Don't Know Which Universities To Apply To? Read This.

This time last year, I was starting to consider which Dental Hygiene and Therapy courses I was going to apply to and, to put it simply, I definitely made some mistakes! I wanted to share with you my #advice and what I have learned through the process.

After much deliberation, and in no particular order, I decided on the following five options:

1. Queen Mary University - BSc Oral Health

2. The University of Leeds - BSc Dental Hygiene and Therapy

3. Cardiff University - DipHE Dental Hygiene

4. The University of Portsmouth - BSc Dental Hygiene and Therapy

5. The University of Essex - FdSc Oral Health Sciences

There were a few things I wish I had known before going through the process which would have saved me a lot of deliberating later down the line.

Here are my suggestions for narrowing down universities:

Make a list

• Firstly, make a #list of all the universities that offer DH or DHT courses for the year you're applying. Then go through the #entryrequirements and filter out any that you outright do not qualify for.

Email admissions

• Following that, email the admissions teams at the remaining universities with very specific details of your qualifications to determine if you meet the entry requirements. The only way I found out I couldn’t apply to Manchester or Liverpool was through these emails. It turned out Liverpool don’t accept access courses completed by distance learning, but it doesn’t say that on their website! I was gutted, but this really saves wasting one of your five choices, thus giving you a better chance of acceptance.

Decide - hygiene or therapy?

• Want to know something I didn’t realise before I applied? It’s really really important to decide whether you want to do #hygiene or #therapy. If you don’t know much about the difference, head to google and do some serious research. I submitted a mix of applications and as time went on, I realised I really wanted to do therapy. This lead to me getting offers from universities I loved, but I’d applied to the wrong course and it was too late to change it!

Do the entry requirements vary?

• Once you have narrowed your list down, look at the entry requirements. Try and order the universities from lower entry requirements to higher. It’s good to apply to a range as it makes it more likely you’ll be accepted if your studying doesn’t go quite to plan...

Personal preferences?

• Next, you can filter out universities that are maybe too far away or don't have the sports facilities you desperately desire, and so on.

Go and visit!

• Now, if you can, please GO AND VISIT! I couldn’t advise this more strongly. Back in 2014, I enrolled at a university I hadn’t even heard before I went through #clearing. This was such a rookie mistake. Getting a feel for the university, facilities, halls, tutors, and the city will really help you narrow down where you want to go. Attending lots of open days can be quite a costly process, but dropping out after 2 months is far more costly! (I’m talking from experience here guys). Also (a little bonus), many university departments hand out booklets at open days that can really help your #applications. I received a great one at the University of Leeds that gave brilliant #personalstatement advice and basically detailed everything they wanted to see.

Make your own decisions

• At the end of the day, selecting universities is a really important and personal choice. Make sure you decide using your own preferences and not because of outside input.

Choosing Unis Spreadsheet.pdf

Download PDF • 397KB

Here's a #download for the table that helped me narrow down my options! It's pretty simple, but it can help things feel less overwhelming once you've got everything down on paper.

If you want any more information or advice, feel free to send me a message and I will do my best to help!

Remember, #healthiswealth !

Lots of love,