Queens Mary University of London School of Dentistry: Overview

Queens Mary University of London School of Dentistry (also known as Barts and The London) is a global leader in dental education. With a history dating to the 1120s, QMUL has been developing teaching methods and building experience throughout centuries that now yields great results: QMUL has been ranked 14th in the world in dentistry according to QS World University rankings.

The Queens Mary University of London enrols only around 70 students every year for their BDS Dentistry course. But that’s hardly a disadvantage - students pursuing dentistry at QMUL can benefit from a close-knit, supportive community and fewer students per patient, which is an important factor during clinical teaching.

Not only is Queens Mary University located in a bustling, pretty city with loads on offer, but the campus and clinics are also innovative and fantastic. If you decide to study dentistry at QMUL you’ll be able to work in state-of-the-art facilities and clinics, such as the Sir Ludwig Guttmann centre near the Olympic Park or the clinics at Barkantine near Canary Wharf.

Selection For Dentistry Interviews at Queens Mary University of London:

🔢 Queen Mary University of London: Dentistry BDS Entry Requirements

GCSEs & Predicted Grades: Obtained GCSE scores and your predicted grades will be summed up and translated into a score called the UCAS Tariff, which will be given 50% weight of the total pre-interview score. 152 tariff points are the lowest that QMUL accepts. You can calculate your tariff score using this tariff calculator created by UCAS.

Personal Statement: Not considered in the selection process at the pre-interview stage. However, parts of the personal statement may be used during the interview as a starting point for a discussion.

UCAT: Your UCAT score constitutes 50% of the total pre-interview score. The SJT is also taken into account.

You can read more about QMUL’s selection process under this link.

📊 What is the UCAT cut-off score to get an interview at Barts and The London?

QMUL sets the UCAT cut-off at the 3rd decile. This is a different score every year. For the 2022 entry the 3rd decile was equivalent to 2360 points.

📈  TOP Tip: Want to improve your chances of securing a place for dentistry at QMUL? Prepare for your dentistry interviews using Dentfully, an all-in-one e-learning platform created to make your interview prep fun, structured and efficient.

📤 When does Barts start sending interview invitations?

QMUL typically sends out interview invitations between December and March of the application cycle.

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 QMUL Dentistry Interview Statistics:

Around 700 students apply for bds dentistry at QMUL every year. Out of those, the top-scoring 250 students get invited to a dentistry interview (~35% of those who applied). Out of those 250, the top 150 candidates receive offers. This means that you have around a 60% chance of getting in when you’ve been invited to an interview, while the overall acceptance rate averages at 20%.

💡 How To Prepare for Dentistry Interviews at the Queens Mary University of London?

When preparing for the QMUL dentistry interviews you have to be intentional and put in a lot of effort. It requires much more than just reading a blog or two or doing a mock interview. But how do you navigate your interview prep, especially if the stakes are so high? Dentfully. We’ve created Dentfully, an innovative e-learning platform for aspiring dentists, to make preparing for your dentistry interviews simpler and more efficient than ever:

🦷 QMUL Dentistry Interview Questions:

Motivations and insight into dentistry:

• Why have you decided to apply for dentistry?
• Being a dentist requires a lot of hard work and resilience. What will motivate you to push through?
• What are some of the largest challenges that dentists need to face nowadays?
• What steps have you taken to find out if dentistry is the right career choice for you?
• What are the typical responsibilities of a dentist?

Teamwork:

• In your personal statement you’ve written that you were able to shadow a few members of the dental team. What did that work experience placement show you about the role of teamwork in dentistry?
• Can you please tell us about a situation when you had to work in a team?
• Do you work better as a team leader or a team member? What qualities does each of those have to possess?

Empathy:

• A young mother comes with their 12-month-old child to your dental practice for a checkup. During the checkup, you discover that the girl’s pulp is severely damaged and infected and recommend root canal treatment. After hearing the name of the procedure the mother nervously takes the child’s hand and says “We don’t want any treatments. Ginny, let’s go home”. Both the mother and the girl are clearly anxious. However, you know that the treatment is necessary. How would you act in such a situation?
• What’s your understanding of the term empathy? How does it differ from sympathy?

Contribution to QMUL:

• It’s vital to be able to balance the high volume of work that studying dentistry requires. What societies would you like to join or establish at QMUL?
• Why would you like to join our university?
• How can you contribute to the student community at QMUL?
• What challenges do you expect to face as a dental student? How are you planning to deal with them?

Communication:

• How would you explain the NHS band system to a patient who has just recently moved to the UK and doesn’t have a clue about how the system works?
• How would you explain how to make a cup of tea to an alien who has never heard of tea, cups, water or a kettle?
• You are a 3rd-year medical student. Together with a group of your classmates you've been working on a group presentation. As you prepare the setup you realise you forgot to save your part of the presentation. In turn, your group's presentation is incomplete. How would you approach your group leader to discuss the issue?

🚀 TOP Tip: Having trouble answering any of the above questions? Check out our Interview Guide at dentfully.co.uk and formulate convincing, structured answers. Ace your Dentistry Interviews with Dentfully!

Please note that these aren’t questions that have been asked at the Queens Mary University of London in past years. Publishing such information would be against Barts and The London’s policy. The above questions are adjusted for the interview style at the Queens Mary University of London and are meant to give you a broad sense of the questions you may face.

Barts and the London Dentistry Interviews (2023 entry):

🗓️ Queens Mary Dentistry Interview dates (2022):

This year's dentistry interviews at QMUL will most likely take place between January 2023 and March 2023.

💬 Interview format at QMUL School of Dentistry:

Before the pandemic started, QMUL organised their dentistry interviews at the Whitechapel campus in London. However, in the past two years, the interviews have been conducted over online communicators.

Nonetheless, the interview format didn’t change. QMUL conducts typical panel interviews (also called traditional interviews). The interview was usually held by 3-4 interviewers, comprised of academic or clinical staff, a dentistry student and sometimes a lay person. In total, the interview lasted around 30 minutes, but that varied from candidate to candidate.

You should be informed whether this year's interviews will take place online or in-person with the invitation email (which we are sure you’ll get! fingers crossed 🤞).

➗ QMUL Dentistry Interview scoring sheet:

How will the interviewers at Barts assess you in your interview? What elements of your interview performance should you emphasise during interview prep? Here you can find a link to an official interview scoring sheet used by QMUL interviewers in the past. As you can see it’s quite simple and implies that you’ll be assessed on the overall feeling you give off, rather than very specific elements.

⏳ How long does it take to hear back from Barts and The London?

Unfortunately, if your interviews have been at the beginning of the QMUL’s interview season, you’ll have to wait a while before you hear back. QMUL only replies to candidates after all interviews have been completed. This means you’ll hear back from them by the end of March at the earliest.

✅ Queens Mary Dental School Interviews: 3 Tips

📖  Review your personal statement:

Although QMUL doesn’t take into account your personal statement when selecting candidates for dentistry interviews, it may be brought up during the interview itself. Make sure you remember what you wrote and are prepared to elaborate on your achievements, interests and other aspects you have mentioned.

🧠 Reflect on your work experience and show a realistic understanding of dentistry

If you take a look at QMUL’s dentistry interview assessment sheet, you’ll see that a realistic understanding of a career in dentistry is one of the 5 areas in which you’ll be assessed. One of the ways that interviewers use to evaluate that is by asking about your work experience (or volunteering).

If you’ve taken any steps to find out what a career in dentistry entails, go back to it. Bring up any notes that you may have taken at the time, journal entries or your personal statement. Recall what you saw, how it made you feel and what you learned.

When talking about dentistry in your QMUL dentistry interview, try to avoid over-glamorising dentistry. Even when talking about the things that made you apply for dentistry, acknowledge that some of the aspects that you look forward to, are also a challenge. For instance, if you are talking about how you’d like to do a lot of hands-on work, just mention that it at the same time it also requires a lot of training or that it can be an additional stressor. However, don’t do it at the expense of passion - you should still demonstrate that dentistry is something that appeals to you.

❓ Know your reasons ‘why’

In your interview preparation, don’t neglect the most basic and predictable questions. Have a compelling, thoughtful answer to questions like “Why dentistry?,” “Why QMUL” or “Why should we choose you”. If you are having a hard time coming up with a well-structured, original answer, check our Dentistry Interview Prep Tool, with free guides on how to answer some of the most common interview questions.

🤞 Fingers crossed for your QMUL dentistry interview! You’ve got it!