There are just 15 dental schools in the UK and you’ll need to study Dentistry at one of them to legally be able to practice as a dentist. This means that competition is fierce and you’ll need to be head and shoulders above the other applicants to get a place on a course.
The 15 UK dental schools and universities offering Dentistry courses are:
- Glasgow
- Cardiff
- Newcastle
- Manchester
- Queen Mary, University of London
- Dundee
- Birmingham
- Liverpool
- King's College London
- Leeds
- Bristol
- Plymouth
- Sheffield
- Queen’s, Belfast
- Central Lancashire
The first stage of becoming a Dentistry student is the application stage. You’ll need to submit your grades (predicted if you haven’t already got them) and your personal statement via the UCAS website.
Once you’ve done this and you’ve been offered a place at one of the 15 dental schools firstly, well done and secondly, it’s time to start preparing.
Here are our top tips for being successful in your Dentistry interview:
How to prepare for your Dentistry interview
Realistically you don’t have to wait until you’re offered an interview to start preparing. It’s better to think positively and prepare early than leave it until the last minute and feel rushed in your preparations.
There are four key steps to preparing for your Dentistry interview:
Think about the most common interview questions
We’ll list some common interview questions for a Dentistry course further down and then first step is to jot them down and start thinking about answers.
Most universities and dental schools will ask variants of the common questions and they’ll expect you to have a well thought out answer that clearly shows your motivation for studying Dentistry.
There’s really no excuse for poor answers to questions such as “Why do you want to study Dentistry?” or “What attracted you to this university?”
Read through your personal statement
Many interviewers will use your personal statement as a basis for some of the questions they ask you. This means you’ll need to know what you said and be prepared to expand on anything you’ve discussed or described.
Bare this in mind when you’re writing your personal statement and leave yourself room to discuss situations, experiences, or examples. If you tell the admissions tutor absolutely everything in your personal statement you’ll just end up repeating yourself in your interview.
Thoroughly research the university you're interviewing with
If you don’t do thorough research then you’ll be caught out by the “Why do you want to study at this university?” question.
Talk about the particular aspects of the course that interested you, such as awards they’ve won or research they’ve been commended for.
Then move on and talk about the university as a whole and the student experience. A university’s social media pages are a good place to get an idea of what current students enjoy about a university and university town.
Don't memorise your answers
Although preparation is everything, don’t prepare so much that you memorise your answers.
It’s better to have an idea in your mind of what you want to say, with some key points to support your answer, rather than have a stock answer for every question.
An interview is about finding out what you’re like as a person. The interviewer(s) doesn’t want robotic answers or to hear you churning sentences that sound like something you read on the internet.
What are some common interview questions for a Dentistry course?
Here are some of the most common interview questions asked to prospective Dentistry students:
- Why do you want to study Dentistry?
- Why did you apply to this university?
- What qualities should a dentist have?
- What are the negative aspects of Dentistry?
- Why is research important to science and how is this related to Dentistry?
- Tell us an example of how you cope with stress?
- What work experience do you have in Dentistry?
- Do you think your own dentist is good at communicating with patients?
- What can you tell me about preventative Dentistry?
- What is Orthodontics?
- Why do dentists recommend the fluoridation of water supplies?
- What are the arguments against fluoridation of water supplies?
- How would you organise a campaign to improve dental health?
- How are NHS dentists funded? Is it the same for GP’s?
- Should dental treatment be free on the NHS?
- What articles have you read recently about Dentistry?
- What can you bring to this Dental School?
- What is the difference between tooth erosion and tooth decay?
- What can you tell us about modern advances in Dentistry?
- Why do you think so many NHS dentists are going private?
- Why do you want to study Dentistry rather than Medicine?
- What are the differences between private and NHS Dentistry?
- What is the role of the General Dental Council?
