Dental Surgery admissions and selection process - 2027 entry

How to apply

You should submit your application through UCAS for the following academic year. All applicants should take the UCAT test for the current admissions cycle.

Screening of applications takes place from October to December, and invitations for interviews (as part of a selection day) are usually sent in January. Offers are usually made at the end of March.

Screening

Your application must include:

• A complete and accurate academic record
• A contemporary academic reference
• Predicted grades where appropriate
• Details of disrupted studies should be submitted at the time of application (More information)

Incomplete applications may not be considered.

There are three phases to our initial screening process:

Phase 1 screening

Applications are first screened based on your academic record and your UCAT performance for 2027 entry.

Phase 1 screening criteria:

• Meeting minimum academic requirements
• Average or above total score in the cognitive components in UCAT 
• Achieving bands 1 or 2 in the UCAT Situational Judgement Test 

Those applications that do not progress to the next phase of the screening process will receive notification that their application has been unsuccessful through UCAS. Please note that personal statements and references are only read and evaluated for applicants who advance past Phase 1 screening.

Phase 2 screening

Those applications that progress to the second phase of screening will be assessed by staff who have been trained and can exercise discretion in interpreting the range of evidence you provide. We will look for evidence of career exploration and relevant personal qualities and values demonstrated in your personal statement, which your academic reference should also support. Your personal statement should demonstrate a clear understanding of and commitment to the specific programme and career for which you wish to be considered. We will only consider your original UCAS personal statement. 

Those applications that do not progress to the next phase of the screening process will receive notification that their application has been unsuccessful through UCAS. 

Phase 3 screening

We aim to interview around 300 applicants each year. As a result, we often have more applicants than interview places available.  Therefore, we use the UCAT cognitive component to prioritise those applicants for an interview who have successfully progressed through Phase 2 screening.

You should also consider the following when making your application:

Academic record

GCSEs: Most applicants who secure an interview have a minimum of 6 GSCEs at grade 7/A including Maths, English Language and Science.

A Levels: The A Level requirements are AAA, including Chemistry and Biology, plus a pass in the practical element of any Science A Levels taken. Your third A Level choice may be in any subject and we value each subject equally (excluding general studies or equivalent). When screening applicants, we do not give additional merit to those students choosing to study 4 A Levels or additional AS Levels. Applicants who have taken more than two years to complete their A Levels, or those applicants repeating and resitting A Levels, are eligible to apply

A Level resit policy: Where A Levels have previously been attempted, applicants are normally expected to have obtained a minimum of grade B in each subject at the first sitting. Any applicants who do not meet these criteria should only apply after they have achieved the grades specified in the course entry requirements (AAA).

For applicants who meet our Access+ criteria or participants in Access to Dentistry: Your achieved results should normally be no lower than one grade per A Level subject below the entry requirements for our alternative offers. Any Access+ applicant or Access to Dentistry participant who does not meet these criteria should only apply after they have achieved the grades required.

For any Access to Dentistry participants whose first sitting results fell more than one grade below the offer conditions, we would encourage a direct conversation with the School and/or scheme coordinator before you apply.

We recognise that some applicants may have faced challenging extenuating circumstances that affected their ability to achieve the grades they were expecting. If this is the case for you, we would invite you to contact the School for advice.

AS grades: We use A2 grades or predicted grades where applicable. We don’t use AS grades when screening applications.

UCAT

Details of test dates and how to register for the test can be found on the UCAT website.

Test results are valid for the current admissions cycle. If you choose to reapply to this Dental School in the following cycle, you will need to resit the test. 

Clinical requirements

Our School also has a series of clinical requirements for clinical students. Before accepting an offer of a place, you must confirm that you will comply with these requirements. It is important that you take the time to read these before you apply.

Career exploration

You should be able to demonstrate that you are making an informed choice to study dentistry. To do this, you should be able to demonstrate knowledge of the dental profession and explain what attracted you to this career. You should be clear about the possible career opportunities and how these compare to other healthcare professions.

If possible, you should have experience working in or observing healthcare settings, ideally within general dental practice. You could also talk to dental care professionals to gain insights into the profession.

The School runs a free online Discover Dentistry course, which provides a glimpse into the world of dentistry. 

There are many other ways to gain insights into the profession, such as reading articles from the British Dental Journal Open website or visiting the General Dental Council's website.

Personal qualities and values

We look for those applicants who have the qualities and values necessary to become a healthcare professional. In particular, you should enjoy teamwork, be self-motivated with good time-management, communicate effectively, respond positively to feedback, and be aware of the importance of leadership skills.

You may already demonstrate these qualities through voluntary or part-time work or some other activity, hobby or interest which you should discuss in your application. You should consider your strengths and weaknesses and whether these align with a career in dentistry because dentists, like all healthcare professionals, work as part of a team.

Healthcare requires people with particular values and behaviours in order to provide optimum care, working in the patient’s best interest. Therefore, you should consider whether your values align with the values of the NHS Constitution. These are:

• working together for patients
• respect and dignity
• commitment to quality of care
• compassion
• improving lives
• everyone counts

We recommend you take a look at the NHS constitution before you apply.

Dental students and practising dentists routinely perform small, intricate tasks for long periods of time in demanding, high-pressure situations. Applicants who are considering making a career in this field should be aware of the difficult manual tasks that they will be undertaking and be confident that they will enjoy this type of work.

Studying and having a career in dentistry is demanding. Working in healthcare often requires a delicate balancing act between providing clinical care and navigating the complex emotional responses of patients.  Applicants should be aware of these challenges and the resilience needed to succeed.

You will be spending five years at Sheffield, and we want you to make a positive contribution to our School, University and community. As such, we look for applicants who have made significant contributions to their school or community.

The Dental Schools Council provides guidance on applying to dentistry programmes, including guidance on the core values and attributes needed to study dentistry.

International applicants

We welcome applications from International students who can demonstrate proficiency in the English language. An IELTS score of 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in each component is required.

Your selection day

If your application is shortlisted, you will be invited to attend a selection day. All selection days take place on campus. We do not offer online selection days.

During the selection day, you will have a structured interview and take part in an interpersonal skills test:

Interview

Your interview will be conducted using a semi-structured format and will last up to 15 minutes. The interview panel is usually made up of two members of academic staff and a senior dental student who are trained to assess you in the following three areas:

• Career exploration (motivation for the profession, and knowledge of current issues)
• Personal qualities and communication skills (relevant experience, communication, personal qualities and values)
• Commitment to Sheffield (motivation for this specific programme and university)

You will be assessed in these areas with reference to the information you have provided in your personal statement. Interviewers expect you to be able to demonstrate that you are well-informed about your decision to study dentistry and your decision to study at Sheffield.

Interviewers expect applicants to have undertaken appropriate research in advance of an interview. You may be asked to apply existing knowledge to new situations or discuss scenarios to demonstrate how you think rather than what you know.

Interpersonal skills test

As part of the selection procedure, we make an assessment of your interpersonal skills. This will take place as a separate assessment from your interview and will be a group task aiming to assess:

• Respect
• Teamwork
• Communication

Values-based recruitment

We seek to recruit students with values and behaviours which align with the General Dental Council’s standards for the Dental Team and NHS Constitution. Any applicant who displays values or behaviours that contravene this at any point during the application process, including at any point during the selection day, will have their application rejected.

Selection day dates

We invite approximately 300 applicants to a selection day each year. 

Selection day dates for the 2027 intake will be published here. Applicants will usually be invited to a selection day towards the end of January and will be able to pick from a range of dates.

Receiving an offer

We aim to inform applicants about the outcome of their selection day by the end of March. We make offers to more applicants than there are places available in order to compensate for those applicants who do not select Sheffield as their first choice, or who do not meet the conditions of their offer. 

BDS admissions reserve list policy

The number of places available to study dentistry is regulated by the Government and controlled through intake targets. In order to ensure we meet our targets, we operate a reserve list. The BDS Admissions Reserve List Policy document sets out how our reserve list is constructed. 

Applications for deferred entry

We welcome applications from applicants who wish to defer entry to the following year. Applications for deferred entry will be assessed in competition with all other applicants using the same selection process.

Transfers 

Dental schools do not accept transfers of students from other schools. This is because the requirements for graduation defined by the General Dental Council (GDC) are not taught and assessed in a similar order. Government-capped places would also be disrupted by student transfers.

Schools may consider transfers for students in unforeseen exceptional circumstances with the approval of both the sending and receiving programmes. In most cases, the student would need to restart from the first year, for the reasons described above.

International transfers

Students from a dental school outside the UK are unable to transfer into a programme in a UK dental school. This is because international programmes follow their local regulatory requirements which are likely to differ from those in the UK.

Requesting feedback

For enquiries regarding your UCAS application, please refer to our contact page for prospective students.

We provide feedback to all applicants upon request. 

Admissions data

Further information on BDS applicant admissions data since 2018 can be found at the link below.

Download admissions data (PDF, 434KB)