Barts and The London Dentistry Interview Questions

Past Interview Questions & Tips

SELECT SECTION

Barts and The London Dentistry Interview Format

Barts & The London (Queen Mary University London) is highly competitive. Of over 700 applications, around 250 candidates will be selected for interview, leading to 150 offers being made. Around 70 students are then admitted to the course in September.

All applicants are reviewed to ensure that they meet the minimum academic requirements. Then UCAT scores and UCAS tariffs are combined to provide a score, with 50% weighting from UCAS and 50% weighting from UCAT. QMUL does not predict the thresholds for interview, as they are variable year-on-year.

Interviews take the form of a short panel interview with two members of the interviewing team. These members may be senior academic staff, clinical staff, dentistry students or lay people. The QMUL interview is not designed to intimidate, and instead aims to get to know candidates in a relaxed manner, assessing the following domains:

Motivation and realistic approach to dentistry as a career
Show initiative, resilience and maturity
Work well as part of a team
Be well organised and demonstrate problem solving abilities
Likely contribution to university life
Communicate effectively in a wide range of situations

Given that the personal statement is not used to assess applicants prior to interview, you should expect it to be used to provide background for interviewers. The university states that interviewers are looking for evidence of your academic ability, alongside your interests, talents, and the possibility of you making a real contribution to the School – in and out of academia. They will assess your suitability as a future member of the dental profession. They emphasise that they will look for evidence of you having committed yourself, and participated as fully as possible, in all facets of your school life up to this point.

Interviews are being conducted online post-COVID.

Barts and The London Dentistry Key Application & Interview Statistics

Overall Success Rate (Total Applicants : Total Spaces)

Percentage of Candidates Interviewed

Percentage Of Candidates Interviewed

Interviewee Success Rate

Percentage Of Candidates Interviewed

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Barts and The London Dentistry Past MMI Stations & Interview Questions

Motivation and realistic approach to dentistry as a career

What is your motivation for becoming a dentist?
What work experience do you have that has informed your desire to be a dentist?
Have you thought about how to manage the workload of studying dentistry?
What sources do you use to keep up to date with dentistry and healthcare news?
What characteristics are crucial to being a dentist?
Why are you pursuing a career in dentistry rather than medicine or another healthcare profession?

Show initiative, resilience and maturity

Are you a self-directed learner?
Tell us about a time that you were challenged, struggled, and succeeded nonetheless.
Tell us about a challenge that you encountered during your work experience.
Do you make an effort to go beyond the curriculum at school?
Why do you believe resilience to be crucial to practising dentistry?

Work well as part of a team

Are you a good team player?
Are you a good leader?
Do you work better as a team member or leader?
How have you developed your team-working skills?
How have you overcome challenges as part of a team?
How have you developed your communication skills through team-working?

Be well organised and demonstrate problem solving abilities

How will you organise yourself at university?
How do you organise your school work?
How will you handle the combination of a high workload, extra curricular activities and placements?

Likely contribution to university life

What will you bring to the university beyond an academic ability?
Are you interested in representing the university in sports?
What most attracts you to the university?
What parts of the university’s community, sports, and other extracurriculars stand out to you?

Communicate effectively in a wide range of situations

Tell us about a time that you had to communicate in a difficult situation.
Are you adept at communicating with a broad range of people?

Show thought to ethical situations

What do you need to consider when discussing treatment options with patients?
What are the four pillars of medical ethics?
‘Imagine that a patient has come to you asking for braces. There is no clinical indication that braces are suitable – meaning that she will not be offered braces on the NHS. However, her teeth are clearly making her depressed and anxious. Should she be offered braces by NHS despite not fulfilling the criteria?’
‘Imagine that a child has come into your surgery with severe dental decay. When you tell their parent that you believe an extraction to be necessary, they refuse to provide consent for the procedure. How would you proceed and what elements of the situation in particular would you consider?’