Accepted to U of sydney dental program 2007

[homby81]

Hi, I'm from Canada and i just got an acceptance letter from sydney for dental program 2007. Anybody going down there as well?
I know that for 1st and 2nd year, med and dental students study together for life sci courses and i thought it'd be nice if we (med/dent students) get to know each othere thru here before we go down there.

Let's post here and get to know each other~~~
GoGoGoGo~~~~

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[baby_teeth]

Hi homby81, i too just got my acceptance from USyd for dent. I'm pretty excited about it. Where in Canada are you from? I'm from Alberta. Have you ever been to Sydney? I don't really know what to expect. Anyways, just thought I'd introduce myself.

Hi, I'm from Canada and i just got an acceptance letter from sydney for dental program 2007. Anybody going down there as well?
I know that for 1st and 2nd year, med and dental students study together for life sci courses and i thought it'd be nice if we (med/dent students) get to know each othere thru here before we go down there.

Let's post here and get to know each other~~~
GoGoGoGo~~~~

 

[homby81]

Hi homby81, i too just got my acceptance from USyd for dent. I'm pretty excited about it. Where in Canada are you from? I'm from Alberta. Have you ever been to Sydney? I don't really know what to expect. Anyways, just thought I'd introduce myself.

Hey baby teeth, I'm from Toronto, ontario.I too am very much excited about it. I thought i screwed up the interview, but i guess it wasn't so bad after all. I've never been to sydney so i'm a bit nervous about moving dow there. I have a couple of freinds who are already in the program and i get some feedbacks about life in Sydney. They all say that "how can anyone complain?" I heard that first year dentistry isn't so hectic but in second year, we all have to write this HUGE exam which will determine whether we go to third year or not!. Sounds pretty scary. Anyhoo, that's a year later story. I guess we now just celebrate this and gradually get ready for school.
Congrats!! baby teeth and let's share some info here and see you in Sydney this coming Feb!

 

[samcan]

I'm from Ottawa and I got my acceptance letter last night (dental). I'm still not 100% sure if I'm going to go, (about 75% sure) moving to australia is no easy task... a lot harder than moving to the US for school.

Anyways congrats on getting accepted, maybe I'll see you next Feb.

 

[samcan]

Well i weighed my options and decided its a Go for Usyd dental 2007. I'll see you there

 

[homby81]

[/QUOTE]
Yey~~~way to go!!!
Samcan you made good decision. Congrats to u too and see u on Feb!!

 

[kingflyclt]

Do you guys know how many international students got accepted this year? How many people were intereviewed?

 

[homby81]

Do you guys know how many international students got accepted this year? How many people were intereviewed?

Yeah looks like there were about 40 international applicants did the interview and 15 are accepted. Are you also joining the program this coming Feb?

 

[baby_teeth]

Well i weighed my options and decided its a Go for Usyd dental 2007. I'll see you there

Good job samcan! Glad to see us Canadians stick together! hey, how many out of the 15 intl do you think are Cdn? Let's hope there's more of us out there!

 

[Drtrigeminal]

Are you guys planning on comming back to Canada when your done? You will love Auzzie but comming back to Canada is not very easy due to crazy licensure issues.

 

[OzDDS]

Are you guys planning on comming back to Canada when your done? You will love Auzzie but comming back to Canada is not very easy due to crazy licensure issues.

I've heard they are looking at getting CODA to accredit both Sydney and Melbourne's programs by 2008/09. So, maybe by the time we graduate it won't be a problem.

 

[samcan]

Now to start working on the move to Sydney...

I have no idea where start but no worries, its going to be exciting. What are you leaning towards in the housing department? I was originally thinking SUV but upon further investigation I found its definately not for me.

Any thoughts?

Also, for those of you who have or are currently attending Usyd dental; which area of the city do you think would be the most central for the first year?

 

[baby_teeth]

Now to start working on the move to Sydney...

I have no idea where start but no worries, its going to be exciting. What are you leaning towards in the housing department? I was originally thinking SUV but upon further investigation I found its definately not for me.

Any thoughts?

Also, for those of you who have or are currently attending Usyd dental; which area of the city do you think would be the most central for the first year?

yeah i guess it's a good idea to start thinking about these things eh. what's suv? is it a rez? i dont think i'm gonna take the rez route...i'm used to living on my own and actually prefer it. looks like apartment shopping for me! although it would probably be worth it to own a place instead of paying rent. just need to find out where?! i think i'll probably bring my bike down with me, i've heard it's pretty easy to get around by paths and i could use it year-round - and that way i could live a little further from campus too.

hope some of this housing stuff is explained in our international package we'll be getting soon.

 

[samcan]

alough it would probably be worth it to own a place instead of paying rent. just need to find out where?!
...
hope some of this housing stuff is explained in our international package we'll be getting soon.

I'm hoping for that too, i've been looking at places to both buy and rent in the area of both the dental hospital and the school but can't figure out which location would be more convinent. On one hand surry Hills has the central station while camperdown is much closer to the campus.

If any locals can give me some advice it would be most appreciated.

 

[Dr.Millisevert]

I'm hoping for that too, i've been looking at places to both buy and rent in the area of both the dental hospital and the school but can't figure out which location would be more convinent. On one hand surry Hills has the central station while camperdown is much closer to the campus.

If any locals can give me some advice it would be most appreciated.

Surry Hills: Not bad place, but stay away from the area east of Cleveland st near redfern.

Camperdown is not a bad idea either for the first 2 years.. as you will be doing at least 3 days per week on main campus with the med students in lectures. SUV isn't bad, but really expensive and filled to the brim with American and Canadian students who are on 6-month exchange programs and are (basically here to party). So might not be as conducive to studying.

Buying vs. Renting.. Unless you’re rich, most everyone will be renting. Sydney is expensive. The rule is: If you can afford it, you probably don't want to live there.


Hope that is of some help. Good Luck!

 

[homby81]

Surry Hills: Not bad place, but stay away from the area east of Cleveland st near redfern.

Camperdown is not a bad idea either for the first 2 years.. as you will be doing at least 3 days per week on main campus with the med students in lectures. SUV isn't bad, but really expensive and filled to the brim with American and Canadian students who are on 6-month exchange programs and are (basically here to party). So might not be as conducive to studying.

Buying vs. Renting.. Unless you’re rich, most everyone will be renting. Sydney is expensive. The rule is: If you can afford it, you probably don't want to live there.


Hope that is of some help. Good Luck!

Thanks for the info, Dr.Millisevert! I guess the most headaching problem for now is to find a place to live. Is it a good idea of doing full board rez? I'm not really good at cooking. How about UniLodge Sydney? Is it too far from Camperdown or Surry hills? Wish i could visit Sydney before i leave...-_-;

 

[samcan]

Wish i could visit Sydney before i leave...-_-;

Ya me too, I've come to the conclusion that I'll have to get there in early to mid Jan and secure a place So much for my extra month long xmas this year

Have you put any thought into moving your belongings there? I've sent you a PM homby81 with some info on how I'm planning on making the move, just seems a little expensive.

Dr.M... Do you have any more info on the accreditation Usyd was trying to get (every so often someone mentions it but usually just a word or two).

 

[Dr.Millisevert]

Dr.M... Do you have any more info on the accreditation Usyd was trying to get (every so often someone mentions it but usually just a word or two).

Sorry, No real updates yet. They haven't had the site accreditation visits yet. They have been communicating with the US and Canada for the past couple of years about the issue. Osdds is right, the rumour is that they will have both Syd and maybe melb accredited by 2009, or at least have the site visits underway.

Hey Oz, how did the interview go? Have you decided to come here or head to McGill?

 

[BlueToothHunter]

Not sure if the CODA will ever do a site visit in Australia or NZ... It costs money (lots of money) for the foreign dental schools to pay for the CODA to come and do the site visit. What is the justification for it? The Australian tax payers paying money to let Australian produced dentists go off to the US? Also, the issue of retroactive licensing - where do you draw the line?

I've heard this issue brought up several times in the ADA journal/newsletters in the US. I think it will gradually die away as interest fades. Don't expect the reciprocity to come in any time soon.

 

[Dr.Millisevert]

Not sure if the CODA will ever do a site visit in Australia or NZ... It costs money (lots of money) for the foreign dental schools to pay for the CODA to come and do the site visit. What is the justification for it? The Australian tax payers paying money to let Australian produced dentists go off to the US? Also, the issue of retroactive licensing - where do you draw the line?

I've heard this issue brought up several times in the ADA journal/newsletters in the US. I think it will gradually die away as interest fades. Don't expect the reciprocity to come in any time soon.

Actually, they are talking about doing it on a school by school basis.. similar to the American and Canadian Boards of Veterinary medicine. Check their website.. (Sydney's vet school managed to come up with funding for North American site visits and it just received US/Canadian accreditation last year).

AVMA Accredited Vet Schools
Sydney University Vet Faculty News bulletin

I've heard that Melbourne and Sydney Universities are now interested in having CODA approve their graduate-entry 4 year dental programs.

Sydney is 4 year grad-entry; Melbourne will be by 2008 (supposedly)

The funding for the site visits will come from the Faculty of Dentistry's budget (most likely derived from diverting some of the tuition from the full-fee paying students and international students). This will not be funded by the tax payers.. so no worries.

By the way.. Australian dentists and doctors have been going to the UK for decades to work No problems there. Why should the US and Canada be any different?

 

[samcan]

The funding for the site visits will come from the Faculty of Dentistry’s budget (most likely derived from diverting some of the tuition from the full-fee paying students and international students)QUOTE]

I'm hoping this is the justification for the fee increase for international students... If it is I would not be opposed to spending a few extra thousand a year as it would save me 2 years of accreditation back in north america when im done

 

[BlueToothHunter]

Actually, they are talking about doing it on a school by school basis.. similar to the American and Canadian Boards of Veterinary medicine. Check their website.. (Sydney's vet school managed to come up with funding for North American site visits and it just received US/Canadian accreditation last year).

I’ve heard that Melbourne and Sydney Universities are now interested in having CODA approve their graduate-entry 4 year dental programs.

Sydney is 4 year grad-entry; Melbourne will be by 2008 (supposedly)

The funding for the site visits will come from the Faculty of Dentistry’s budget (most likely derived from diverting some of the tuition from the full-fee paying students and international students). This will not be funded by the tax payers.. so no worries.

By the way.. Australian dentists and doctors have been going to the UK for decades to work No problems there. Why should the US and Canada be any different?

Well, the UK's General Dental Council has stopped this dental OE for Aussie and Kiwi grads effectively since 2001. Now you need to take the IQE before you can get a license in the UK.

I have been acutely interested in this issue since I came to the US in 2001. Having gone through the entire hurdle and the dental licensure both here and Down Under, I have been watching this with a great interest. As far as the North American dentists are concerned, I sense that the interest has faded. CODA and the ADA are separate bodies and they seemed to be at odds with each other.

I know many Aussie and Kiwi dentists who are on faculty in the US dental schools. Most gain state dental license via specialty post-grad training and have no problem. The only drawback is that only certain states (e.g. Texas) will allow postgraduate training as supplemental educational requirement met. But if you search and ask, I am sure more and more state dental boards will allow foreign dentists who have specialty training completed in the ADA-accredited programs to apply for license.

I'd be really pleasantly surprised if the CODA went ahead and accredited foreign dental schools! It's a possibility but highly unlikely... in current political situation. Good luck! Cheers, BTH

 

[Dr.Millisevert]

Well, the UK's General Dental Council has stopped this dental OE for Aussie and Kiwi grads effectively since 2001. Now you need to take the IQE before you can get a license in the UK.

2001 is the approximate date that the UK joined the EU... which meant that they had to go along with their system of doing things. Including accreditation and licensing of professionals. Because of this they had to cut their reciprical ties with the commonwealth (non-EU).

This is one reason why Australian schools are now looking to North America.. Australia is so geographically isolated. It's good to have some reciprocal ties and exchange programs with other 1st world countries.

Actually in the May 2006 edition of the journal of the American Academy of General Dentistry, CODA Vice Chair James Cole, DDS stated the following.

"Around 2002 or 2003," Dr. Cole says, "Mexican dental schools asked to develop the same sort of reciprocity with the United States as we have with Canada. We compared standards and found substantial differences between Mexican standards and U.S. and Canadian standards. I don't foresee any significant movement of international dentists, except in Australia and New Zealand, who have programs much like those in the United States. CODA could conceivably develop reciprocal agreements in those countries."

So, I guess we'll see.

 

[OzDDS]

Hey Oz, how did the interview go? Have you decided to come here or head to McGill?

Hey! I'm heading to Melbourne! I'll be heading there in a couple of months. Thanks for all your info! Maybe we can meet up sometime at a dental conference or something.

Congrats to everyone else who got into USyd!

 

[DentalCanuck]

Congrats OzDDS,

See you in Melb next year

 

[samcan]

I know this is slightly off topic but....

Can anyone recomend a bank that has branches in both Canada and Australia? So far I've only been able to find HSBC (Hong Kong Bank) which has about 15 branches in Sydney but only 1 in Ottawa .

If not, does anyone from Canada have any ideas of how to get access to your cash while in Sydney? I know most of my purchases will be on credit cards which can be paid from NA accounts but everyone needs access to cash for things like rent.


SAM

 

[keep smiling]

hello docs,
the course all in this thread are talking about,is it a post graduation course? could any of you share the info about how did you get into applying for it and the basic cost of the exam you went through?
i'll be real gratefull if anyone here could tell me an outline of this course programme.
thank you

 

[Dr.Millisevert]

the course all in this thread are talking about,is it a post graduation course?

i'll be real gratefull if anyone here could tell me an outline of this course programme.
thank you

Dentistry (BDent) and Medicine (MBBS) at the University of Sydney are both 4-year "graduate-entry" programs.

"Graduate entry" just means that in order to apply you must already have a prior Bachelors degree (BA, BSc, etc).


fyi: No matter where in the world you attend dental school it is technically not a postgraduate course. Your first degree in dentistry is your "undergraduate dental degree". A postgraduate dental degree would be an MSc in Orthodontics for example.

Sydney's dental program reserves approx. 10-13 spots each year for international students. In order to be admitted you will be assessed on your GPA, GAMSAT (which is the Australian med/dent admissions exam) or the MCAT or DAT or Canadian DAT, an interview, and a manual skills exam (bending ortho wire to fit a template and bulding a wax cube to specific dimensions). If you are applying for an international spot then you will only be competing against other internationals (competition varies every year). But they usually get in the order of 300+ applications then end up interviewing around 40 and then accept around 10-13.

Hope that helps. Good Luck!

 

[pants]

I wouldn't worry too much about looking for a bank that is both in Canada and in Australia. HSBC is an option, and one of the only ones I think, but it's not really necessary. I came out to Australia 4 years ago as a student and just opened up a student account with a bank here. I then just used the ATM to get money out of my CIBC account once a month ($3 fee from CIBC and you get the day's exchange rates) and put it into my Australian account. Also, my family could put money into my account in Canada if I was desperate and I had access, and I could use my Canadian credit card and just pay it off Online. It wasn't a hassle at all. The main reason I kept my Canadian account though, was because I was still doing automatic withdrawels with OSAP (the bane of my existence).

Good luck with the move. It is a big one. But, this city is pretty awesome, so it will be worth it. Feel free to ask any questions if you would like a Canadian living in Oz perspective.

 

[pants]

I'm hoping this is the justification for the fee increase for international students... If it is I would not be opposed to spending a few extra thousand a year as it would save me 2 years of accreditation back in north america when im done [/QUOTE]

I haven't heard of any schools that offer the same priced tuition to international students as they do to local students. This is the same in Canada. International students pay higher rates because they don't pay taxes in their non-resident country, and the government barely puts enough funds into education for local students as it is. You pay more as an international student because you haven't sunk any taxes into it already.

 

[samcan]

Fee increase:
I'm probably just dreaming as I'm yet to see it in writing that Usyd is looking to become accredited. I'll probably end up in a 2 year accreditation program but I did get into Usyd 2 years before i would have gotten in here in Canada so I'm even steven )

As for the banking;
I'm planning on going with scotiabank as they have a link with a bunch of Australian banks which will save me the $3.00/withdrawl...(every penny counts ) and I will of course be keep my Canadian credit cards and paying them online as you have been doing.

Thanks for the info!
Sam

 

[rx1]

Careful using you North american Credit cards in oz...they charge you like a 2.5% currency conversion fee ( at least mine does) I would look into it.
Cheers!

 

[homby81]

Just be careful and know that it's pretty hard to get into even qualifying program in North America after earning degree from other countries. I heard that at some schools, it's even more tough to get into QP than actual dental school. This is because there is a huge number of people from all over the world (both Canadian and non-Canadian) trying to get in and Canadian schools only open for a very small number of spots. So it will be like another war that we recently went through to be admitted to dental schools.

A friend of mine who goes to Canadian dental school right now told me that CDA(and also ADA) are trying to avoid getting accreditation with other countries or put limitation on QP spots because North American dentists are trying to save their business. Too many dentists means loss of patients and losing business to them. So i guess politics are kinda involved in here and it might not be even how different are the two schools or programs.

So I'm opening my options as to stay in Oz after graduation and get PR or go to other countries where there are already accreditation with Oz schools if I cannot get into QP..