UQ UQ Dentistry: Admissions General Discussion

[A1]

Wait, is this for real? I thought the maxfax pathway needed 2 years rotation as a house surgeon before entering medical school?

It is not a definitive maxfax pathway. Only an assured pathway to get both dent & med degrees to qualify for maxfax entry in future.

Were they actually able to select dentistry as their undergrad?

After getting provisional UQ Med offer they don't automatically choose dent as their undergrad. Need to request UQ Med Admissions for dent and be considered on a case-by-case basis if there are available spots.

Does anyone know if UQ offers any leniency for students living in rural areas?

Not just living in rural areas, you need 5 consecutive years (or 10 years total) to qualify for the rural-entry pathways at UQ and other med schools.
If so then typically 60-70ish %ile UCAT is required.

If less than 5 years you do get some advantage for JCU since JCU uses a Rurality Rating system that doesn't require minimum 5 years.

Edit: Sorry I've deleted this as I mistakenly thought it was for UQ Med.

 

[OliveTree]

I see, but in this case wouldn't they be at a massive advantage in that they can bypass two years of working as a dental house officer and avoid any competition to enter/re-enter medical school? (Although yes, they would be qualified for med school entry already) Also, if they acquire both a dent & med degree, does that only qualify them for maxfax selection, or does it open doors to other dental/medical specialties as well? Was just wondering if this path is specifically for maxfax

 

[A1]

Also, if they acquire both a dent & med degree, does that only qualify them for maxfax selection, or does it open doors to other dental/medical specialties as well?

They will simply graduate with the two degrees. Which profession they want to pursue is up to them - either as a dent graduate or a med graduate. or a combination of both to get ready for entering maxfax training.

Was just wondering if this path is specifically for maxfax

No, this is an option available at UQ. UQ has nothing to do with maxfax.

What you described seems to reflect the UAdel course, which is open to
- Dentist + 1-2 years house/dent surgeon, then do 3.5 years of the UAdel 6-year med course
- Doctor + 1-2 years surg-oriented experience, then do 3 years of the UAdel 5-year dent course

But UAdel says "This program does NOT imply or secure entry to the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgical training pathway. Requirements for OMS training can be found at RACDS.ORG".

I think completing UQ dent+med is near equivalent to completing this UAdel course. Securing RACDS training is a subsequent step. The UQ grads will need to work a number of years to be competitive for RACDS.

 

[Crow]

I feel like it’s an insane step to take, if you’ve never even worked as a dentist before, to commit to the above. I hear it’s very competitive to get onto max-facs - you could end up spending 9+ years at university, 2-3 years as a rotational junior doctor and then 5+ years as an unaccredited registrar before you even start the training pathway. I have to assume most newly graduating high school students can’t really make an informed choice to commit to all of that so far out from ultimately doing the job of a consultant max-facs surgeon. I do wonder what portion of those with both dental and medical degrees ultimately end up in max-facs.

 

[A1]

I hear it’s very competitive to get onto max-facs - you could end up spending 9+ years at university, 2-3 years as a rotational junior doctor and then 5+ years as an unaccredited registrar before you even start the training pathway.

Entry requirements from this pdf
> https://racds.org/wp-content/upload...ection-Guide-for-Applicants_November-2024.pdf

- Dental degree with full registration to practice dentistry
- Medical degree with full registration to practice medicine
- Twelve months SIG rotations as a surgical resident including Emergency and CriticalCare. Acceptable rotations include: general surgery, lots of surgery types, emergency or intensive care. (Note it's surgical resident not registrar, doesn't take long to acquire).

Intakes in the last few years


Australia has on average 10 positions a year. The question is are there many more than 10 a year who hold both dent + med degrees to make OMS entry very competitive?

I suspect the reputed competitiveness could be in getting into a uni OMS course like UAdel or USyd. If so the UQ dent+med option helps alleviate this competitiveness.

 

[laerla]

It is quite competitive, when I was going through in uni, in my year alone there were 4 doctors who were obviously graduating from dentistry and going for OMFS, and that is just one dental school alone. And you also have to take into consideration the applicants from all previous years who didn't get into the program, will likely still be trying to get into the program, so it can create a back log of applicants. Some can spend 5 or more years just trying to get into the program and most give up after a while...

 

[Unluckydude]

It happens more often than you think!

Over-offering based on years of data and expecting x number of declines is very common practice for many universities. Over offering and getting caught out is less common but still happens, students have even been deferred to the next year without any warning in these types of instances previously.

Yes, UniMelb's over-offered this year and had to withdraw offers. People were threatening to sue UniMelb, not sure if they actually went ahead with it.

 

[A1]

It is quite competitive, when I was going through in uni, in my year alone there were 4 doctors who were obviously graduating from dentistry and going for OMFS

It still puzzles me that these doctors would forgo 4-5 years doctor's work to do a dent degree, all while knowing they might not get in OMFS training.

If they find it a worthwhile investment of time/effort despite the risk, it's even more so for UQ dent+med given it's "only" two extra years.

 

[Crow]

I suspect the reputed competitiveness could be in getting into a uni OMS course like UAdel or USyd.

I was referring to getting into the college training pathway. It’s anecdotal but I am reading online that the number of applicants relative to places offered is on par with orthopaedics and other surgical subspecialties, and obviously all of those applicants have both med and dental degrees.

 

[OliveTree]

Entry requirements from this pdf
> https://racds.org/wp-content/upload...ection-Guide-for-Applicants_November-2024.pdf

- Dental degree with full registration to practice dentistry
- Medical degree with full registration to practice medicine
- Twelve months SIG rotations as a surgical resident including Emergency and CriticalCare. Acceptable rotations include: general surgery, lots of surgery types, emergency or intensive care. (Note it's surgical resident not registrar, doesn't take long to acquire).

Intakes in the last few years
View attachment 5924

Australia has on average 10 positions a year. The question is are there many more than 10 a year who hold both dent + med degrees to make OMS entry very competitive?

I suspect the reputed competitiveness could be in getting into a uni OMS course like UAdel or USyd. If so the UQ dent+med option helps alleviate this competitiveness.

Hey mate thanks for the stats and info!

 

[Tomato]

Omg I never thought about this aspect^ before. I promise I will no longer do free publicity for this dent-undergrad option.



Depends on the viewpoint.
These provisional med students would have higher UCAT than the dent cutoff to justify UQ giving them a dent spot.
One part that could be seen as unfair is they get effectively two UQ offers. But then it's the same for provisionals at the other unis - they get a Bachelor offer + a future MD offer.

I think that UQ allows these med students to choose dent as their 1st degree is basically not unfair, but has some "defects":
1. The provisional med students' UCAT may not higher than dent cutoff when you take the SJT into account
2. Some students may not meet dent's SR 99+ when they meet med's 95+

When these students choose to study dent as their 1st degree, one thing pops into my mind is that some of them may end up with BDSc and work as a dentist rather than furthering MD. Another thing is that the people with dual degree in Australia are somewhat a couple of hundreds during the years. But the intake for OMFS each year is single digit. Therefore OMFS is a risky path that needs to be considered carefully.

 

[willg]

Does undergraduate UQ dent accept non-standard students?

 

[A1]

Does undergraduate UQ dent accept non-standard students?

Iirc they do.
You need to have the GPA equiv to ATAR Rank 99+ (not sure 6.0+ or 6.5+) then selection is based on your UCAT score + the SJT score.

 

[gr123]

Hello, does anyone know roughly how many undergraduate (ATAR pathway) spots are given for UQ dent each year? Does UQ prioritise Queensland students over other states? Also, does anyone know roughly what UCAT score (plus SJT) is required for undergraduate UQ dent entry this year?

 

[2xq]

Hello, does anyone know roughly how many undergraduate (ATAR pathway) spots are given for UQ dent each year?

This is published on their degree course page:-

Does UQ prioritise Queensland students over other states?

No

Also, does anyone know roughly what UCAT score (plus SJT) is required for undergraduate UQ dent entry this year?

No one can predict the future.

 

[garlicaioli18]

what are we thinking the score threshold will be this year, around 3050+?

 

[mangosago12]

Does anyone know if uq dent would look at the total score of VR + DM + QR first and rank the candidates based on their SJT if the UCAT scores are the same or would it be just VR, DM, QR and SJT all combined together in first go? Any response would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Arcadia]

Does anyone know if uq dent would look at the total score of VR + DM + QR first and rank the candidates based on their SJT if the UCAT scores are the same or would it be just VR, DM, QR and SJT all combined together in first go?

VR DM QR SJT all combined together.

__________
A1 adds: UQ has not corrected UCAT from 5 to 4 sections so I'll do for them
> Submit your application
"For entry into the Bachelor of Dental Science (Honours), using the aggregate score from all 4 sections of the UCAT as the first selection. Applicants with the same aggregate score are ranked by their UCAT section 4(SJT) score. If this score is also the same, the UCAT section 1(VR) score is used."

 

[glitch18]

Hi all,



Just looking for some advice for applying for UQ undergraduate dentistry 2027 intake. For context, I am a rural applicant (MMR2) and I have just completed a graduate diploma this year from UQ, graduating with a GPA 6.0. I’ve heard this previously, but was unsure if it was true as I couldn’t find much information on this — will UQ only take my most recent GPA (6.0) into consideration for my dent application? As unfortunately the GPA from my previous study (Bachelor of Biomedical Science from UQ) is quite poor, with my overall being a GPA of 4.2, hence the completion of this GradDip.
Would love to get some knowledge on this, and perhaps if this applies to other unis like JCU and Griffith for their dent degrees? Or will they also factor in the last 2 years of my biomed degree, like a GEMSAS calculation? I’m also not too sure what a competitive GPA for rural students is, if anyone has any intel on if my 6.0 will be competitive alongside a good UCAT score — Cheers!

 

[tdnii]

Hi all,



Just looking for some advice for applying for UQ undergraduate dentistry 2027 intake. For context, I am a rural applicant (MMR2) and I have just completed a graduate diploma this year from UQ, graduating with a GPA 6.0. I’ve heard this previously, but was unsure if it was true as I couldn’t find much information on this — will UQ only take my most recent GPA (6.0) into consideration for my dent application? As unfortunately the GPA from my previous study (Bachelor of Biomedical Science from UQ) is quite poor, with my overall being a GPA of 4.2, hence the completion of this GradDip.
Would love to get some knowledge on this, and perhaps if this applies to other unis like JCU and Griffith for their dent degrees? Or will they also factor in the last 2 years of my biomed degree, like a GEMSAS calculation? I’m also not too sure what a competitive GPA for rural students is, if anyone has any intel on if my 6.0 will be competitive alongside a good UCAT score — Cheers!

Yes, UQ will only use ur GD GPA, if that’s ur latest degree and is from UQ. That will make you meet the gpa/atar hurdle, I believe rural and metro applicants have the same UCAT cutoff from memory, rural status only applies to ur atar or GPA selection rankings