Current status: Answered by Alison Thewliss on 23 September 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of Scottish-domiciled applicants who (a) meet the entry requirements for dentistry but are not offered a place, and (b) subsequently study dentistry elsewhere in the UK at their own expense.
Universities are autonomous institutions that are responsible for their own admission procedures, including offer-making, and the Scottish Government therefore does not hold the information requested.
Places at Scottish dental schools are highly sought after with applications far exceeding places, and the selection process is extremely competitive. An assessment of UCAS published data suggests the numbers of Scottish-domiciled students leaving Scotland to study dentistry are very low, with UCAS data showing that in 2025, only 15 Scottish students aged 18 and under left Scotland to study either Medicine or Dentistry.