RGS CAREERS GUIDE TO DENTISTRY

Transcription

1 RGS CAREERS GUIDE TO DENTISTRY

2 REIGATE GRAMMAR SCHOOL GUIDE TO DENTISTRY RGS GUIDE TO DENTISTRY CONTENTS A Level choices Person specifications Advice from universities Other parts of the application What is RGS doing to help? Useful websites All of the information in this guide is based on our experience over the last 10 years, during which we have had a very successful record of getting students into university to study Dentistry. Individual universities, however, have very different requirements. The best way to be absolutely certain of making the right choices is to research individual universities and refer to their web-sites. A LEVEL CHOICES You must study Chemistry. At RGS it is also usual for all students applying for Dentistry to take A Level Biology You are drastically reducing your chances of gaining a place for Dentistry if you do not study Biology. Only four universities out of fourteen will consider Chemistry plus another lab based science or Maths, which could include Physics, but the rest specify Biology Subjects where there is overlap of content may not be acceptable for the three required A Level subjects either. This includes Maths and Further Maths, as well as Sports Studies and Biology because of the perceived overlap It is important that those who do Maths and Further Maths do not take Maths A2 at the end of year 12; some universities will then not count it as a part of their offer Look closely at GCSE requirements. Some Dental schools make specific requirements regarding numbers of A* at GCSE; others specify certain subjects that you must achieve particular grades in; e.g. Birmingham require an A* in Chemistry and Biology, as well as A grades in Maths and English Language. If you do not hold these grades, it is worth enquiring as to whether they will accept a retake grade Dental schools have updated their admissions requirements for As a result of the change to the new two year linear A Level course, all dental schools now require a minimum of AAA in three A Levels; however their subject requirements, as stated above, vary from university to university. They may be modified for 2018 and later entry. It is imperative that you check really carefully with universities regarding their entry requirements before you finalise your A Level choices. As all of the Dental schools require AAA at A Level to get in you must take notice of the advice above. Also for your third subject, above all, you must pick a subject in which you are most likely to get these grades. If you do not actually want to take Chemistry and Biology, it is probable that Dentistry is not the right career for you. has the most up to date information for prospective university applicants for all subjects, so use this to check the latest admissions requirements.

3 GUIDE TO DENTISTRY PERSON SPECIFICATION What characteristics do you need to be a good dentist? You certainly need to be hard-working, resilient, and have the capacity to absorb large amounts of technical information You need excellent communication and listening skills Manual dexterity, good eyesight and an interest in science are all important You need empathy. You will be dealing with a wide range of people. You need to be tolerant of their weaknesses, and you need to be able to help them to cope with pain and with fear. You need to be able to help people to relax You must be able to work well within a team. You are likely to be working with dental nurses, receptionists, hygienists and other dental staff Others need to be able to trust you Working in general practice involves some business and marketing skills YOUR APPLICATION ADVICE FROM UNIVERSITIES You can only make four choices for Dentistry; your fifth choice must be for another subject (You should choose a subject that you view as an alternative that you would like to study. Maybe a related degree such as, Dental Therapy and Hygiene, Biomedical Science or Biological Sciences etc). All universities have different requirements in terms of what they expect academically, whether they use UKCAT or BMAT, and how much work experience they require. It is very important to refer to individual university web-sites. However, some general advice would be that the universities are looking for students to show the following alongside academic excellence: Evidence of your understanding of the role of the dentist Examples of a commitment to the career through work experience/shadowing placements. Some of this should be within an NHS practice. Ideally you should try to get some experience in private practice, dental labs, and community hospital based units as well. Check with individual university web-sites how much work experience is required. Some set a specific amount, but they generally like to see a variety of types of experience Volunteer placements: A commitment to the community through regular, long term volunteering. (i.e. that the student has worked in the same place regularly rather than simply done the odd week here and there). These could include working with the elderly or disabled or helping at the YMCA Yippee Club organising activities for disabled children The ability to reflect on what you have learnt from your experiences Initiative Good communication skills Team-working skills

4 REIGATE GRAMMAR SCHOOL GUIDE TO DENTISTRY You demonstrate all of this through your Personal Statement, which is a part of your university (UCAS) application. This is limited to 4000 characters including spaces, and it goes to all of your chosen universities. THE PERSONAL STATEMENT You need to provide evidence that you possess the characteristics to be a successful trainee dentist. It is no good to simply tell the university what you believe yourself to be good at, or what characteristics you believe that you have; everything MUST be backed up with evidence. Space is limited, so it is advisable to focus on the following: MOTIVATION AND COMMITMENT TO A CAREER IN DENTISTRY In your opening paragraph you should clearly state what you have done to help you to understand the role of a dentist and what motivates you to do it; e.g. what have you learnt from shadowing or talking to dentists, as well as from your own or relatives experiences as patients? Use these experiences to explain why you want to be a dentist. You ought to express a really positive motivation for becoming a dentist (better for this to relate to the impact that you can have on society rather than earning potential!). You also need to demonstrate in your personal statement that you have a realistic appreciation of the mental and physical demands of the career. The rest of the personal statement should provide evidence that you possess the attributes to be a successful dentist, and should cover: WORK AND VOLUNTARY EXPERIENCE It is important to state how much work experience you have done, why you chose to undertake it, what your responsibilities were and, crucially, what you have learned from it. It is very important to reflect upon your experiences. It is important to be positive, but at the same time to show that you recognise that the role of a dentist is a challenging one. If you can demonstrate that your contribution to the organisation or individual was positive, that is excellent. Tip: If you regularly attend Medical Discussion Group, you should be able to chat to students in the 7th form and find out how they went about finding enough work experience. INTERESTS AND EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES Check individual web-sites, but, on the whole, Dental schools are interested to see that you have a healthy work-life balance. They want to see that students can cope with multiple, and often conflicting, demands on their time. It is helpful if you can demonstrate that you have gained/shown skills from your activities, such as communication skills, leadership, teamwork, responsibility and initiative. It is particularly useful if you can talk about a club that you have set up or fund-raising that you have organised or any community activities that you have had a role in. Evidence of success is important; e.g. have you won prizes or can you say that the club that you set up is now thriving? Don t simply list activities. Tell the universities how much time and effort you spend on them and what skills you have gained. COMMUNICATION AND TEAM-WORK Evidence of communicating with a range of groups of people is useful; it is particularly useful to show ability to communicate with those with significant communication barriers, e.g. English not being their first language or those with significant learning difficulties. It is crucial to give examples. Try to provide evidence that your communication was effective, such as feedback received or an outcome that resulted from your communication. Evidence of teamwork is also very important. Examples must be given and it is a good idea to stress what effect your contribution to the team had. BIMANUAL DEXTERITY You need to be able to show that you have the necessary fine motor skills to perform intricate tasks. There are various ways that you can show this; e.g. playing musical instruments, making models, arts and crafts. 1. UKCAT: OTHER PARTS OF THE APPLICATION If you apply for Dentistry at any of the following universities, you currently have to do the UKCAT Test: Birmingham Cardiff Glasgow Liverpool Newcastle Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) Sheffield Everywhere except Leeds which uses BMAT. The test is in five sections and takes 2 hours: Bristol Dundee King s College London (KCL) Manchester Plymouth Queen s University Belfast Verbal Reasoning to assess the candidate s ability to critically evaluate information that is presented in a written form Decision Making - assesses the ability to make sound decisions using complex information.

5 GUIDE TO DENTISTRY Quantitative Reasoning- to assess ability to critically evaluate numerical information Abstract Reasoning- assesses the use of convergent and divergent thinking to infer relationships from information Situational Judgement Tests- measures the candidate s capacity to understand real world situations and to behave appropriately in dealing with them. UKCAT is a computer-based test, and it is up to the candidate to book themselves onto it via the UKCAT web-site ( This year registration for UKCAT opened on May 3, testing begins on July1 and the registration deadline is 21 September. It cost 65 to take UKCAT. There is no requirement to book yourself onto UKCAT on May 3; the only issue is that the test centres can get booked up, so if you leave it too late, you may need to travel a long way to take the test. n.b. These dates and costs were for You need to look this up carefully for future years. Can you practise for UKCAT? YES! In fact, the test is designed so that you cannot revise for it; however, you can familiarise yourself with the style of questions. In addition, the test is very time pressured, so you need to get used to dealing with this. The UKCAT web-site has over 600 practice questions on it including two fully timed tests. There is also a Practice App for IPhone and Android, as well as an official guide, all available from the UKCAT web-site. There are also practice materials available in the Careers Library and from Mrs Bull. Previous students have also had good experiences using some of the online UKCAT practice tests with companies such as Medify. If you want to know more please talk to those students. There are also a range of courses that you can attend if you wish; however some of the students who obtain the best marks have achieved them by simply working hard and practising as much as possible. You can only take the UKCAT test once in each application cycle so take the preparation very seriously! Tip: Pay no attention to UKCAT until after your summer examinations are completed (except, perhaps, booking it). Book your test to be taken in the summer holiday, so that you have plenty of time to practise for it. Book a date when you have two or three weeks beforehand free to dedicate to practice papers. A member of the Careers Department will run practice sessions for UKCAT at the end of the Summer Term, and Mrs. Bull will conduct a full practice test, so make full use of this.

6 REIGATE GRAMMAR SCHOOL GUIDE TO DENTISTRY Biomedical Admissions Test (BMAT) You are only required to take BMAT if you intend to study Dentistry at Leeds BMAT is a two-hour pen and paper, science-based test. The test is in three sections: Section 1: Aptitude and Skills: This tests your skills in problem-solving, understanding arguments and data analysis. 60 minutes 35 questions, multiple choice or short answer Section 2: Scientific Knowledge and Applications: This tests your ability to apply your scientific knowledge and mathematical skills. 30 minutes 27 questions, multiple choice or short answer Section 3: Written task. 30 minutes One essay from a choice of four questions The school will enter you for BMAT. In 2016 it took place in school on 2 November and the results were released three weeks later. It cost 45. Can you practise for BMAT? YES! There are practice papers on the website: There are also practice materials in the Careers Library and Mrs Bull has books that you can borrow. You will need to know all of your GCSE Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths really well, as although the material is meant to only be of around GCSE standard the manipulation of that material is advanced and there are a lot of questions to answer in the time allowed. Those students, who are not taking Physics or Maths at A Level, will need to make sure that they have done a lot of revision in those subjects. It is especially important that you do plenty of practice papers. In our experience, BMAT does require extra work, and it is hard, so it is not for the faint-hearted. However, it does put a lot of people off applying to BMAT universities, so it could greatly increase your odds of getting into Leeds for Dentistry if you can do well in BMAT. Mrs. Bull, the school s Dentistry contact will go over past paper questions with you, and members of the science department are also available to answer any specific science questions that you are unsure about. We will also run a full practice test shortly before the official test. THE INTERVIEW If you get to interview you are doing well. A great proportion of the candidates will have already been rejected by this point, so feel proud of yourself and go in with confidence! Interviews take various different formats; e.g. one-to-one or group interviews. The most common type of interview for Dentistry, though, seems to be the MMI or Multiple Mini Interview, where you move quickly from one post to another undertaking short tasks or answering questions. Make sure that you are aware of what kind of interview to expect; there should be details on the university web-site. Tip: If you regularly attend Medical Discussion Group, you should be able to liaise with candidates from the 7th form and get feedback on their interviews. Tip: Whatever the type of interview, you are sure to need to have excellent answers to: Why do you want to study Dentistry? Why do you want to study at x university? You are also sure to be asked to reflect in some way upon your work experience You are sure to be asked to show that you have excellent bimanual dexterity You are sure to be asked about current issues in dentistry, e.g. the nation s oral health, mouth cancer, whitening regulations, the current state of NHS dentistry, fluoridation. Make sure that you are up to date on current issues TIPS AND ADVICE FROM RGS Only around a quarter of dental applications are successful, although the number of applicants for Dentistry has fallen in recent years, which is in your favour. Remember also that you only get four choices so your main consideration should be Which universities am I most likely to get into? It is also important to consider how the course is taught, and whether it is likely to suit you. For example, do you want to study at a university that uses Problem Based Learning in all/some/none of its course (PBL is where students learn about a subject through the experience of problem-solving) Attend Medical Discussion Group as often as you can, and make sure that you learn from the 7th form about their experiences and tips. It will be useful for dentists as well as medics Liaise with Mrs. Bull. Mrs. Bull has years of experience at considering what universities you are most likely to get into based upon e.g. your UKCAT score, your GCSE results, your predicted A2 grades and the amount of work experience that you have done. Take note of what she says Make sure that you are well aware of what the individual university web-sites say in terms of what qualifications you need to get in, and take note of any advice that they offer to prospective candidates. Get prospectuses and alternative prospectuses (written by the students) and attend open days. Ask questions and contact previous students from RGS who are currently training at Dental Schools It is a good idea to go on at least one course. Many are very cheap or even free, so don t feel that you need to spend a lot of money on them. Look on and click on the Taster Courses link for information on any courses that we have details of. Do consider other options. There are a great many careers in health professions. For example, you could train as a radiographer, a dietician, a nurse, in speech therapy, as an audiologist or in optometry; these are just a few of many. Some of them even have free or heavily subsidised degree courses. Look at the NHS web-site for some of the options (

7 GUIDE TO DENTISTRY WHAT IS RGS DOING TO HELP? Mrs. Bull is our contact for Dentistry. Please talk to her or the Head of Careers regarding your dental application. Mrs. Bull will provide one-to-one help and advice for you Mrs. Bull scans every dental school website every year for all information that could help you with your applications. This enables her to know where you have the best chance of getting in and how to construct your application Jonny Lavington (OR) came in to talk to prospective dentists on 27 September. He has also provided interview practice using his expertise from being on student interview panels for Leeds University At the Medical (and allied careers evening) on 29 November, there will be the opportunity to speak one-to-one with a dentist and a dental hygienist The Higher Education Evening on 6 February from 7:00-9:00pm will provide the opportunity to talk to representatives from a wide range of universities RGS will also provide help and guidance in preparing students for UKCAT and BMAT examinations. Do be aware of other careers that are linked to Dentistry; e.g. Dental Technician/ Technologist DENTAL TECHNOLOGIST: BRIEF OVERVIEW A dental technologist is involved in the design and construction of appliances prescribed by dental surgeons for their patients, e.g. dentures, crowns, bridges and braces. You would probably work in a dental laboratory. It requires great manual dexterity, precision and technical skill, but it rarely involves meeting the patient. There is currently a skills shortage in this area. In order to become a dental technologist, you must be registered with the General Dental Council. You would need to qualify in one of the following ways: 1. Study for a BTEC Level 3 diploma, foundation degree or BSc degree in dental technology and apply for a technician post after completing the course 2. Work as a trainee in a commercial laboratory or dental practice and study part-time for an approved qualification. This can take 4-5 years 3. Complete a science based degree with at least a 2:1 and then apply for a place on the graduateentry NHS Scientist Training Programme (STP). This will get you a salaried training post and you will study towards a Masters degree in Clinical Science (Maxillofacial Technology) DENTAL HYGIENIST: BRIEF OVERVIEW Works closely with dentists, carrying out procedures such as scaling and polishing teeth, applying

8 REIGATE GRAMMAR SCHOOL fissure sealants and topical fluoride. They are sometimes known as an oral health practitioner. You would need to be registered with the General Dental Council. The normal route in is to take a degree in Oral Health Sciences or Dental Therapy and Dental Hygiene. DENTAL NURSE: BRIEF OVERVIEW A dental nurse supports the dentist in all aspects of patient care including preparing instruments, mixing materials and keeping patients comfortable and calm. A dental nurse would also be involved with maintaining dental records and sterilising the instruments. You would need to register with the General Dental Council and study for an approved course in Dental Nursing. USEFUL WEB-SITES for details on all dental school courses and links to individual university web-sites to help you to compare courses based on data such as student satisfaction, cost of living, contact time and employability prospects for league tables and comparisons between courses for inspiring dental education and advice for the British Dental Association web-site for the General Dental Council web-site for the Dental Technologists Association for the Institute of Maxillofacial Prosthetists and Technologists for the British Society of Dental Hygiene and Therapy for the British Association of Dental nurses for information about Careers that are allied to Medicine/Dentistry, which you may wish to consider for information about BMAT including past paper questions for information about UKCAT including practice papers Use the Taster Course link to find courses to help you to find out more about Dentistry

9 Reigate Grammar School, Reigate Road, Reigate, Surrey RH2 0QS reigategrammar.org