Griffith Griffith Dentistry: Admissions General Discussion

[kyleb]

For griffith dent students who did a year or more of undergrad (not a highschool leaver) to get into dent

Format
What undergrad:
At what uni:
GPA:
Question: Is there a disadvantage of studying a non-science undergrad to someone who is studying a science undergrad?
Question: How difficult was it to get that grade?

Thanks in advance

For griffith dent students who did a year or more of undergrad (not a highschool leaver) to get into dent

Format
age: 24 when I applied
What undergrad: Business (marketing)
At what uni: Griffith
GPA: 6.9
Question: Is there a disadvantage of studying a non-science undergrad to someone who is studying a science undergrad? Nope
Question: How difficult was it to get that grade? Didn't study it with the intention to do dentistry. I decided to apply one day before the cutoff and essentially only really considered it in my last 3 months of business because I started exploring med again. Moral is just do what you're interested in and work hard (or just become a f*cking chameleon and get the job done... which is my method)

Other useful stuff:
- get a job where you talk to people from all walks of life (bar, restaurant, bottle shop).... communication skills are essential and a big issue in the industry. You'll be doing a lot of communication style courses and they're adding more.
- if you do a year or more of undergrad you can do anything.. but, if you do a science/health degree and pick certain subjects you can get credits (most of my cohort has a lot of credits and it makes life easier... without credits you're doing the equivalent of 4-6 subjects... grades become irrelevant)
- if you need the grades to get in then make that a priority from the start.. it's easy to stay up by it's hard to get back up (GPA wise)
- look after yourself. Start building habits now like going to the gym or for a walk regularly no matter what you have on ("start with the end in mind"... you're going to graduate. Happiness/Confidence/Communications skills as a dentist > grades)

That's my two cents of sappy bs

 

[Dr Dent]

Hi All,
Just out of curiosity, if I have a gpa of 7, am I pretty much guaranteed entry to Griffith dentistry?

 

[Yamster]

Hi All,
Just out of curiosity, if I have a gpa of 7, am I pretty much guaranteed entry to Griffith dentistry?

I wouldn't say guaranteed, probably like a 99.9% chance?

(just make sure you've done at least 1 full-time year of studies though! A part time year of study won't cut it, even with a GPA 7!

 

[Leiaskywalker]

Hey all! In regards to getting into Griffith dentistry as a nonstandard using gpa, are you guys referring to Bachelor of Dental Health Science?

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Hey all! In regards to getting into Griffith dentistry as a nonstandard using gpa, are you guys referring to Bachelor of Dental Health Science?

Yes.

ETA: Bachelor of Dental Health Science (1577)
You'd then need to do the Master degree to be an actual dentist, is my understanding. So 5 years, all up.

 

[Crow]

This is quoted from AndHan19 on a profile post:

I have offers to study dentistry at Griffith and Adelaide and I need to make a decision by the 5th. I see that you're studying dentistry at Griffith. Do you mind sharing your thoughts please?

We don't have many active Griffith dentistry students on the forum and I know you need to make a decision by the 5th, so in case nobody responds to you in time I'll try and answer your Griffith-specific questions as best I can. For background, I've never been a dentistry student, but I did my undergraduate degree at Griffith and did all of the foundation year health courses that first year Griffith dentistry students do (other than the two dentistry-specific foundation courses).

I hear that Griffith is new and ranked low, but I would like to hear from students there. How is the Uni, the courses, do you do participial work in the first year? Anything you can help me with will be greatly appreciated.

I don't really know how much university prestige influences dentistry career options as it's not my field, but Griffith states they're in the top 2% worldwide for dent rankings (and the dentistry program has been around for over 10 years) if that is of any use: Ratings and Rankings

I briefly detailed my thoughts on Griffith and the Gold Coast in an older post here (the purpose was to compare Griffith med with JCU med, but hopefully you can take out a few relevant parts), which may be of some use to you: Med Place Offers 2017 (Offers Only - All Unis)

If you have more specific questions about living on the GC or university life I'd be happy to answer.

As for your first year courses, you can find a list of them here: Bachelor of Dental Health Science (1577)

Most of these aren't dentistry specific, and are designed just to introduce you to health, the basics of chemistry, cell biology and anatomy and physiology, which will give you a solid base for the remainder of the dentistry program. Whether you do significant dent-specific practical work in first year, I don't believe so, but here are the links to the course profiles of the two dentistry foundation courses for you to read through to see what they entail:

Clinical Dental Practice 1 (1040DOH_Y1) - Griffith University

Clinical Dental Practice 1 (1040DOH_Y2) - Griffith University

If you have other Griffith or GC specific questions, ask away here and I'll do my best to answer. If you have questions about living in Adelaide or the university itself, ask away in an Adelaide-specific thread (tag Trinhcent or Dr.Potato and they will hopefully be able to assist).

 

[AndHan19]

This is quoted from AndHan19 on a profile post:

We don't have many active Griffith dentistry students on the forum and I know you need to make a decision by the 5th, so in case nobody responds to you in time I'll try and answer your Griffith-specific questions as best I can. For background, I've never been a dentistry student, but I did my undergraduate degree at Griffith and did all of the foundation year health courses that first year Griffith dentistry students do (other than the two dentistry-specific foundation courses)........

Thank you so much! This is very helpful. I have a couple of friends who study dentistry at Adelaide and I have listened to their opinion. They basically love it there. However they tell me, based on what they heard when they applied 2 years ago, the Griffith lacks on the clinical side. My Agency tells me that Griffith made changes in 2018 and have improved the clinical/practical studies. Just need some to confirm that. I will go through the links that you sent.
Do you know if the Griffith offers a feedback program where they have a list of students who volunteered to answer questions from future students? I emailed the university but I am still waiting to hear back.

Thanks again for your help

 

[Crow]

Do you know if the Griffith offers a feedback program where they have a list of students who volunteered to answer questions from future students?

I’m not exactly sure what you mean here, but I’ve never heard of anything like this happening at Griffith so I would assume not?

 

[Tomato]

Thank you so much! This is very helpful. I have a couple of friends who study dentistry at Adelaide and I have listened to their opinion. They basically love it there. However they tell me, based on what they heard when they applied 2 years ago, the Griffith lacks on the clinical side. My Agency tells me that Griffith made changes in 2018 and have improved the clinical/practical studies. Just need some to confirm that. I will go through the links that you sent.
Do you know if the Griffith offers a feedback program where they have a list of students who volunteered to answer questions from future students? I emailed the university but I am still waiting to hear back.

Thanks again for your help

I don't think Griffith has any problem with their curriculum, but they do charge you full fee in the last two years. Therefore, if you are not living on the GC, UniAdelaide may be your choice. In terms of rankings, UniAdelaide seems the 2nd highest in Australia, but it's really useless clinically

 

[Crow]

I don't think Griffith has any problem with their curriculum, but they do charge you full fee in the last two years. Therefore, if you are not living on the GC, UniAdelaide may be your choice. In terms of rankings, UniAdelaide seems the 2nd highest in Australia, but it's really useless clinically

I believe AndHan19 is an international student, so I don’t think this applies to them - Yamster informed me that the Griffith degree is actually significantly cheaper than the Adelaide degree for international students.

 

[Tomato]

I believe AndHan19 is an international student, so I don’t think this applies to them - Yamster informed me that the Griffith degree is actually significantly cheaper than the Adelaide degree for international students.

You are right. I wasn't aware that OP was an international student.

 

[AndHan19]

I believe AndHan19 is an international student, so I don’t think this applies to them - Yamster informed me that the Griffith degree is actually significantly cheaper than the Adelaide degree for international students.

That's correct. Around 50% more expensive to study at Adelaide vs Griffith.

 

[esh]

Hi, just wondering whether a GPA of 7 in a science degree will guarantee a place at Griffith for next yr? Also is there a chance that any previous undergraduate tertiary study (GPA around 6.4) will influence my selection rank?

 

[DrDrLMG!]

Hi, just wondering whether a GPA of 7 in a science degree will guarantee a place at Griffith for next yr? Also is there a chance that any previous undergraduate tertiary study (GPA around 6.4) will influence my selection rank?

Ooh, the first part of that is a yes, but I actually have no idea if the second part negates anything.

Crow or Yamster will know more.

 

[Yamster]

QTAC says a secondary ranking is determined and used when appropriate (the meaning's quite vague but I think they only use it in tie-breaker situations). A GPA of 7 should get you in provided that you've got 1 year of full time studies.

 

[sal123]

Hey, if I got a first class honours at usyd would that guarantee a place at Griffith for next year, or would they combine that with my undergrad GPA?

 

[Yamster]

Hey, if I got a first class honours at usyd would that guarantee a place at Griffith for next year, or would they combine that with my undergrad GPA?

Griffith assigns a GPA 7 to a Class I (research year(s)) Honours, so you should get in!

 

[sal123]

Griffith assigns a GPA 7 to a Class I (research year(s)) Honours, so you should get in!

I know some unis give first class honours to those who get above 85, whereas other unis (such as usyd) award first class to those who get above 80. Would that matter to Griffith (as I got 82) or would they just look at whether its first class honours or not?

 

[Yamster]

I know some unis give first class honours to those who get above 85, whereas other unis (such as usyd) award first class to those who get above 80. Would that matter to Griffith (as I got 82) or would they just look at whether its first class honours or not?

They should just look at your honours class (I believe). Best to double check as I don't want to give you false hope but I'm pretty certain that's how it is!

 

[DrDrLMG!]

They should just look at your honours class (I believe). Best to double check as I don't want to give you false hope but I'm pretty certain that's how it is!

Do they only use the most recent single year of study? Or will the 7.00 honours year GPA be combined with the GPA from the two years of FTE study prior to the honours year (making it three years total)?