Entry Qualifications and Science Performance in a Graduate-Entry Dental Programme

Methods: Details on students' first degree subject, degree classification and year of graduation were obtained from UCAS data for the first four cohorts of the Programme and matched with students' performance (first attempt) in the Science for Dentistry (SFD) module in first and second years. Potential relationships between previous academic qualifications and SFD performance were explored using univariate and multi-variable analyses.

Results: 241 students were admitted between 2007 and 2010. To date, 176 students have taken SFD in Year 1 and 117 in Year 2. Univariate analyses indicated significant associations between 1st and 2nd Year SFD performance and years since graduation from first degree (p-values<0.01). Students who had graduated more than 6 years before commencing the Programme performed significantly better in 1st and 2nd year SFD than those who entered immediately after graduating from their first degree and those who had graduated 2-5 years previously (p-values<0.05). Multi-variable analysis suggested that years since graduation from first degree is a significant predictor of SFD performance in 1st and 2nd year and some evidence that degree subject may predict SFD performance in 1st year only. However, previous academic qualifications accounted for very little of the variance in SFD performance in either 1st or 2nd year, accounting for only 7.5% and 7.2% of the variance respectively.

Conclusions: Based on data available to date, years since graduation from first degree is a significant predictor of performance in the science component in 1st and 2nd years. However, previous academic qualifications account for little of the variance in science performance. Additional work is required to identify any further preadmission predictors of performance in the science and other components of the Programme.