Dentistry Entry Discussion and Questions

[haruhi66]

Wouldn’t that mean tertiary students are screwed for UQ dent? Since they can only convert to a maximum of 99 ATAR from their GPA

Yo yeah I’m confused about that too

 

[Crow]

Yo yeah I’m confused about that too

Griffith - Griffith Dentistry Discussion Check out the conversion table I’ve provided in this link - taken from the QUT site. If UQ chooses to use that method, I imagine they will use this conversion or something very similar to ensure equity between applicants.

 

[Unluckydude]

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.

Personally I feel like the cut-off will be closer to 7 this year because people have more time to study and it's easier to cheat when most assessments are completed online.

 

[Mj232]

What would be the atar requirement for griffith dentistry, I know they advertise it as a 99.75. But i didnt see any mso stats with atar conversion. Thanks

 

[Cal]

What would be the atar requirement for griffith dentistry, I know they advertise it as a 99.75. But i didnt see any mso stats with atar conversion. Thanks

Yeah you will need a 99.75 or above, which is what it is. Varies between that and 99.8 I think. If you have an atar that high I would highly suggest avoiding griffith and applying for going for unimelb (if you have 99.85), USYD or latrobe (if you have biology done), or even JCU before then if you UCAT isn't ideal, purely because of the cost of the course. You are also more likely to get a Med spot at griffith then dent with that Atar as well, so if med is your first option I would also go for that.

 

[Jnh]

Yeah you will need a 99.75 or above, which is what it is. Varies between that and 99.8 I think. If you have an atar that high I would highly suggest avoiding griffith and applying for going for unimelb (if you have 99.85), USYD or latrobe (if you have biology done), or even JCU before then if you UCAT isn't ideal, purely because of the cost of the course. You are also more likely to get a Med spot at griffith then dent with that Atar as well, so if med is your first option I would also go for that.

If you're looking at it from an economics point of view, it's absolutely not worth doing a provisional program if it's any longer than 5 years as the lost income will be significantly more than the extra cost for Griffith

People should also evaluate whether going to a small university aligns with what they want from their dental education (they have distinct small university facilities). 5 years is a long time to be stuck in Orange, Cairns or Bendigo if they're not places you want to be. Despite getting CSU and JCU offers, I was personally happy to pay an extra 80k odd over the course of my entire career to go to a university that has all the facilities, staff and opportunities I want access to.

 

[Cal]

If you're looking at it from an economics point of view, it's absolutely not worth doing a provisional program if it's any longer than 5 years as the lost income will be significantly more than the extra cost for Griffith

People should also evaluate whether going to a small university aligns with what they want from their dental education (they have distinct small university facilities). 5 years is a long time to be stuck in Orange, Cairns or Bendigo if they're not places you want to be. Despite getting CSU and JCU offers, I was personally happy to pay an extra 80k odd over the course of my entire career to go to a university that has all the facilities, staff and opportunities I want access to.

Look it obviously all depends on personal interest, but I would say on the whole, most people A) want a cheaper degree which finishes earlier over facilities, considering that every dental school has a baseline ADC level of teaching required. With monetary income:

63.5 k a year for the final two years, along with 11.5k for the first three is 161.5k of debt. You would need to earn 80k after tax for 2 years, which is not possible for most dental graduates to pay it off. Going to a provisional degree is an extra 20k ontop of the 50k considering it is a CSP, so it will be 70k overall. I would say there isn't actually a significant different in the end game, as Griffith students have to pay nearly 100k more, which they would have to pay 50k/year of their after tax income to pay that off, which is about 5/6ths of your 80k graduate salary (being conservative), so I wouldn't so financially there is a significant divide economically.

But, yes it is quite the personal preference, which is why it is always important to consider your options.

 

[Jnh]

Look it obviously all depends on personal interest, but I would say on the whole, most people A) want a cheaper degree which finishes earlier over facilities, considering that every dental school has a baseline ADC level of teaching required. With monetary income:

63.5 k a year for the final two years, along with 11.5k for the first three is 161.5k of debt. You would need to earn 80k after tax for 2 years, which is not possible for most dental graduates to pay it off. Going to a provisional degree is an extra 20k ontop of the 50k considering it is a CSP, so it will be 70k overall. I would say there isn't actually a significant different in the end game, as Griffith students have to pay nearly 100k more, which they would have to pay 50k/year of their after tax income to pay that off, which is about 5/6ths of your 80k graduate salary (being conservative), so I wouldn't so financially there is a significant divide economically.

But, yes it is quite the personal preference, which is why it is always important to consider your options.

The second last year at Griffith is actually only around 50k, the degree fits within HELP limits. The 63k on the website is for a full-time load of Dentistry units, while the second last year is only 6 Dentistry units and 2 research units.

Using salary for the first 2 years of working isn't really beneficial, because the Griffith grad would still be financially equal but would be 2 years in front experience wise. So that means 2 extra years of working, 2 extra years of income at the end of their career, which even conservatively would be a couple of hundred thousand.

But I don't personally think any uni decision should be made solely on money or economic hypotheticals. People should go to whatever university they thinks suits their circumstances. It may well be UoM or USyd provisional.

 

[Tomato]

The second last year at Griffith is actually only around 50k, the degree fits within HECS limits.

To my understanding, HECS only applies to CSP which is for the first 3 years (BDentHealSci) and Fee-Help applies to the FFP (i.e. last two years).

 

[Jnh]

To my understanding, HECS only applies to CSP which is for the first 3 years (BDentHealSci) and Fee-Help applies to the FFP (i.e. last two years).

Correct, but the amount you can borrow is still the same. I should have said HELP limit though.
You can access a total of 155k if you're studying dentistry, and the entire Griffith degree fits within these limits. It won't if you have done any prior study from 2020 onward though.

 

[nourz]

Hi everyone I don't know if this is the right place to post, but i'm looking for that document which states the cut off gamsat scores for postgraduate dentistry unis? Does anyone know where I can find that?

 

[Crow]

Hi everyone I don't know if this is the right place to post, but i'm looking for that document which states the cut off gamsat scores for postgraduate dentistry unis? Does anyone know where I can find that?

Are you sure it was posted here? More likely it was on PagingDr. I haven’t seen anything similar posted on MSO from memory.

 

[nourz]

Are you sure it was posted here? More likely it was on PagingDr. I haven’t seen anything similar posted on MSO from memory.

Thanks, I posted it on paging dr. But I swear I thought I saw a table of some sort posted here a while ago. Anyway, I was asking as I have a 59 gamsat, any thoughts on dent interview offers?

 

[Crow]

Thanks, I posted it on paging dr. But I swear I thought I saw a table of some sort posted here a while ago. Anyway, I was asking as I have a 59 gamsat, any thoughts on dent interview offers?

You're better off checking the data at PagingDr as it's all collated there... I'm not across graduate entry dentistry criteria (other than being aware that UniMelb and from memory, also UWA) both consider GPA as well, so your GAMSAT alone won't be sufficient information. You'd need a much higher GAMSAT for a CSP at UniMelb but other than that I can't offer up anything else, sorry! Good luck anyway - maybe you can share some data on here if you look into it yourself? We would appreciate it greatly if you do!

 

[nourz]

Thanks I’ll post here once I get information, so far I’ve read around a 60 cutoff for usyd dent, but obviously this changes every year and depends on other factors too, if anyone else has any information I’d appreciate their input as well, thanks again

 

[knowthyself]

hi guys i was wondering
what advice do u have for csu dentistry interviews in particular? the other q from me is that the puzzle & drawing tooth thing im not sure they will put in this yr cos of zoom?
thanks!

 

[saba5678]

Is it a good idea to talk about OMFS in your dent interview if that's what you're interested in? Or could that be viewed as you doing dent because you didn't get med? :]

 

[Cal]

Is it a good idea to talk about OMFS in your dent interview if that's what you're interested in? Or could that be viewed as you doing dent because you didn't get med? :]

I think if you can intertwine it into your interest of dentistry, then it is fine idea, but it is a fine line, because it is something which is, realistically a long way away from sitting a dent school interview. I think it is best to steer away from OMFS discussion, unless you are extremely sure of it. Best to keep it general, because yeah, as you said, it definitely can, and will be seen as someone doing dent, just because they didn't get med. Don't bring it up for the sake of it as well, only if it is part of the natural conversational flow. Crow Fili do you guys have a different take?

Overall, think why you want to do the dental degree and what interest you about dentistry. What would you do if you didn't get OMFS, remember it is a super competitive speciality, with 4 ish spots (or something) for 40+ qualified applicants a year.

 

[Crow]

I’d steer clear of it or at least be able to confidently answer a follow-up question of “if you never get into medicine, will you be satisfied in a dentistry career?” or “what would you do if you never got into medicine?”. I agree with Cal though, I’m not sure if it’s a great idea to bring it up in a dentistry interview - it would be more appropriate to bring up in a medicine interview after you’ve completed your dentistry degree or vice versa in my opinion.

 

[saba5678]

I think if you can intertwine it into your interest of dentistry, then it is fine idea, but it is a fine line, because it is something which is, realistically a long way away from sitting a dent school interview. I think it is best to steer away from OMFS discussion, unless you are extremely sure of it. Best to keep I general, because yeah, as you said, it definitely can, and will be seen as someone doing dent, just because they didn't get med. Don't bring it up for the sake of it as well, only if it is part of the natural conversational flow. Crow Fili do you guys have a different take?

The reason I'm interested in it is because a close family member was in motorcycle accident (fractured jaw, chipped mandibular teeth etc) which was treated by an OMFS surgeon. I was thinking of mentioning it in my response to "why dent" if they asked, although I'm not sure now...