University: The University of Western Australia

Postgraduate Degree: Doctor of Dental Medicine

Undergraduate Degree: Bachelor of Advanced Computer Science (Honours), Computing and Data Science

School Subjects: Mathematics Methods, Mathematics Specialist, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, English

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Despite having a direct pathway to Dentistry, I decided to do an undergraduate degree in Bachelor of Advanced Computer Science (Honours). As I had interests in both fields, and given that Dentistry is a 6-year minimum course including the integrated undergrad, I thought I may as well do a different undergrad, which only increases my overall uni lifetime by 1 year so I get 2 degrees instead of 1. I also chose to do honours over Bachelor of Science, which adds an additional year, bringing my total number of years to 8.

Computer Science

I chose to do Computer Science as I really enjoy coding, specifically seeing the process of making something and how it functions. I also enjoy problem-solving, a skill that is key for this degree. My major of Computing and Data Science, specifically the Data Science component, does involve mathematics and statistics. A background knowledge of calculus and probability is required. However, you are definitely fine if you didn’t do Computer Science ATAR; background knowledge from doing that isn’t necessary for this degree. I found that Data Science is a lot more mathematics-heavy than Computer Science, which explored more coding-related content and aligned better with my interest. So maybe if I could go back, I would focus more on the Computer Science aspects of the degree over Data Science.

In this degree, you mostly get assignments. Exams are often replaced by time-restricted open-book assignments; if not, then you will get regular theory exams that involve written coding. The final year is an honours research project that entails you choosing to join a pre-existing project supervised by a UWA professor. Here, you must conduct and submit a project proposal, literature review, the research itself, and a dissertation. The workload depends on the project you choose and the resources you have available to complete it, so starting your research and dissertation early (before semester 2) is imperative to finishing on time.

Although you might see on your reels and TikTok that the Computer Science job market is very oversaturated in 2025, from what I understand, there are still many computer and data science positions in Perth. I found that banking, oil and gas, and mining are good to look at. However, it is important to build a resume before graduating, specifically engaging in co-curricular activities/projects either through clubs or outside of university, as well as through internships.

Dentistry

Dentistry is a 4-year postgraduate course. DMD1 is introductory with clinical observation but no patient responsibility. The most practical work you’ll do is done in a simulation lab. DMD2 starts to move towards clinical work, where you begin by having your peers as patients at first, and then moving to real patients. DMD3 and 4 involve more complex clinical work and large group research projects and more. Following graduation, there is no more additional training as you’re done after DMD4. However, you must work for a couple of years before being able to specialise. In Dentistry, you get a wide variety of assessments including essays, tests (which are a mixture of multiple-choice questions, short answers, and extended response), practical assessments, a lot of presentations, and video/poster assignments.

At the start, I definitely felt behind. Luckily, there was a lot of content that served as revision material for the students who had a biomedical science undergrad, which was foundational content. This helped me catch up before assessments began to pick up. As you can probably guess, Dentistry is a very full-on postgraduate course. All the classes are compulsory and attendance is taken most of the time. The schedule is fairly inconsistent, but on average, from what I have experienced from DMD2 and DMD2, I’m at university around 4 whole days per week (but this may change from week to week).

Advice for Future University Students

Make sure that whatever you choose, you feel satisfaction or enjoyment from the work itself. Don’t kid yourself into thinking that you like the degree, but rather make sure that you actually do enjoy it. There are instances of people who pick hard degrees like Medicine or Engineering without actually checking with themselves first whether it is something they want to pursue for a career, resulting in them dropping out.

Also, shoot for the moon.