The following are Frequently Asked Questions about the Dental Hygiene Degree Program’s Degree Completion option. If you have a question that is not answered here, please contact UBC Enrolment Services Admissions Office
I meet all the requirements and am ready to apply. Where do I apply?
The application is online
How do I know if my school was accredited at the time of graduation and if it wasn’t can I still apply to the Degree Completion option?
You can always look at the Commission on Dental Accreditation website for a list of currently accredited schools. If you are still unsure of your school’s accreditation status at the time of your graduation you will need to contact your school and/or the commission. If your school wasn’t accredited at the time you graduated you will not be eligible for the Degree Completion option.
Is there a time limit on the required prerequisites?
No, there is no time limit on the required prerequisites.
I was already a student in the Dental Hygiene Degree Completion Program, I haven’t taken classes for over a year, but I would like to complete my degree. What do I do now?
Former students, who have lost their registration eligibility, by not taking the minimum 3 credits per academic year, will need to re-apply to the program and compete with prospective students for a space in the program.
The website mentions a “personal essay,” but there aren’t any instructions for the personal essay on the website. What is it supposed to be about?
You should submit the essay with your online application. This is a personal statement.
The last name I am using on my application is different from the last name on some of my transcripts or other documents. What should I do?
The name on all of your documents must be exactly the same as the name on your application. If there is a discrepancy, an official document must be submitted to account for the name change
What is the NDHCB/FDHRC certificate? Do I need to send the original?
Dental hygienists receive a National Dental Hygiene Certification Exam (NDHCE) certificate after passing the NDHCE from the NDHCB/FDHRC.
What is the difference between Category 1 and Category 2?
Degree Completion Category 1 is the one year Degree Completion option. It is for applicants who took 30 credits of first year university level courses before beginning their Dental Hygiene diploma program.
The 30 credits required are:
6 credits of first year Biology (Anatomy & Physiology) – must include lab
6 credits of first year Chemistry – must include lab
6 credits of first year English – must be completed in Canada or the USA
6 credits of first or second year Psychology
6 credits of electives
Applicants who do not have all of these courses should apply to Category 2, the two year Degree Completion option. You must have all of these credits in these exact amounts by the time you apply to be admitted to Category 1. Essentially successful applicants who are offered a space in Category 1 are in the fourth year of a four year bachelor’s degree, whereas successful applicants who are offered a space in Category 2 are in the third year of a four year bachelor’s degree.
How do I know whether or not the university level courses for Category 1 admission that I’ve completed are transferable to UBC?
We cannot know with complete certainty whether or not your courses are transferable, or to what courses at UBC they’re transferable to, before you apply and before your application is processed. One way to assess that is to look at the BC Transfer Guide. Another way is to compare course descriptions at your school to course descriptions for comparable courses at UBC at the UBC academic calendar.
Regardless of whether or not your school is covered by the BC Transfer Guide you should know that most college level general arts and science courses taken at accredited institutions are transferable between Canadian institutions.
I have most of the 30 credits but I’m missing one or two of the courses. Can I still get into Category 1? Can I complete the missing courses before the program begins?
Category 1 is intended for graduates from diploma programs that require a full year of prerequisite courses before beginning their program. That is why we require those exact 30 credits of prerequisite courses.
Other applicants who happen to have all of the prerequisites will also be eligible for Category 1. Those courses are all required exactly as listed.
Applicants who have most of the Category 1 prerequisites may choose to complete the missing prerequisites before applying, rather than going into Category 2. Please note that if you are going to take some of the Category 1 prerequisites they must be complete before you apply. Therefore, if you are applying to begin in September, you will need to have a final transcript available showing all of your prerequisite courses before the application deadline.
I took Anatomy & Physiology and/or Psychology as part of my diploma program. Can this count as a prerequisite course for Category 1?
No. The 30 credits of first year prerequisite courses must be taken separately from your diploma program. Please ensure that you are applying to the correct stream Category 1 or Category 2 as per your eligibility.
My diploma program allowed me to take Sociology or another arts course instead of taking first year English. Is this sufficient to fulfill the Category 1 English prerequisite?
The Category 1 prerequisite courses must be fulfilled exactly as listed. We do require 6 credits of first year English. Other courses are not acceptable to fulfill the English requirement.
I took first year Biology, but not Anatomy & Physiology; or, I took 3 credits of Anatomy/Physiology and 3 credits of another kind of Biology. Does this fulfill the requirement?
No. The six credits of Biology must be Anatomy & Physiology (or “Human Biology”). The course should cover “the principles of biology with particular reference to the human body (anatomy and physiology).”
What is a “credit?” What is a three credit or six credit course? What is an academic year?
Different schools have different ways of counting credits. At UBC, a one-term course is generally worth three credits. One term is September to December, January to April, or May to August. An academic year consists of all three terms from September to August. A six credit course would occur over two terms, typically beginning in September and ending in April. If you need six credits of Biology as a prerequisite course, then you need to have typically taken Biology from September to April. Occasionally a course will be offered in a shorter period of time, such as from May to August; if a six credit course is offered over four months, it would involve double the amount of work.
How much time is involved in taking an online course?
Every student has a unique learning style, but on average it is recommended that distance education students allow 10 – 15 hours per week per three credit course.
I missed the application deadline. Can I apply now or do I have to wait until
next year?
The application deadlines are firm. Please apply next year.
I want to begin the program in January. When should I apply?
All Dental Hygiene Degree Program options admit new students for September only.
Do you accept students from outside BC to the Degree Completion option?
Yes, any dental hygienist from an accredited Canadian or American (USA) diploma program may apply to Degree Completion.
What kinds of courses do Degree Completion students take?
Courses are detailed on our website for Category 1 and Category 2 and International.
Some courses on your course list don’t have the computer icon beside them; does that mean you have to come to campus to take them?
All of the core courses can be completed online. Enough of the electives to fulfill your elective requirements can be done online. Hence, it is possible to complete your degree without ever setting foot on the UBC campus.
I want to complete my elective courses before I’m granted entry into the program. Is this possible?
This is possible; however you will need to successfully get into the Dental Hygiene Degree Program before we are able to access whether or not your electives can be approved if they are not from our list of pre-approved electives for Category 1 and Category 2. You will need to apply to general UBC admissions by going to the you.ubc.ca website, noting the deadline for the term you are applying to and following general admissions requirements. You will also have to keep in mind that you won’t be able to take any Dental Hygiene courses before you are granted entry into the Faculty of Dentistry and you will need to keep in mind that you will need to have the pre-requisites for the courses you want to take. You should also keep in mind that being offered admission to UBC does not guarantee you will be offered admission to the Dental Hygiene Degree Program.
How many applicants are accepted to Degree Completion?
Since the program is available online, it allows us some flexibility. The number of students we accept depends on the number of eligible applicants and the amount of spaces we have available in the program. Although eligibility does not guarantee admission, the Faculty of Dentistry does seek to provide advanced education opportunities to as many dental hygiene professionals as possible. Typically there are more applicants than available spaces, so meeting the minimum entry requirement of 70% does not guarantee admission. You should also note that the admissions process is broad based; hence we take into account non-GPA factors when conducting admission. We do not release the average successful applicants have received in past years for Degree Completion, nor do we release our admissions formula.
I want to become a dentist. Will the Dental Hygiene Degree Program prepare me for the Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) Program?
The dental hygiene and the DMD programs in dentistry are separate professions. Our Dental Hygiene Degree Program is a professional program and prepares outstanding dental hygienists, and is not a fast-track route to the DMD Program.
If you’re interested in becoming a dentist, you should look at our DMD Program. Admission to the DMD Program requires 90 credits of undergraduate courses, including many prerequisite courses. The Dental Hygiene Degree Program does not cover the DMD prerequisites.
I am an internationally-trained dentist. How can I apply to the Dental Hygiene Degree Program?
The dental hygiene and the DMD programs in dentistry are separate professions. The information covered in our Dental Hygiene Degree Program is very different from that in a DMD or DDS program.
Admitted applicants to the four-year Dental Hygiene Degree Program’s Entry-to- Practice option all start the program in year one.