science based A-levels, and then by doing a degree in Biomedical science because I initially wanted to go into cancer research, as there were people in my life at the time affected by cancer, and this spurred my heart to head in this direction. After completing my final year project for my BSc, I knew that research was not for me and so I started to explore my options by doing work experience in numerous doctor and dental practices, combined with research into each profession and now here I am. And so, even though this is not an exciting reason, and by far an inspirational one, it’s the truth, and I wake up every day knowing that I am very lucky to be doing something that, not only I have chosen to do, but also something I love, and that is better than any magnificent story. Here is my experience of how I am here today:

Universities & entry requirements

There is no need for me to go into this; the topic is fantastically summarized by TSR.

For a summary of the dental schools and contact details go to: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Dental_School_Contact_Details

For a list of entry requirements for undergraduate dentistry go to: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Dentistry_Entry_Requirements

For graduate entry go to: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Graduate_Entry_Requirements_for_Dentistry

Work Experience

Try and apply for this early on, and do it because you are genuinely interested in finding out what dentists do, not just because you need to get your “two weeks done” so a university will consider you for interview!

The earlier on you apply for this, the more time you will have and the more experience you will get. The later you leave it, the less likely you are to get offered a space, as other students will have got in there first.

Apply to dental hospitals belonging to dental schools as they are generally more understanding that students need work experience, and are more likely to offer you it, especially as they are bigger institutions and therefore can take on more students than say, a small practice. Also dental hospitals within schools have many different departments, which will give you an idea of the many different things you will be doing as a dental student, and therefore an idea of what to expect.

Maximise your chances by applying to as many places as possible, travelling if you need to:

1. Dental schools/ hospitals
2. Private practices
3. NHS practices

Write letters, make telephone calls, drop in to the practice. I did all of these and manage to secure myself a good few weeks of work experience. Once you are in, NETWORK! Ask for recommendations of where else you could go, get to know the dentist, hygienist, dental therapist, dental nurses and even the reception staff as these people can REALLY help you get further work experience. You will be surprised as to how much name dropping will get your letters/emails noticed at other practices where some of these staff may have worked in the past! Also the staff may tell you who to contact so you are able to contact them directly, making your emails/phone calls/letters more personal.

When contacting practices/dental hospitals for work experience, make sure you address it correctly, tell them who you are, why you are writing to them, and why doing the work experience will be beneficial to you even if they are only able to offer you a couple hours at the very most. They need to know that you are serious about what you want to do, and serious about the work experience, so they are not wasting their time. It might seem obvious, but don’t write pages and pages! At the same time, don’t just write a single line saying you want work experience!

Finally, don’t see this work experience as a chore, the more hours you put in, the more you will get out of it, and hopefully by the end of it all you will have a pretty clear idea about whether it’s the right thing for you! Plus you will have plenty to talk about when it comes to the dreaded interview stage. The work experience part, especially if you have managed to get plenty, will speak volumes about your passion and dedication, when it comes to writing your personal statement.

For a summary of what individual universities expect for work experience go to: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Dentistry_Work_Experience

The entrance exams

UKCAT (United Kingdom Clinical Aptitude Test)

This is a mental aptitude and ability test, not designed to test knowledge, consisting of a multiple choice, onscreen exam.

Universities that require you to sit this exam:

• Cardiff University
• University of Dundee
• University of Glasgow,
• King’s College London
• University of Manchester
• University of Newcastle
• Barts and The London
• University of Sheffield

I am not going to bother going into the ins and out of this test as extensive details are available on: http://www.ukcat.ac.uk/.

It is not possible to revise for this because it does not test knowledge, however you can PREPARE for it. I did not pay for coaching and tutors. I found “600 UKCAT Questions” along with the practice test provided by UKCAT, to be particularly useful, and it was the only book I purchased. There are plenty of other books out there, but I only purchased this one so I could be familiar with the format, question styles, and multiple-choice format.

My advice is not to stress over the test, stay calm, practice as much as you can and take the test early to get it out the way so you can focus on the rest of your application! Booking the test early also means you have the opportunity to reschedule, should you need to.

Remember to pace yourself, and move on if you are struggling to answer a question. Answer all questions as there is no negative marking.

GAMSAT (Graduate Medical Schools Admissions Test)

As far as I know, GAMSAT is required by Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry for health care professionals without a degree level qualification.

For more information visit: http://www.pcmd.ac.uk/dentistry.php?tab=resource and http://gamsat.acer.edu.au/gamsat-uk/.

Extracurricular activities

Dental schools don’t tend to want those who just have their heads in the books all the time. They want people who contribute to society, their school, their friends and family. An A* student who participates in extracurricular activities is more desirable than an A* student who does nothing else but study! Students need an outlet to healthily relieve stress. They should have other interests, because dentists should be able to relate to others, they should be able to communicate with others, and they need to be able to work as part of a team.

Participating in team sports demonstrates your ability to communicate and to work as part of a team. It requires commitment; it shows a competitive side and provides an outlet to relive stress.

Doing volunteer work (volunteering in a hospice/ charity shop etc) demonstrates compassion, willingness to give back to society, a caring side and a natural desire to help others.

Other examples of extracurricular activities include (but not limited to) school projects/duties, school clubs/societies, paid work, family related responsibilities, care work etc.

Extracurricular activities also demonstrate good time management.

The personal statement

For me this was the part I dreaded the most, selling oneself on paper. Where to start? How to finish? What to include? What NOT to include? Is it original?…Seriously, for me this was worse than preparing for the interviews!

First and foremost do NOT plagiarise someone else’s work! UCAS will know! The personal statement is supposed to be as the name suggests, PERSONAL to you. The whole point of it is to show case YOUR skills, abilities, qualities, motivations and passion.

It is not a creative handwriting course you are applying to, so don’t write an art piece (this is my personal opinion, as I am yet to meet someone who has written a poem/rap/story/song as a personal statement for dentistry)!

I believe that writing about your work experience, hobbies, extracurricular etc, by far, better demonstrates your qualities compared to just stating “I am hard-working, caring…” etc.

Mentioning your academic abilities is also a waste of words as your grades will clearly demonstrate this; the only exception is when you need to explain mitigating circumstances as to why you have not performed as expected. In which case you might want to mention how you turned this negative into a positive, and what you have learnt from this.

Things you may want to consider including:

1. Why you want to study dentistry/ how you came to decide on dentistry. It is very easy to write cliché statements here, so try to avoid it as much as possible!
2. What aspect of dentistry appeals to you.
3. What exposure you have had in the profession/ work experience and what you most enjoyed. Why?
4. What your previous degree was in, and why this will potentially help you on a BDS course. I did not feel it was necessary to link my first degree to dentistry – mainly because there was no direct link. I did not study biomedical science because I could not get into dentistry, and if you are in this situation, it is advisable NOT to state this. Highlight the positives of what doing a first degree will mean when you do your second degree. How has it prepared you? What transferable skills did you develop?
5. If you have taken time out/ a gap year, what did you spend it doing? How will it help you in your BDS?
6. What extracurricular activities do your participate in? If you volunteer, why? If you work, why? How have these roles strengthened your personality? How will they help in your BDS?
7. What are your hobbies? How do you deal with stress?
8. What makes you suitable for the course and why YOU should be picked.

Things you may want to omit…however true they are:

1. The only reason you are doing your current course is because you were not accepted on to a dental course
2. Academic capabilities – these will be obvious in your grades/predicted grades
3. You wish to study dentistry for the money
4. Lies – if found out, you risk your application being rejected!
5. Other courses you are applying for just in case you do not get accepted

The Reference

The reference is obviously very important, and the person you choose as your referee should know you well, and should know about your passion for dentistry. It therefore, does not necessarily have to be your “tutor”. You could ask a lecturer who teaches you regularly instead. I chose my referee based on this fact, and after asking him to be my referee, I arranged an appointment to meet with him where I explained why I wanted to do dentistry, why I was passionate about it, my driving force, and the measures I had taken to arrive at the decision. I needed him to see how much I wanted to be picked, and how serious I was about it. I left him with a copy of my personal statement when I left. That was all I could do, the rest was up to him.

The reference is important because it is a respectable person vouching for the “claims” in your personal statement. It is particularly important if your grades are not as high as some of the natural geniuses there are out there too, as this could potentially set you aside from them. I honestly believe that if you get this right, you stand a good chance of being offered an interview.

Final notes

That is literally as much as I can remember.

I did not take the traditional route to study dentistry, which goes to show that you do not have to get there first time round. I am doing something I enjoy, perhaps a lot later than many undergraduates, but nonetheless I am still doing it, which is what is most important. I firmly believe that as long as you know where you want to end up, you will find a way to get there. Admittedly, it is a very daunting process, with plenty of preparation and consideration needed. It is important that you are clear on what you are applying for, and even more important that it is what you WANT to do, as 4/5 years is a massive commitment for something that you are unsure about. I am totally in it for the long haul. It is competitive, stressful, hard-work, requires 100% dedication, and tiring, but honestly it is SO SO SOOO worth it! When you cut your first cavity, restore your first tooth, see a patient’s oral hygiene improve or extract your first tooth (to name but a few firsts!!) it is literally THE most satisfying, privileged and rewarding feeling ever, I cannot even begin to describe it! But I will say “I told you so” when you get there!

Good luck in your application and hopefully see you on the other side some day!

Disclaimer: The post is by no means a fool proof way of getting into dentistry, the advice written is based on the experience I had and the research that I have done myself. Individual students should always contact the universities that they wish to apply to for further and up-to-date information regarding the requirements needed.

To find out more about Sheila

Respiratory diseases

A brain storm of respiratory disease and how they may affect dental management.

Causes, pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, investigations & diagnosis, treatment & management and dental relevance of:

• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – Chronic bronchitis, emphysema
• Asthma
• Extrinsic allergic alveolitis
• Bronchiestasis
• Pneumonia
• Sarcoidosis
• Tuberculosis
• Lung abscess
• Pneumoconiosis
• Pleurisy
• Pneumothorax, tension pneumothorax
• Lung cancer
• Pulmonary embolism

 

 

Packing: DONE (obtaining waste extracted teeth: i’m working on it)

Success!!! I can finally say, many days later, and handfuls and handfuls of ikea bags filled, (I got fed up with taping the underside of boxes, and discovered amazing heavy duty ikea bags at 40p each! I mean its just common sense!) the packing is finally DONE!! – [happy times!]. Now all that’s left, is to get the “crap” into a van and transport it to london…sounds like another fail coming up! BUT!! Its something I shall be taking no part in! So as I lie here and write this post, I can say that the loading of my things is safely in the hands of a much more capable other being (Mat, my trusty lifter of all heavy things, and the do-er of all things that I wish to have no business in, these include, but not limited to, taking bins out, cutting the grass, vacuuming, watering plants, picking up coco’s poops, washing coco (i do the blow-drying though), cleaning out the chicken coop, and washing my car ). Once all loaded, they will be in transit to lovely London tomorrow morning with the trusted help of my dear baby sister’s boyfriend, Peter, who, may I add, conveniently isn’t getting to Birmingham til 11pm tonight! So with all my things finally packed into wary looking boxes and cute ikea bags, I have come to the conclusion that I infact, DO, have a lot of stuff, which perhaps, may or may not all fit into the apartment (but we’ll deal with that when it comes to it, well not me personally, I’ll be doing a lot of huffing and hmphing, and someone will hopefully take over! Ha!).

On a more dental related note (seeing as this is the whole reason for my blog!), I semi got over my fear of calling people yesterday, and attempted to call two dental surgeries, to speak to the practice manager about collecting waste extracted teeth (seeing as, rudely enough, no one has responded to my perfectly phrased letters!!), but at both surgeries, the practice manager wasn’t in! (This in fact is true!) But that’s all I managed, as I chickened out the rest, and said I would continue the rest today…and today…well today I got to work blooming late because of stupid V FESTIVAL!! (Ugh rant to follow) and I felt I wasn’t in the “right frame of mind” to be making such calls, sooooo…. I have said to myself that I will just go into the practice on monday, with jar and 10% bleach solution in hand, and ask them straight up…I am working myself up to this at least!! – we’ll see….

My day was totally put off sync today because of v festival! I had back to back bookings, and decided to give myself an extra 30 minutes to get to work on time (FAIL!) And thought I was quite smug because I thought I’d miss the traffic by avoiding the main motorways and taking the A5 all the way to Telford. Turns out everyone else was thinking the same damn thing, and that my little revelation was in fact NOT of any help, because the exit I needed was blocked off! Determined I wouldn’t get in the V festival traffic even if it meant going to Ireland (am hoping Ireland is in the same-ish direction, otherwise I’m gonna look like a fool for stating that!), I frustratingly jabbed into my tom tom to avoid all main roads…so the little cleverclogs took me on some long ass TWO hour journey through some immense country roads, where I got stuck in a pothole!!! (But managed to somehow get out of!, Mud ALL up my poor car! Fail!). Finally got to work in the end, an hour late. FAIL! But now know how to handle country roads! – success! Stupid festival! What a horrendous morning!

On a brighter note!! I ordered my livescribe notepads today (£36 for 8 writing pads! – I almost fell out my chair!!) ready for my first lecture!!! Woo!! I cannot wait to use my pen!!! What you have here is a very excited person…bring on lecture number one!!! Not the most interesting blog post admittedly but oh wells! -you’ve done well to read on this far! =p

LoveLove

Health checks, vaccinations and preparations!

I had my second set of HepB jabs with occupational health today, and what did I learn? Aim to arrive in PLENTY of time, otherwise what happens is, you get stuck in traffic because of an accident, then when you arrive at the station (waterloo) you find out there’s in fact SIX exits and when running to all of them, it WOULD be the LAST exit! When you finally make it into the building, sweating, panting and well, virtually gasping for air and dying, the receptionist looks at you and tells you you’re late (like you hadn’t already figured that out already). You then have to profusely apologise and beg the nurse to see you because you’ve taken the day off work and travelled all the way in! What a nightmare. Next time, I shall remember to get out of bed, and don’t spend most of the morning fooling around in bed! Arriving on time for my 2nd dose of hepB vaccinations?- FAIL!

On a more successful note, I’m guessing I got clearance on my health checks seeing as the nurse didn’t mention anything about them! So its back in 5months for my final dose and ONLY two weeks before the course starts! – excited much?!?!

After receiving the module book last week, I have briefly flipped through it and am attempting to learn “teeth morphology”, attempting and failing I should add. I have never been so great at preparations prior to starting ANYTHING! I blame that I’m still in “holiday” mode and I really must get myself out of it in order to actually start some work!! I DID however order my “Netter’s anatomy flashcards” and my “Livescribe pen” which also came last week!, (guess which I’m most excited about! – the pen! – FAIL!). I don’t know much about the flashcards (apparently quite useful) but my pen is A-MAZING!! It writes and records at the same time and you can transform your notes onto a word document! I mean how COOL is that?! You can even draw a piano and play it!! I totally can not wait to start using it in lectures! I’m certain it’s totally the thing to have for a dental degree, so I feel 100% ready for it! Lol. I mean normal me is rocking, but a me with a livescribe pen? Watch out GPEP dental course!! I’m going to knock your socks right off!

The journey so far…

I’ve been meaning to get this blog started for a while now but, life’s been pretty immense with work [yawn], break ups [hard times], holidays [happy times], seeing friends [yay!], making new acquaintances [wink wink] and general pure laziness. But I am now ready to blog! Here it begins, this is my first blog, and it captures my journey so far:

WHY?!!

“Why do you want to be a dentist?” one of the first things people ask, and one of the things all interviewers ask, the dreaded “why?” question. Have I always wanted to be a dentist? The simplest answer to that question is no. In fact I’ve always wanted to be a heart surgeon! well from high school onwards anyway, and up until high school I dreamt about being an ice-cream lady! mmmmmMMMMM it was an amazing fantasy, probably due to gluttony rather than common sense.But, after completing my less than average A-levels in Chemistry, Biology and Maths, I had no hope of a career in medicine. Now I can have lots of excuses for as to why i didn’t preform as expected in my A-levels, but to be honest, despite what happens in your life, you can only blame a lost of focus. So I went to Oxford Brookes and did my undergraduate in Biomedical science thinking about a career in cancer research. Whilst doing my degree I just knew a career in research was not meant for me, I didn’t particularly enjoy research, nor was it very interesting for me, so I began thinking about possible career options. I don’t really know at what point it occurred to me that I wanted to be a dentist, but it did, and when I get my head around an idea, I don’t stop at anything to obtain it. It was decided, I would become a dentist.
So what is it that attracts me to the profession? Money? Teeth? Status? No, yes and no, respectively. I was excited about the prospect of doing a medically related, hands on career, where I can utilise my perfectionist qualities along with my manual dexterity, to do something positively rewarding. Where health is a focus, and where by my work can positively result in good health and well-being. Money obviously plays a tiny role, there’s no point pretending I’d work for pennies, but its not my driving force, it’s simply a reward for my commitment and hard-work. I know my own worth and wouldn’t do any job where I felt that the pay didn’t reflect my worth and value, maybe that’s bad work ethics, but it’s the way I have always been, and am happy to be this way. Would I do the job for free? Yes I have every intention of doing some voluntary work. The aspect of voluntary work excites me and I hope that I can always do a bit every single year after I am qualified.
So with the decision made I set out to begin my journey…

Work Experience

This so far has been one of the most exciting parts of the whole application process. I wrote to half a dozen of dentists asking if I could undertake some work experience within their practice and waited for their response. I managed to secure 4 weeks worth of experience, in 4 different practices, 2 private (one of which performed orthodontics and cosmetics work) and 2 NHS practices in two very different districts. During my 4 weeks I saw root canal treatment, extractions, wisdom tooth extraction (one on a horizontally impacted wisdom tooth, there was A LOT of blood!), fillings (amalgam, composite), bite correction, orthodontics (both metal appliance and invisalign), veneers, several hygiene visits and teeth whitening. It was a captivating and educational experience that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The dreaded personal statement

Well this by far was the most dreaded part (even more so than the interview stage)..I think it was probably because this was the one piece of writing that would determined whether or not my application would be considered for interview. It took me ages to finally sit down and begin, after months of jotting down ideas, during work experience, on the train, bus, whenever something appropriate came to me. Obviously you have to detail why you want to be a dentist in this part, and try to keep it as non-cliche as possible. This was difficult, because even genuine reasons can often sound cliche. It is the most dreaded piece of writing I have ever had to write, more dreaded then my final year project for my undergraduate. Nonetheless I managed to get it done, proof-read and submitted through UCAS. I babbled on about my early experiences of teeth, the realities of a dental career and the comprehensive understanding I had gained about a career in dentistry from my work experience. I had described what appeals to me most about the prospect of a career in dentistry but also wrote about my understanding of the commitment involved in such a vocation. I jibber jabbered on about what heightened my enthusiasm in pursuing a dental career, and how my first degree has allowed me to develop as a person and a professional. I also talked about what I have been up to since graduating before finalising it all with my hobbies and stress relieving activities. It was long winded, wordy and very passionate. Well I must have done something right because I received interviews at all the universities I’d applied for! [yay!]

Applications and interviews

The four universities I applied to were Kings College London, Peninsula, Liverpool (for graduate entry) and Birmingham (5year course). I thought as there were more places for the 5 year course at Birmingham, I’d have a higher chance of definitely getting a place. This however was NOT the case! For Kings I had to prepare myself for the UKCAT test, and for Peninsula I took GAMSAT (which was extremely costly, both the fee and revision material, where later on, after doing the exam, I found out I didnt need to do it after all! Grrrr!!) Both entrance tests were quite stressful and difficult and I personally don’t believe I performed anything spectacular in them. Just average actually.

My first interview was with Peninsula, then Birmingham, then Liverpool and then finally Kings (MONTHS after). I was quite nervous with the Peninsula interview but the interview was really laid back and was based solely on ethical scenarios. Their interview format was fantastic and I felt completely at ease. Liverpool and Birmingham’s interview were traditional based interviews, namely questions about my suitability, why I want to do dentistry, how I handle stress etc. I was completely unprepared for Birmingham’s interview because I had received an offer from Peninsula shortly after the interview, so I knew I wouldn’t be going to Birmingham anyway (suffice to say, I was rejected post-interview from Birmingham!). I am unable to disclose any information about the King’s interview as I was made to sign a non-disclosure form prior to the interview. I didn’t think my King’s interview went particularly well, they did ask some difficult questions and I stuttered and fiddled quite a lot, as I was the most nervous at this interview. I got a rejection letter from Liverpool a few weeks after the interview (which I was quite disappointed with as I had thought the interview went really well), and after months of waiting for Kings to respond, I logged onto UCAS to find they had offered me a place! A letter in the post came a few days later. I was over the moon.

Decisions Decisions Decisions

So having received an offer from Peninsula and King’s, I was left not knowing what to do. Part of me wanted to go to Peninsula and a part of me wanted to go to King’s, and everyone I had asked had told me to go to King’s, I, however was still uncertain.
It was only recently that I had accepted the offer from King’s and I chose them because the location was more ideal and the teaching style suited me a lot better, whereas with Peninsula, the teaching method is primarily problem-based learning, and my self-motivation is horrendous. King’s was the more appropriate choice, and besides, out of 300 applications, 100 interviews for only 20 places, of which they made offers to 25 students, they chose ME, because they wanted ME. [happy times].

Teeth collection

I have sent over 12 letters to 12 different surgeries requesting they collect extracted teeth for me. I took ages to write out the perfect letter but so far I have had zero response! Grrr!

Hello world!

Welcome to my crazy little world!! Here you’ll hear about my conquest to becoming a dentist, and the crazy little psycho things that happen in my not so normal, but quite possibly, normal life.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope I can provide some insightful words for you all, but if anything you should learn from my outrageous mistakes and my attempts to rectify them (or in most cases make it worse for myself).

Lets hope i bring some enlightenment to your life ^-^

LoveLove