hey guys this is a bit of a tough subject for me to talk about but i'm
going to get into it in the hopes that we might spark up some discussion on how
we can help each other and in this video i'm going to tell you how
i managed to get into dentistry after getting b
b c d in my a levels so my name is Ali and i'm a fifth year
dental student now studying at newcastle and the reason i decided to make this
video was actually to help anyone who's in a similar situation to what i was in
back in my a level struggling to get into dental school
i got good gcses bar a B in english and at the time i didn't think
it really mattered much but before i knew it i was already behind in this
race later on i found out that i couldn't
apply to dentistry to certain unis with a b in english and i would have to
retake it while i was doing my a levels and considering there were like 14
dental schools at the time i was applying any less and i was already
majorly disadvantaged i remember having the option to retake
and make it an a but i really hated english and
some unis didn't even accept retakes so i just decided to cut my losses and try
to do really well in my a levels i chose the very typical subject of
maths biochem and physics and i was so focused on extracurricular activities
setting up a charity shout out yapker if you know you know
volunteering at care homes finding new friends in sixth form among loads of
other things i can't even remember today i ended up getting a bb cd in my as and
those were basically my predicted grades too and on top of that i got the lowest
score i've ever heard of anyone getting in the uk
at 540 so no dental school was gonna accept me and i kind of knew that
at the time i thought about giving up and just settling for a course i didn't
really want to do which was mechanical engineering and i actually
applied and got offers but i just really knew i wanted to do dentistry to be
honest with you i remember it being such a difficult time in my life and i would
just sit there listening to depressing music in my car
hating life and i was young and lost and i didn't really know what i wanted to do
with my life and then one day my family sat me down and we had a long serious
discussion about what i wanted to do with the situation i was in
and having expressed that i still really wanted to do dentistry i was really
lucky i had a really supportive family who pushed me in the right direction
if you're currently in a similar situation to what i was in and there's
only one piece of advice that i could give you right now it would be that
verbalizing a problem to the people who care about you the most can give you so
much strength and they could help you find the best
solution because of it i went back to a2 with a killer mindset i was gonna retake
everything from my as and do my a2 at the same time and reapply after i take a
gap year i remember i was taking on 18 exams
while all my other friends just had to do eight
i was working so hard some days it was actually unhealthy like i said i'm not
some naturally smart person but i grind really really hard and i
would work for like 14 hours most days and lose sleep all the way from
september through to exams some days i would sleep on the floor
because i knew that i would be too tired to get up the next day if i slept in the
comfort of my bed some days i would lose my eyesight for a
few hours and my body would just shut down and force me to take breaks
looking back now i really had no idea what working smart looked like and
i really tried to know but it just wasn't clicking with me so i had to make
up with it but the only way i knew how and that was with
non-stop work this is obviously the worst way you can study and in the
future we'll be covering how to study smart and be more efficient with your
time so keep an eye out for that eventually my a2 results they came
around and i was devastated to find out that i still didn't get the required
three a's and i actually only got aab in the end which was another blow
especially because i didn't know if it was going to be good enough if
there was anything more that i could do all i knew is that i didn't want to give
up and on top of that this time i only got 615
for my uk cap which is slightly higher than the previous year but it still
wasn't on the higher end like i knew people who were getting well into the
700s and i even knew one guy who got 815 or
even higher i can't remember so the four unis i applied to were kings queens
bristol and newcastle and i was rejected from kings and queens
and i was obviously devastated expecting to get rejected from bristol and
newcastle too thankfully bristol got back to me inviting me for an interview
but soon after they rejected me as well and
my last chance was literally fighting out on newcastle there's so much
pressure so much anxiety and all i could do is
wait to hear back from them eventually i got an email saying i got an interview
and the crazy thing is i went up with my best friend who was also in a similar
situation to me at the time and when we got there it was us two and one
other girl and they told us you were the last three to be
interviewed the interview went really well
and now i actually know the woman who interviewed me and she's one of the most
lovely people so when we finished the interview my
friend and i both headed back to the train station towards london
and 20 minutes later after leaving the union we both received an email of
acceptance and as you can imagine it was the best
train ride home the acceptance was under the condition that we went to a summer
camp for their partners program and if you don't know what that is i
highly recommend you have a look into it if you're a prospective dental student
you can apply for it for so many reasons that you would never expect and it could
be based on where you live what school you attend if you're a carer
and so many other reasons and if your application is successful you get put on
a regular newcastle bds course and i've left a link in the description for the
newcastle partners program homepage and eligibility i highly recommend checking
it out because you can apply and all they look for is three b's alongside
the summer camp a written essay and a decent enough uk cap just a quick note
i really enjoyed the summer camp i met some of my best friends from newcastle
there and ended up living with them for three years studying a course that i
loved so it's definitely worth it so anyway if
you're in a similar situation to what i was in
what should you do first first of all don't give up
i know it sounds cliche but if your heart is set on dentistry do everything
in your power to chase it and just be resilient
see if you can retake your as in your a2 year most unis don't allow retakes and
expect you to do your a levels in two years and i know it sounds difficult and
it is and you're gonna have to work really
hard but i can't stress this enough it will be worth it
then you want to look into applying to unis which allow lower grades like the
partners program which include a catch like a summer camp
and finally if it's worth it to you i know someone who studies dentistry
abroad and i know i definitely consider the
option but just make sure if you consider it and want to come back to the
uk that you have a good look into the overseas registration exam
which will give you a gdc number which will give you the rights to practice in
the uk unsupervised one of the main reasons we started this
channel was so that we can share these kinds of experiences with you guys and
pass on any of the tips that we've gathered along the way
if you're interested feel free to subscribe and check out our other videos
we'd also really appreciate any feedback you guys have for us and if any of you
guys feel comfortable enough to share your experiences we might find it
benefit from discussing that in the comments below thank you guys so much
for listening to the very end and i'll see you guys in another video