Dundee Dental School: Overview

The University of Dundee is one of the UK's top universities for Dentistry, (3rd in the UK for dentistry according to Guardian University League Tables 2020) and it's been ranked among the world's top 100 universities.

It was the first Scottish university to open a school of dentistry, which was founded in 1916.

This is an exciting time to be joining the University of Dundee Dental School, as they have recently just launched a new 4D curriculum, where they’ve moved away from lecture-based teaching towards more self-directed learning through small group workshops and case discussions. In year 1 you'll get ready for your first patient encounters (which will start in year 2) through innovative clinical simulations and Thiel cadavers (which are another fascinating and innovative thing about Dundee!).

Selection For Dentistry Interviews at Dundee University:

🔢 How does Dundee select candidates for BDS interviews?

GCSEs + Predicted Grades: GCSE and predicted grades combined account for 60% of the pre-interview assessment at Dundee. Before applying make sure to check Dundee’s entry requirements for dentistry.

Personal Statement: Your personal statement will not be assessed or evaluated at the pre-interview stage of the selection process at Dundee. However, it may be brought up during the interview to form a springboard for a discussion about your motivations to study dentistry, interests and achievements.

UCAT: UCAT score (excluding the SJT) accounts for 40% of the pre-interview assessment for dentistry at Dundee.

📊 What is the UCAT cut-off score to get an interview at Dundee?

Looking at dentistry admissions statistics, every year, Dundee interview UCAT cut-off score tends to be between 2030 and 2100, but the average UCAT score of those interviewed was around 2550. However, please note that these scores are subject to change each year, depending on the average scores of the cohort, as well as the number of people who apply for dentistry at Dundee.

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📤 When does Dundee Dental School start sending interview invitations?

If you’ve applied for dentistry at Dundee, you can expect to hear from them between late November and January of the application cycle. Dundee aims to give all students at least two weeks' notice before the available interview dates and is known to send interview invitations in batches (and not on a rolling basis).

🚀 TOP Tip: Check your @dundee.ac.uk email regularly! You won’t be notified about the interview invitation via the UCAS track, but only through your personal and academic emails.

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Dundee Dental School Interviews: Number of interviews

🇬🇧 Home Students: Historically, around 450 students apply for dentistry at Dundee from the UK. Out of those around 250 get interviewed (55%).

🌍 International Students: For 2021 entry, 73 international students applied for dentistry at Dundee and 44 have received an invitation to the interview (60%).

💡 How To Prepare for Dentistry Interviews at Dundee University?

Dentistry interviews are a big deal - there is a lot of material to cover, the stakes are high and competition is intense. And it’s likely one of your first interviews in your life! To make the preparation process as simple and efficient as possible, we’ve created Dentfully - a platform where you can learn, gain confidence and practice mocks for your dentistry interviews:

🦷 Dundee BDS Dentistry Interview Questions (A200):

Motivations to study dentistry at Dundee:

• Why did you choose to apply to BDS dentistry and not for dental nursing?
• We’ve had over 500 applications for dentistry this year, and unfortunately, we cannot enrol everyone. What are your unique selling points? How can you contribute to our student community at Dundee University?
• Name 3 aspects of a dentist's job that appeal the least to you and explain why.
• Has anyone tried to dissuade you from applying to dentistry? Have you ever had doubts if this is really the right career choice for you? Why have you decided to apply anyway?

Dental ethics, scenarios and dilemmas:

• In your opinion, should cosmetic treatments be included in one of the Bands under the NHS?
• 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?
• Imagine you are a dentist and you recommend a patient root canal treatment for their infected tooth. It’s the cheapest and most efficient solution in this case. However, they have had unpleasant complications after previous root canal treatment and refuse. As a dentist, how would you respond?

Teamwork:

• Tell us about a situation when you had to work in a team.
• What makes a good team member? How do the attributes of a good team member differ from the attributes of an ideal leader?
• Are you more of a leader or a follower?
• Dentistry is undoubtedly a team sport. Who makes up the dental team?
• What are some ways in which we can teach our dental students to work more efficiently in a team?

Commitment:

• Why should we choose you?
• What’s your greatest non-academic achievement?
• What steps have you taken to find out if dentistry really appeals to you?

Thinking on your feet/creativity:

• How would you explain to an alien, who has never heard of tea bags, kettles or water, how to make a cup of tea?
• How many basketballs would fit into this room?
• You have a minute to sell yourself. The timer starts now!

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

Dundee Dentistry Interviews (2023 entry):

🗓️ Dundee Dentistry Interview dates (2022):

This year’s dentistry interviews at Dundee will most likely take place in December 2022 and January 2023. Dundee recommends that you don’t plan any holidays in advance in that period. However, you still should be able to choose a date convenient to you when you get invited to the interview.

🚀 TOP Tip: Register for your dentistry interview as soon as you receive the invitation email from Dundee! Dundee likes to send interview invitations in batches, meaning your preferred date may be available the moment you receive your interview invitation, but not a few hours afterwards. Having said that, don’t leap into it straight away, but give yourself a few minutes to consult the dates available with your schedule, calendar and family.

💬 Interview format at Dundee Dental School?

Dundee typically conducts panel interviews for BDA dentistry. What’s a panel interview? A panel interview is the most traditional type of an interview, where you are asked a series of questions by the same group of people (in the case of Dundee, 3 interviewers) and are then assessed on your overall performance.

Dundee held their interviews online via a platform called Blackboard Collaborative. In past years, Dundee dentistry interviews lasted approx. 40 minutes in total, including the introduction and ID verification (which take place beforehand).

During your Dundee dentistry interview, you’ll be assessed in the following domains: Work experience, teamwork, communication skills, commitment, critical thinking, ability to think on your feet, and analysis of situations and dilemmas in a clinical and dental context. If you are looking for example dentistry interview questions, check the section above entitled 🦷 Dundee dentistry interview questions.

🏆 Dundee Dental Interviews: How many offers?

🇬🇧 Home Students: Each year around 230 students get interviewed for BDS dentistry at Dundee and the top 100-120 students get offered a place. This sets the interview to offer ratio at 2.3:1. **

🌍 International Students: For 2021 entry, 44 international students were interviewed for dentistry at Dundee and 35 have received offers (80%).

🤵‍♀️ How should I dress for my Dundee Dentistry Interview?

No matter if your dentistry interview will take the online or in-person format, you should stick to the same dress code. You should aim to come across as professional and through your attire show respect for the other party and the University of Dundee itself. That means you should stick to a business formal dress code (avoid casual clothes such as chinos, jeans, t-shirts etc.).

For more specific outfit ideas and common outfit mistakes, check this guide we’ve written: What to wear to an interview: Examples, tips and mistakes.

⏳ How long does it take to hear back from Dundee University?

You should hear back from Dundee Dental School no later than the end of March 2023. You will probably receive information about the outcome of your dentistry interview earlier if no extraordinary factors extend the selection process.

✅ Dundee Dental School Interviews: 4 Tips

🎓 Research Dundee and know your reasons why:

Make sure you do your research about Dundee University and the dental course at Dundee before your interviews, just in case you are asked about your motivations to study dentistry at Dundee.

Know how is the course structured (particularly, what the new 4D curriculum means), what makes dentistry at Dundee special, where clinical teaching takes place and where it starts, 3 reasons why you’d like to study dentistry at Dundee etc. Make some notes and review them before your interviews.

Want to know how to ace university-specific dentistry questions? Sign up for a free account at dentfully.co.uk and check out our dentistry interview guide!

📝 Review your personal statement in terms of interviews

Dundee won’t assess your personal statement in the selection for the interview process, but it’s not uncommon that they use the personal statements as a springboard for a discussion during the panel interview.

To prepare for questions on your personal statement and work experience, review it during your interview prep and think of the questions you may get asked. For instance, if you’ve written about the challenges you’ve seen dentists face, think of some questions related to challenges in dentistry. Similarly, if you’ve written about a sport you are passionate about, try to come up with questions related to it, such as how it can help you become a better dentist, what you find enjoyable about the sport and the like.

🔤 GDC’s 9 Standards are the ABCs of dental ethics

During your Dundee dentistry interview, your ability to analyse ethical scenarios may be tested. To prepare for questions related to dental ethics and ethical dilemmas, you should first gather some knowledge. In our 40,000+ word dental interview guide, we’ve included everything you need to know about dental ethics in a succinct format (4 pillars of dental ethics, breakdown of GDC’s 9 standards and multiple common ethical scenarios).

Another great resource to help you prepare for ethical questions are the 9 Standards of Dental Ethics, guidelines issued by the General Dental Council. This document outlines all the do’s and dont’s for dental professionals and will help you understand how a model dentist should behave. Give it a read before your interviews, highlight the parts you find most important or surprising and try to apply them to some questions around dental ethics.

🧠 Learn to think on your feet

The ability to come up with an answer on the spot will be one of the skills tested in the Dundee dentistry interview. You can prepare for that by simply exposing yourself to loads of questions during your interview prep. To help you with that process, we’ve created a flashcards arena with 200+ interview questions that you can use for free if you register at dentfully.co.uk

Good luck in your Dundee Dentistry Interview!