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Adelaide UAdel Dentistry: Admission General Discussion

licher

Member
Hey guys, I've searched around but I can't find much information on much updated information for the entry scheme of Adelaide dentistry. I currently study in NSW, in year 12 doing HSC right now - I can confidently say my ATAR is probably going to be somewhere between in the 99+ range. What i've deduced from other posts is that UMAT is the criterion in which interviews are distributed - and from thereon-after, your chance of entry is 100% dependent on your results from the interview - and that we're ranked based on our interview performance (idk what system it is). ATAR is mentioned only as a final threshold we have to meet (90+).

From this I have a few questions:
1) Does getting 99.95 and 99.0 make no difference in application strength?
2) What UMAT percentile was the cut off for 2017? (if first year people could inform me of their knowledge of what score got in/didn't get in that would be really helpful)
3) How many undergraduates are taken in? (cohort size)
4) Is the interview a really rigorous and competitive process? about what % of people offered interviews actually get accepted? I've heard that some interviews at unis are just to make sure you're not insane, whereas some actually look critically to pick the best from the best (USYD dent)
5) *Side question : im slightly confused by the dental degrees that are split into 2 ( GRIFFITH), if you get into the 3 year dental science degree at griffith, does that guarantee your entry into the graduate program that gives you accreditation as a dentist practitioner? or do you need to do some other test

If you actually read my whole post I really appreciate it, any information or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
 
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Mana

there are no stupid questions, only people
Administrator
Hey guys, I've searched around but I can't find much information on much updated information for the entry scheme of Adelaide dentistry. I currently study in NSW, in year 12 doing HSC right now - I can confidently say my ATAR is probably going to be somewhere between in the 99+ range. What i've deduced from other posts is that UMAT is the criterion in which interviews are distributed - and from thereon-after, your chance of entry is 100% dependent on your results from the interview - and that we're ranked based on our interview performance (idk what system it is). ATAR is mentioned only as a final threshold we have to meet (90+).

From this I have a few questions:
1) Does getting 99.95 and 99.0 make no difference in application strength?
Assuming nothing changes, then yes, no difference.

2) What UMAT percentile was the cut off for 2017? (if first year people could inform me of their knowledge of what score got in/didn't get in that would be really helpful)
Not sure, we didn't quite do a survey of those. However, you can judge from the forums by people who missed out on an interview. It appears that the scores rose rather significantly and I think this is largely attributable to the new, smaller, dental school.

3) How many undergraduates are taken in? (cohort size)
As stated previously, new numbers (because new dental school) - but fewer.

4) Is the interview a really rigorous and competitive process? about what % of people offered interviews actually get accepted? I've heard that some interviews at unis are just to make sure you're not insane, whereas some actually look critically to pick the best from the best (USYD dent)
It's competitive in the sense that at the interview stage your chances of success are usually around one in five or so of getting an offer.

Some interviews at universities are to make sure you're not terrible for the course (like the JMP which has described their principle of selection as essentially weeding out all the bad candidates - then any selection of the remaining candidates is okay).

5) *Side question : im slightly confused by the dental degrees that are split into 2 ( GRIFFITH), if you get into the 3 year dental science degree at griffith, does that guarantee your entry into the graduate program that gives you accreditation as a dentist practitioner? or do you need to do some other test

Yes, it does. However, if you fail to complete that, then of course, you don't get entry.
 

A1

Rookie Doc
Moderator
What i've deduced from other posts is that UMAT is the criterion in which interviews are distributed - and from thereon-after, your chance of entry is 100% dependent on your results from the interview - and that we're ranked based on our interview performance.

This issue^ had been discussed here before but we did not reach a common understanding. Myself I don't believe so, if it is 100% on your interview then Adel Dent would have said UMAT would only be a tiebreaker (for the last several applicants who are on the same intv score at cutoff point). But no they say UMAT is the second-tier determinator, so I think what happens is they divide the interview scores into 5-6 bands. If say bands 1 & 2 are both within the intake number they all get an offer regardless of UMAT. Then if all of band 3 cannot fit into the remaining spots they will be selected on UMAT i.e. one with a *lower* interview score (but in the same band) can be ahead with a higher UMAT score.

Other than that I can help answer 3 of your questions:
(1) That's correct, getting 99.95 and 99.0 make no difference in application strength, unless it gets to the 1-in-1000 chance of third-tier decider.
(2) From memory it was 92-93%ile for 2017.

5) *Side question : im slightly confused by the dental degrees that are split into 2 ( GRIFFITH), if you get into the 3 year dental science degree at griffith, does that guarantee your entry into the graduate program that gives you accreditation as a dentist practitioner?

It appears you are guaranteed a postgrad spot ("The Master of Dentistry is only open to students who have successfully completed the Bachelor of Dental Health Science (1577) program at Griffith", no other selection criteria mentioned) and it's good for Dentist registration. Reason Griffith does this way is the 3-year degree is CSP while the 2-year postgrad is full-fee about 65K/year, I guess because Griffith could not get gov funding for a full CSP Dent course.
 

sht

Member
Hey guys, I've searched around but I can't find much information on much updated information for the entry scheme of Adelaide dentistry.
Admissions Guide.

What i've deduced from other posts is that UMAT is the criterion in which interviews are distributed - and from thereon-after, your chance of entry is 100% dependent on your results from the interview - and that we're ranked based on our interview performance (idk what system it is). ATAR is mentioned only as a final threshold we have to meet (90+).

I completely disagree with @A1 - I believe your deduction is correct and the only evidence to the contrary is a questionable reading of one sentence in the admissions guide. Evidence that your deduction is correct is another (IMO more obvious) interpretation of the guide, an Adelaide student on this forum stating as much and a letter from the admissions office also stating as much.

From this I have a few questions:
1) Does getting 99.95 and 99.0 make no difference in application strength?
Unlikely.

2) What UMAT percentile was the cut off for 2017? (if first year people could inform me of their knowledge of what score got in/didn't get in that would be really helpful)
93. We have a person on this forum who missed out with 92. Big leap from last year (87 I think).

4) Is the interview a really rigorous and competitive process? about what % of people offered interviews actually get accepted? I've heard that some interviews at unis are just to make sure you're not insane, whereas some actually look critically to pick the best from the best (USYD dent)
Not particularly rigorous. You need to show maturity, that is pretty much it. In the past they have interviewed about 250 people for 40 (domestic) places. I think 1:6 ratio is pretty close.
 

KuroShion

UAdel BDS I Hardcore Foodie
Heyo to all that's reading.

I kind of got the idea to record this down as a small line of my juniors are waiting for this and I'm on the verge of being turned into a human help desk. So, I figured putting this here could probably inform all those who will be applying in the future too. It seems that the last version of such advice forums was quite a while ago and it's probably always better to know how things are like now. A bit of miscellaneous info, I myself applied this year and will be in the batch of 2023.

Firstly, everyone probably knows by now, wether you are international or local, that there are 3 barriers to the final offer: Results, test and interview.

1. Results
This goes without saying that the cut off is very strict. I haven't heard of anyone around me or people in the batch ahead of me who fell short of the cutoff and was offered in the end. There may have been such cases but even if there is its super rare. Sorry if this sounds harsh but the min. is 90 ATAR/ GPA 5.0/ other grades the school noted.

2. Test
You will either take the UMAT (UCAT in the future I think) or the PQA depending on whether you are local or international. Personally, I took the PQA so I could only comment on that. UMAT advice is also probably wayyy more readily accessible than that of PQA so I'll leave that out.

The PQA is a test centred on soft-skills. Please please please do go and understand it thoroughly on the PQA website before you sit the PQA as there is hardly any practise you can find on the web apart from this. With that said, there are 3 sections to the PQA- mental agility test, personal traits and personal skills inventory (these are probably not the right names please refer to PQA website) The only one in which you can slightly prepare for is probably the mental agility one as it's kinda similar to IQ tests the sample questions on their website will make this clear. The remaining two has to be answered truthfully. Please keep that in mind.

3. Interview

The annual phobia-inducing stage is probably interview. But really, Adelaide interviewers are generally nice. They won't stress you out on purpose or anything like this. So just keep it casually formal and they'll probably appreciate it. I'm not going to be extra specific to the extent where I reveal specific questions (keeping to confidentiality) but I will say that Adelaide looks for passion and they want to know that you are making an informed decision about studying at Adelaide (and not other unis).

You need to be clear to yourself and to them how you go about discovering that you like dentistry. Draw from your personal experiences such as doing attachments, going to career fairs and talking to dentists etc etc, this is very important. To answer to yourself why Adelaide and not other unis, it would be great to head down to Adelaide's open house, go to Adelaide's booths in uni fairs or speak with friends in UoA dent (if you have any) and understand what makes Adelaide's programme different from other dentistry programmes. You should also head to Adelaide dental school's website and understand their teaching pedagogy and what you will be learning. I believe there are threads in other forums which went into lots of detail you can look that up too. I can say for certain that all this will definitely save your life during the interview.

Additionally, you need to be informed about the dental profession. Your knowledge of what dentistry entails, jobscope and career growth has to be very detailed. No dental school, especially not Adelaide, would want to admit someone who only knows dentistry as one dentist sitting in a room and digging around people's mouths. Go talk to dentists, watch youtube videos of dentists and ideally shadow one yourself. You will be richly rewarded with not only insights from them but also real genuine and juicy experiences to share with the interviewer.

Lastly, team work is given a lot of emphasis here. Start thinking about how you should go about (not would go about) tackling tricky teammates and the different types of problems you will face in teams. Come up with solutions on how to solve them too. Once again, this will save your life.

Ultimately, all these boils down to your attitude; if you sincerely want to study dentistry at Adelaide (specifically), the interviewers will be able to appreciate that and give you your due reward. Also, rest assured it's highly unlikely you will get something that makes the inner you go wth or omg...... nothing weird basically. So don't spend your time preparing weird curveball questions.

The final offer
There are 3 ranking levels, first being interview, second being test and last being results. Despite having ranking levels, it's still highly integral that you aim to do your best in all cause there are many people sharing similar merits in each ranking level. This is also why among each batch, you don't actually often see a person with grades right on the borderline; it's usually much higher due to people congesting at each level.

Lastly, apologies if this kinda scared some youngins. Admittedly, I can't say it was an easy task to accomplish. But then again, good things always come from outside of comfort zones.

Best of luck to future dentists!

(also, anyone else who got offered or remember important things please add in as well)

 

room1

Member
Does anyone know how the admission works for UAdel Dent? Have they released how much each section is worth (out of interview, ATAR and UCAT) for offers? And does anyone know what the minimum ATAR required was last year?
 
About 300 interviews will be sent out in late October based on UCAT score, with sections 1-4 having equal weight and SJT not being used. There will be one round of interviews, which are conducted between late November and early December. Applicants are then ranked by interview performance. UCAT score is used to differentiate applicants with the same interview score, and ATAR/ GPA is used to differentiate applicants with the same UCAT. Offers are then given to the 38 highest-ranking applicants who also meet the subject prerequisites (two science subjects, which can include maths) and minimum ATAR/ GPA (90/ 5.0).

Late addition by A1:
Although I have no info to dispute the above I invite you to read this post as well > Aspiring 2018 Adelaide Dentistry (Undegrad)
 
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Crow

Staff | Junior Doctor
Moderator
Wow, 100% of your application is based on a 15 minute interview which only 1 in 6 pass!?!?
I don’t believe the above post is accurate. A1 and I have discussed this before, but UCAT and ATAR do play a role in place offer weighting, but they are (naturally) not weighted as highly as the interview. From the admissions guide:
Ranking for offer is based on a combination of scores from these three components weighted as follows:
• Interview results: first ranking level
• UCAT Results: second ranking level
• Academic results: meets threshold and final ranking level
The wording is unusual but to me it definitely doesn’t indicate that place offers are made 100% from interview score.

Also keep in mind that there are a significant number of people who either a) Accept an Adelaide medicine offer instead or b) Accept interstate dentistry or medicine offers instead. While the number of interviewees may be very high in comparison to place offers, technically you aren’t actually competing with a lot of the other interviewees due to these factors.
 

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A1

Rookie Doc
Moderator
The wording is unusual but to me it definitely doesn’t indicate that place offers are made 100% from interview score.

Something urges me to engage in this debate again haha.

Adelaide Dent entries posted on MSO show:
GPA 7.00, 99.75/6.90, 99.70, 99.60, 99.60, 98.50, 98.00, 98.80 second round, 97.00 second round, 5.7 GPA second round, 97.00 third round

This appears to agree with Adelaide Dent saying "Please note: The minimum ATAR to be eligible for entry to the BDS is 90.0 but usually a significantly higher ATAR is required due to the competitiveness of applicants."

If place offers were 100% on interview score with UMAT/UCAT being 2nd tier/tiebreaker then ATAR would not have mattered much provided you are above the 90.0 threshold. We have not seen any info to support this.
 

Cal

vibe
Moderator
I thought that it was a 40/40/20 percent thing where ucat was interview decider and then it is 40% weighting for atar and interview and then 20% for ucat. Then the highest scoring from that weighting will be the places chosen.

Actually now that I think about it, that is probably how med is done and dentistry is done differently.
 
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I thought that it was a 40/40/20 percent thing where ucat was interview decider and then it is 40% weighting for atar and interview and then 20% for ucat. Then the highest scoring from that weighting will be the places chosen.

Actually now that I think about it, that is probably how med is done and dentistry is done differently.
I guess all we know for sure about their selection criteria is that everyone who gets to the interview stage has a fair shot at securing an offer (assuming they meet the subject prerequisites and academic hurdle). Last year, the cut-off to receive an interview was 83rd percentile. However, based on MSO data, someone on 83rd and two people on 84th percentile ended up getting a final offer.

It seems unlikely to me that UCAT and ATAR will be used as anything more than tiebreakers, but even if they are, they aren't going to impact your chances anywhere near as much as they would for med at UNSW, Monash, etc.
 

A1

Rookie Doc
Moderator
For the curious minds, enter 314122 into the Search box in this link you see the 46 who got an Adelaide Dent offer via SATAC last year
> https://media.news.com.au/adelaidenow/uni-offers/_offers.html

EtA:
314552 for Adelaide Med (106 offers) - can't find a Trinhcent in there haha
214941 for Flinders Med (62 offers)
114831 for CDU/Flinders Med (15 offers).
 
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Wait so ar you guys saying that the interview is all thats considered for the offer unless a tiebreaker is needed. The admissions guide says "Ranking for offer is based on a combination of scores from these three components weighted as follows:
• Interview results: first ranking level
• UCAT ANZ Results: second ranking level
• Academic results: meets threshold and final ranking level".

edit: After reading the late addition by A1, seems like a compelling case that interview isn't a 100% for entrance.
 
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ponyswordz

UAdel BDS (2020-2024)
Valued Member
did you/ are you doing at least 2 sciences (which can include maths) in year 12? it could just be an error, but not satisfying the prerequisites would explain why you're getting that message
I did chem, phys, 2u (accelerated), 3u and 4u maths if that helps during year 12. Not sure what's up.
 
Has it been confirmed that the majority of offers for Adelaide dent will be released this Friday? Given that 3 offers were reported on here for the December round, and only 5 offers were reported here for 2019 entry, I'm worried that a large proportion of offers have already been released.
 

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