“Those who truly have the spirit of champions are never wholly happy with an easy win. Half the satisfaction stems from knowing that it was the time and the effort you invested that led to your high achievement.”

 

-Nicole Haislett

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• Somehow a lot of dentists (don't know if this is specific to dentists alone) seem to underestimate the importance of this major decision in life - the choice of your Masters Degree.

• No two people have a similar career!!! For that reason, you need to figure out what you want!

• Just because someone succeeded/failed in a certain path does not mean you too will have a similar experience! 

• Somehow I have been contacted quite a few times to be able to guide someone on their Master's journey, without the person having given any thought to this important decision.

• It's almost as important as deciding on a spouse - it will stay with u for life/it's life-changing!

• My research for a college and course was almost 2/3 years long and talking to alumni, finding out what I wanted, how long I was prepared to invest in a course, what I wanted to do with my degree, how much of a financial burden we (me and my supportive hubby!) were willing to take on, were we willing to relocate for the course and many other factors.

• The Birmingham Dental School was literally a stone's throw from my house at the time when I started looking at options, but after many calculated risks, I decided I wanted to do a course to get on the specialist list and did not think anything else would quench my thirst although I was mighty discouraged by many saying that only 'local graduates' really had a chance to get a place on the most sort after 3 positions per college.

• First time I applied to all three of the colleges in London (Kings, Queen Mary's and Eastman) the only three offering a course to become a specialist in Prosthodontics in the UK at the time. I realised later my research and execution of my SOP/CV/CPD lacked perfection.

• Second time around I found out more about each of the Institutions, its advantages and disadvantages, got in touch with current and previous students, faculty, visited all three schools and met the HODs and then decided that I wanted to study only at the King's College London, as it had all the specifications that I was looking for and would help me reach my long term goals. I decided to also apply to Barts and Queen Mary’s as my plan B.

• The reason for leaving out Eastman was a personal choice, although it is  world-renowned for its post-graduation; was because I found out in my research it was a stressful course and needed much more commitment in terms of time and effort and I had a small young family that also needed attention. Another compelling factor was I felt I belonged there when I walked into Guy's tower of KCL. You have to listen to your gut instinct sometimes.

• Persistence, goal-oriented information gathering and decision-making helped me in tailoring my CV, SOP, CPD to cater to what KCL was looking for and helped me get noticed among the many applications.

• My competition was from students who had studied at KCL, so knew the extended staff- from lab technicians to tutors to compound managers to nurses (which all adds up I feel) with references from internal staff. It was a battle I had to fight out to get one of the 3 slots for local graduates - although I faced much demotivating and negative feedback while I was applying, I ploughed on without giving up and it certainly paid off.

• My reasons for sharing this with you all is to help you understand a few very valid pointers

  • No goal is easy

  • Not every course is for you

  • Not every college is for you

  • Not every job is for you

 

• You have to be clear of what you want; for others to be able to see it. This is an important factor; be it -where you want to study or what you want to study as these are important life-changing decisions.

• I get quite frustrated when someone asks me questions like what course should I do? or which country is good for me. And I have been asked this time and again. There are at least 100 courses in the different colleges for post-graduation in the UK itself and this decision needs a lot of time and research and self-evaluation to know what is best suited for you.

• No-one other than you would not know what you want in your life.

• Every course is of benefit depending on what you make of it... so that's an important choice - and you should make a choice after a lot of thought and complete understanding of why you want to do it.

• In India, there was a time that our parents /elders, helped us make such important decisions for us but now it has to be completely in your hands and you have to rely on the one person who is determined to make you successful - YOU!​

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I have tried to make a list of all the courses offered by colleges/individuals/companies I have come across in Google search, word of mouth, recommendation, and a lot of courses I have done or want to do in future. Please do check if these courses are eligible for the post-study work visa scheme, if that is your intention for doing the course.

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DISCLAIMER - I am not affiliated to any of these colleges or institutions. Comments can be added by individuals who may have done the course. I am hoping this will help some of you to make an informed decision as to what is best suited for you. I have started compiling this list for a while (since March 2020) therefore some of the prices and costs may subject to changes.

 

Please have a look at the attached link for the website and contact details before making any decisions. The tuition fees are given so you can sort of compare quickly and rule out ones you do not want to do. Please note, these may not be up to date.

 

If I have made any human error (some have been done after a long day at work so please forgive my tiredness). Kindly please let me know of it, this will be greatly appreciated. Please do not make any decisions based on information provided here, I will not taking any responsibility for your decisions. Please do your own research with all the information given to you to make an informed decision that is most suitable to you which is wholly your responsibility only.