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Application Process, Applying to University

The Application Process for Dental Hygiene and Therapy

13 December 2024
Sophie Robinson

Sophie Robinson

Hi guys! Todays blog is about the application timeline for Dental Hygiene therapy at Cardiff university. When I was applying I was sitting my A levels so luckily I had a lot of support from my sixth form when it came to deadlines for writing a personal statement and applying to UCAS, however for those of you who don’t have that support this blog will hopefully clear a few things up for you. I’m often asked by students how long they should be waiting to get invited to interviews once thieve applied, and I know it can feel like ages waiting to hear back from the university, so ill go over that for you guys today also. So onto the timeline!

 

The application process timeline:

  • Apply for the course – you do this via UCAS in January time of the academic year before you want to apply- so in my case I applied in January of 2022 ready for the academic year 2022/23 which starts in September. For this you’ll need to check that you have met the minimum requirements for the course- you can do this by checking the university website on the link below. You will also need to submit your personal statement at this stage on UCAS. If you’re sitting A-levels, like I was, your school may wish you to have this prepared in December so they can look over your personal statement. Unlike Dentistry, where you can only apply for 4 universities, 5 options can be used for Dental Therapy and Hygiene. You will need to make sure that the Dental Schools you are applying for will accept an application for Dental Hygiene and/or Dental Therapy if you are primarily interested in Dentistry. If you’re interested in further info and tips on writing your personal statement go check out my Personal statement blog!
  • Receive offer for interview- Applications are scored to prioritise interviews, which takes time. More information on this process is available on the “Frequently Asked Questions” link below.  I received an offer for interview in around March of 2022. Cardiff university hold in person MMI style interviews for home fee paying applicants but some other dental schools hold panel interviews. To find out more about MMI style interviews I have a blog uploaded for this also!
  • Finally, if all goes well you will receive your offer and begin the course in September!

Remember the course is very competitive to get onto with over 1000 applicants applying in recent years across both Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy programmes so even high scoring candidates don’t always make it through the selection process. If you’re set on Dental Therapy don’t let this dishearten you, I highly recommend you take a year to gain further work experience, evaluate areas for improvement and then reapply the following year!

Good luck with your applications!

If you have any further questions feel free to message me on Unibuddy!

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