Choosing your path after school is one of the trickiest moments in life. Now that you’ve made your choice to study dentistry in Europe, you’ve already made the first step. The next thing you have to do is choose the best dental university for you. Being a dental student myself, I will present you with some great tips to help you make an informed decision.
Choosing the Right Course
You may probably know that there are two types of dental courses. There is a first-year entry which is for 5 or 6 years, and then there is graduate entry. The last one is, in fact, an accelerated course in which you can become a dentist or a medical doctor in just 3 or 4 years.
If you happen to have a biomedical degree, then you most probably qualify for this program. However, if you have another degree that you’re unsure if it qualifies, make sure you try your luck with it. You may still be eligible for the graduate entry medicine in Europe in English. How this works is that you get exempted from the subjects from the first two years since usually all the degrees related to healthcare study the same thing.
By getting to know which course is suitable for you, you will narrow down the list of options.
Entry Requirements
The next thing would be to see which are the dental schools that you qualify for. Medical universities will typically consider students according to their A-levels or generally high school certificates in Biology and Chemistry. They also consider Mathematics and Physics so these are the other subjects that you can apply with if you have higher grades in them.
However, if you like a specific medical university, you can still apply and get accepted even if you don’t fulfil the general requirements. Attach a robust motivational letter along with any certificates that you have and sports activities. The admission teams prefer students who passionate and enthusiastic about studying dentistry or medicine.
Make sure the university you’ve chosen is recognised in your home country so that you can quickly come back and work or specialise.
Tuition Fees and Living Costs
In our world, costs are all around us and are of the utmost importance. Generally, in Europe, there is room for every budget. Tuition fees and living costs are usually much cheaper than those in the UK. Living costs in Bulgaria, for example, are between €350 and €550 including rent. Compared to the island that’s nothing.
Some universities offer scholarships and bursaries to support you throughout your studies.
The City and Country You Will be Studying in
This is another significant factor since you will be spending three to six years in that specific city and country. There are so many beautiful places in Europe that you can explore. Some students use this as an opportunity to travel and have the time of their life. Some of the most beautiful cities with a very high quality of education in medicine and dentistry are Varna, Dnipro, Bucharest. I have a friend who travelled around the whole of Romania during his six-year course. He says these are some of the best years of his life. Studying medicine in Europe is not just something that you have to get over with, it’s a fantastic experience nonetheless.
Nowadays, more and more international students make the decision to study medicine in Europe and so there’s usually a significant diversity in all the medical universities. The atmosphere has become very friendly for students with all kinds of backgrounds; there are all kinds of communities.
Now that you’ve chosen the right career path into medicine or dental medicine I hope these tips will help you to choose the best university for you too!