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Dentistry Entry Discussion and Questions
- Thread starter ajs604
- Start date
How many questions do they generally ask then (if that's not too much to ask)? Approx how long would we get per q?
Hi, I'm an international student (did 2020 May IB) and I could really use some opinions from u guys picking between BDS and DDS degrees.
For instance I got a BDS (2+3 years) offer from Griffith, a direct entry (biomed + DDS so 3+4 years) offer from UWA and a Biomed offer (3years ) at USYD (applying for post-grad dent after that), not sure how to pick. Would really appreciate it if any of u guys can answer some my questions:
1. Is there a reason why high ranking unis only offer DDS but not BDS? Is the course more challenging?
2. Does DDS graduates carry more advantage in job interviews compared to BDS graduates?
3. How competitive is the graduate entry dent for unis such as USYD, UMel and UWA? (going through GAMSAT and interviews etc.)
4. Does BDS and DDS teach exactly the same content? If so, is it worth it to spend extra 2 years in uni just for a DDS degree?
The reason why I am considering picking DDS over BDS is that the course is offered by groups of 8 unis, higher ranking and better resources overall in later dent studies. But picking BDS over DDS is obv bc it takes a shorter time to graduate.
Any opinion/suggestion is appreciated. Thanks!!
For instance I got a BDS (2+3 years) offer from Griffith, a direct entry (biomed + DDS so 3+4 years) offer from UWA and a Biomed offer (3years ) at USYD (applying for post-grad dent after that), not sure how to pick. Would really appreciate it if any of u guys can answer some my questions:
1. Is there a reason why high ranking unis only offer DDS but not BDS? Is the course more challenging?
2. Does DDS graduates carry more advantage in job interviews compared to BDS graduates?
3. How competitive is the graduate entry dent for unis such as USYD, UMel and UWA? (going through GAMSAT and interviews etc.)
4. Does BDS and DDS teach exactly the same content? If so, is it worth it to spend extra 2 years in uni just for a DDS degree?
The reason why I am considering picking DDS over BDS is that the course is offered by groups of 8 unis, higher ranking and better resources overall in later dent studies. But picking BDS over DDS is obv bc it takes a shorter time to graduate.
Any opinion/suggestion is appreciated. Thanks!!
DDS is simply the graduate-entry version of BDS, you aren't taught a higher level of dentistry. Both degrees are ADC accredited thus equally recognised by the Dental Board of Australia. That said, if you are going to work in another country I don't know whether DDS would be more valued there due to their lack of insight.
After graduation if you apply for a job in rural/regional areas I don't think they will care whether it's Go8 or non-Go8.
Beware if you were to do USyd Biomed it won't necessarily let you into USyd DDS. UWA will since it's a direct/provisional offer and check if you can get exempted of DDS year1 (Aus students do if they do Biomed for the undergrad). If you get this exemption it's 3 years of Biomed fees + 3 years of Dentistry fees, total is likely similar to Griffith's 5 years of Dentistry-like fees.
There is no difference between DDS or BDS in regards to overall curriculum or job prospects. Therefore, I would choose the Griffith Dentistry direct entry. Graduate and undergraduate dental entry are both very very competitive. I would not worry about Go8 status. I attended a non-Go8 and felt my dental training was superior to other so called Go8 unis. Choose the shortest course (5 years, avoid doing 7-8 years - waste of time when the end goal is the same, a registered dentist). Hope that helps
YeahTrueHey
Member
Sorry what is the Griffith Tupperware Containership?No (but it’s a little more complicated than a flat no). It just needs to be in your preferences somewhere for you to be eligible, but; hypothetical example...
Preference 1: JCU dent
Preference 2: UQ dent
Preference 3: GU Tupperware Containership
If you’re successful for all three offers, the JCU offer will be the one you’ll receive as it's your first preference.
If you’re NOT successful for a JCU offer, but you are successful for UQ Dent and GU Tupperware Containership, UQ Dent is the only one you’ll receive.
If you’re not successful for JCU or UQ but you are for GU Tupperware Containership, that’s the only one you’ll receive (a coveted degree, to be sure)
You will get a single offer for the highest preferenced course that you are successful for. It could be your top preference or your fourth preference, so make sure you list courses in the order you most want to study them.
Its a nonexistent course used purely as an example in LMG's explanation of QTAC's algorithm
Although when Griffith finally brings in their Bachelor's Degree in Plastic Food Safe Container Design ive heard through the grapevine it will include a Tupperware major. Having such an esteemed and coveted qualification under your belt will make you one of the most competitive applicants for any containership nationwide and beyond.
Truly an exciting time we live all in.
In all seriousness, both LMG's course and the Bachelor's Degree in Plastic Food Safe Container Design doesnt exist and will never exist - it was a joke by LMG. Don't go harassing the Griffith University Staff over these degree
Although when Griffith finally brings in their Bachelor's Degree in Plastic Food Safe Container Design ive heard through the grapevine it will include a Tupperware major. Having such an esteemed and coveted qualification under your belt will make you one of the most competitive applicants for any containership nationwide and beyond.
Truly an exciting time we live all in.
In all seriousness, both LMG's course and the Bachelor's Degree in Plastic Food Safe Container Design doesnt exist and will never exist - it was a joke by LMG. Don't go harassing the Griffith University Staff over these degree
YeahTrueHey
Member
Ah I see, I thought she was referring to the Dent Degree at Griffith and they were disparaging it for some reason
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Ah I see, I thought he was referring to the Dent Degree at Griffith and they were disparaging it for some reason
She (
) was referring to a long standing MSO joke about another user's first bachelor degree 
(their own name for it, not mine!)If you are from Singapore, you'd better choose the 5 old dental schools (UMelb, Usyd, UQ, UAdel & UWA) because Singapore only recognises the degree from these schools directly. If you are form Canada, it doesn't matter which school you study.
Hey MSO team, I would like to hear your opinions about the ridiculously high UCAT scores that was needed to land med interviews this year.
Traditionally speaking to get into UQ provisional entry, a score of 88ish percentile was needed to land a spot right? And that this years cut off to get the interview offer was 93%. Same goes for Adelaide med how the 50% quota increased the required percentile to 96%.
With CSU dent also having their interview cut off score from 91% to 96% this year, how do you guys see this affecting entry into UQ dent?
I've read Cal mentioning that he expects the percentile to go up by 1~2% but I would like to know why he thinks this as the number of med places across Australia would not change for 2021 entry but the number of people who missed out on the med interview offers is so much more this year that otherwise would've landed a spot at UQ provisional med or get an invite to Adelaide med etc.
I am going for dentistry but as a lot of students who go for med have dent as their 'back up' and seeing so many candidates with 90~94% missing out on the med interview invites worries me.
Please help a confused lad.
P.S. Where is ucatboy these days? I haven't seem him much on MSO recently (I'm your fan).
Traditionally speaking to get into UQ provisional entry, a score of 88ish percentile was needed to land a spot right? And that this years cut off to get the interview offer was 93%. Same goes for Adelaide med how the 50% quota increased the required percentile to 96%.
With CSU dent also having their interview cut off score from 91% to 96% this year, how do you guys see this affecting entry into UQ dent?
I've read Cal mentioning that he expects the percentile to go up by 1~2% but I would like to know why he thinks this as the number of med places across Australia would not change for 2021 entry but the number of people who missed out on the med interview offers is so much more this year that otherwise would've landed a spot at UQ provisional med or get an invite to Adelaide med etc.
I am going for dentistry but as a lot of students who go for med have dent as their 'back up' and seeing so many candidates with 90~94% missing out on the med interview invites worries me.
Please help a confused lad.
P.S. Where is ucatboy these days? I haven't seem him much on MSO recently (I'm your fan).
Well UQ used to have a 99 ATAR hurdle before UCAT was even considered... however the introduction of the interview, with the invites been given before the ATAR is released means that that benchmark which used to cull applicants beforehand is now no longer there, and the adelaide increase can be attributed to the SA subquota...
However I have no clue why CSU dent has increased so high... maybe the introduction of the WSU-CSU medical school has had people remove the filter on UAC that blocks CSU and whilst scrolling to find Doctor of Medicine they found Bachelor of Dental Science first and added that to their preferences (/s)
You're pretty much on the ball when it comes to why Cal thinks the cut off would increase. Think about the CSU dent hopefuls that scored 95 and below on the UCAT... theres a pretty high probability they applied to UQ aswell, and they'll push up the UCAT.
Also, with the introduction of the interview for provisional med at UQ, some of the 99ATAR/95%+ UCAT applicants are going to miss out on getting a spot in Medicine, and they are likely to have UQ Dent (the only other course in QLD which uses UCAT) in their preferences as a 'back up'. Given the very small size of the dental program, if even a small portion of these high stat med applicants are rejected at the interview stage, it will cause a significant increase in the requirements of the dental program.
Personally I think its crazy how 95th percentiles can be rejected from an interview and imo there needs to be things done to minimise the ever increasing requirements for entry ...
Cal edit: im piggybacking .wing$'s beautiful reply to say, I have now increased my prediction to about 2-3%ile being likely, with there room to be an even further increase considering no one below the percentile of 94 getting med interviews (apart from possibly UWA and UNSW, and non ucat schools but this is un-reliable info), so from the first round 89th there is room for it to rise, and since many people haven't gotten interviews yet, I will rescind my statement that the second round should be similar, because since there are so many 90-94ths not getting spaces, I think it will increase 1-2%ile. After I finish my exams I can do an in-depth analysis explanation post to make it very clear where all the altering variables come in. But don't not apply or lose hope simply because of my foolish predispositions, I am some person on internet. Don't trust me.
However I have no clue why CSU dent has increased so high... maybe the introduction of the WSU-CSU medical school has had people remove the filter on UAC that blocks CSU and whilst scrolling to find Doctor of Medicine they found Bachelor of Dental Science first and added that to their preferences (/s)
You're pretty much on the ball when it comes to why Cal thinks the cut off would increase. Think about the CSU dent hopefuls that scored 95 and below on the UCAT... theres a pretty high probability they applied to UQ aswell, and they'll push up the UCAT.
Also, with the introduction of the interview for provisional med at UQ, some of the 99ATAR/95%+ UCAT applicants are going to miss out on getting a spot in Medicine, and they are likely to have UQ Dent (the only other course in QLD which uses UCAT) in their preferences as a 'back up'. Given the very small size of the dental program, if even a small portion of these high stat med applicants are rejected at the interview stage, it will cause a significant increase in the requirements of the dental program.
Personally I think its crazy how 95th percentiles can be rejected from an interview and imo there needs to be things done to minimise the ever increasing requirements for entry ...
Cal edit: im piggybacking .wing$'s beautiful reply to say, I have now increased my prediction to about 2-3%ile being likely, with there room to be an even further increase considering no one below the percentile of 94 getting med interviews (apart from possibly UWA and UNSW, and non ucat schools but this is un-reliable info), so from the first round 89th there is room for it to rise, and since many people haven't gotten interviews yet, I will rescind my statement that the second round should be similar, because since there are so many 90-94ths not getting spaces, I think it will increase 1-2%ile. After I finish my exams I can do an in-depth analysis explanation post to make it very clear where all the altering variables come in. But don't not apply or lose hope simply because of my foolish predispositions, I am some person on internet. Don't trust me.
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Yes if you have an interview, you most likely shot at Dent is UADEL, behind guarenteed Griffith with a 7gpa, or JCU which has a written, but I digress. Just go into everything with your best intentions, and make sure you are prepared. Buut, don't remove UQ out of possibility. Think of it more as a bonus (which honestly getting any spot in med or dent school is a bonus, and shouldn't be expected). There are always curveballs thrown from everywhere with admissions. For all we know dent might decide that all the people with last names that don't start with your last names starting letter aren't allowed /s so just don't be defeatist just yetSo many bad news for dent applicants.... I guess my best chance is with Adelaide dent...?
I was reading your post with the same face expression as your Pikachu haha(
I don't think so. It's possible that the cutoff could increase again, but I don't think the Covid-related impacts on GPA are actually so widespread that the number of applicants for Griffith with a perfect GPA will exceed the number of places on offer. I think Griffith has observed the cutoffs going up more and more each year and is hence why they're introducing UCAT/interview into the selection process in future. I have no evidence to back it up but I'd expect another cutoff somewhere between 6.75 and 7.0 this year, probably around that same 6.875 mark.
RE CSU dentistry interview cutoff: my theory is that they've increased their rural/Indigenous intake further this year. On the website they state that "at least 50%" of places must go to rural/Indigenous applicants and this gives CSU as much lee-way as they would like RE: interview selection of rural applicants. Note that previously this value was 25% - I'm not sure of the specific year that this jumped up to 50, it may have been this year. (ETA: it was still only 25% for 2019 entry - makes sense the non-rural cutoff has jumped a lot).
This is not to mention their already existing guarantee of interviews to current CSU students with a GPA of 5.5+.
This is not to mention their already existing guarantee of interviews to current CSU students with a GPA of 5.5+.
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