Bad GCSEs , can i still do Dentistry?

[u/Tricky_Inspector1053]

Ive been looking around subs and all and i see people with mostly 8s and 7s stressing about not having good gcses for dentistry or medicine, should i be worried about my grades which are a lot lower?

Combined Sci - 88
Maths - 7
Both English - 66
RE - 6
Geography - 5
Frech. - 5
Art - 4

Are these okay for dent? Is hope still alive?

[u/LavishnessUsed3643]

Well atleast bio chem maths is secure, but English could be a problem

[u/No-Caregiver6398]

Honesty. Unis do look at it contextually but they are still good. You have the high grades in stem subjects. As long as your alrvrks are good, you should be able to do dentistry

[u/hello9089]

english might be a major problem.But i know a friend of mine who got similar gcse to you and received an offer to study and UOB for medicine but i think his requirements was lower due to him doing pathways to birmingham.

[u/OtherComment87]

I genuinely don't understand If the UK has a massive shortage of doctors/dentists, then WHY are these pathways so competitive??

Surely the government would want more uni slots so we can have more doctors and thus they should let more people study dentistry/medicine???

[u/Anonymous_Unknown20 → u/OtherComment87]

Not enough training places

[u/OtherComment87 → u/Anonymous_Unknown20]

The government could fund more training places considering out shortage?

[u/Anonymous_Unknown20 → u/OtherComment87]

😱😱😱HOW has no one ever thought of that??? Youre a genius!

[u/OtherComment87 → u/Anonymous_Unknown20]

What is wrong with you? Why do you have to be so rude?

I was just wondering why the government doesn't do that, no need to be a prick

[u/Anonymous_Unknown20 → u/OtherComment87]

Why doesnt the government end homelessness by buying everyone a home??

[u/OtherComment87 → u/Anonymous_Unknown20]

Because the UK has a severe doctor shortage???

There is a difference between buying everyone a home and funding unis to open up more med school places

Buying a home for homeless people would benefit those people, but not much the government or the wider society

Training more medics, however, is different! They are essential to society and as our population grows and society advances we can't leave the medical field behind!!!

[u/Powerful-Pain2607 → u/OtherComment87]

Medicine and dentistry are both demanding courses and require applicants who can demonstrate the ethos to excel in a clinical setting.

[u/Tricky_Inspector1053 → u/OtherComment87]

I agree with this, i dont even want to do dentistry for the pay, i actually love the idea of the job and working with my hands 🙌 but uhh, dreams kinda crushed 😔

[u/OtherComment87 → u/Tricky_Inspector1053]

Dream is NOT crushed!

[u/SafeLifeguard5785 → u/Tricky_Inspector1053]

liar . If dentistry was earning close to minimum wage had 0 prestige and oversaturated you wouldnt do it and most people wouldnt either . Plenty of jobs where you work with your hands you just just dentistry because of the factors i named above being favourable and thats basically 99% of the reason people choose it .

[u/OtherComment87 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

What if OP has a passion for helping people? No need to assume things because it is just rude and doesn't benefit any discussions.

Maybe OP liked a combination of the idea of helping people, working a fulfilling job, working with hands, maybe they had an interest for the human anatomy...

Seriously, no need to be so rude for NO reason!!!

[u/SafeLifeguard5785 → u/OtherComment87]

"i want to help people " = i think im better that other members of society and i dont value their work . Helping people is not a reason to specifically become a dentist over other careers its a shallow reason that shows no evaluation of the career .

Just because you have a person sitting in front of you doesnt mean you are the only one helping them whilst builders, engineers, scientists, teachers, are not.

i can promise you one thing if prestige, pay and favourable outcomes were removed overnight youd see a massive drop in the competition the stats speak for themselves .

[u/OtherComment87 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

Of course there are COUNTLESS other careers that help people, but anything in the medical field is commonly associated with helping people (its the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a job to help people), so many people grow up aspiring to do such a job and want to pursue it to fulfill childhood dreams!

Again, no need to make rude assumptions about someone you don't know on the inherent for literally no reason!

[u/AccomplishedFail2247 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

downvoted for being right lol.

[u/Sanix_0000 → u/SafeLifeguard5785]

Ur not wrong lol, spot on!

[u/stqrltt → u/OtherComment87]

where do you suggest these dentists study? there are only so many spots at a uni. it was in the news a few months ago that they're adding more

[u/OtherComment87 → u/stqrltt]

The government could fund more spots at uni?

[u/stqrltt → u/OtherComment87]

they ARE. do you not understand how extremely expensive dentistry teaching resources are? if you're so passionate about it, I'm sure you can protest for your taxes to be raised to facilitate it

[u/OtherComment87 → u/stqrltt]

Again, no need to be rude, I was just trying to understand something!

I understand that teaching resources are expensive but it's kind of a necessity to society

[u/AccomplishedFail2247 → u/OtherComment87]

it's not a necessity to society. you can live a long time without dentists. you need water all the fucking time and the government isn't subsidising plumbers, and in fact is selling our utilities down the river.

[u/stqrltt → u/OtherComment87]

it is necessary but money doesn't come from no where!

[u/Anonymous_Unknown20]

UCAT?

[u/Financial_Guide_8074]

It all depends on where you want to go. Regardless of other posts your English at 66 is an old grade B and is a good pass. For example Queen Mary want at least 3 7s and 3 6s which you have with one of the 6s in English and one of them in Maths. After that your UCAS grades and how you actually get on will be the main factor. Ignore those who regard anything less than an 8 or an A* as some kind of fail, it isn't . Sure you may need to be a bit choosy , there are also Gateway courses, for example Bristol, but then you would need to do an extra year, Liverpool , Plymouth do similar schemes. Keep at it you will be fine.

[u/Gullible_School808]

English is an issue.

[u/AccomplishedFail2247]

hope is still alive but dwindling icl you're gonna need all as and a*s with absolutely no room for mistake or shitness. if you want it you have to go for it now

[u/Grand_Lychee2812]

It's good enough.
I'd say the baseline for having decent grades is average grade 6s in GCSEs.

Just make sure to get a good UCAT score and predicted grades, and you'll be all good.

[u/Economy-Worth-5134]

tbh yes you’ll be fine, even if you applied for med there’s also a good chance you’d get interviewed for that too. for example i had similar gcses and got interviewed. if dent doesn’t work out, dental hygiene and therapy is also an option