Purpose To gather background information about applicants to the dental undergraduate course, and ascertain the factors involved in their decision to study dentistry. Method Applicants attending for interview at Dundee and Manchester Dental Schools completed anonymous questionnaires. The useable response rate was 94% (n = 436). Results There were equal numbers of male and female applicants to the two schools as a whole. Although there was a much broader ethnic mix in the applicants to Manchester, the overall proportion of minority ethnic groups was considerably greater than in the UK population as a whole. Seventy-five per cent came from professional backgrounds, although marked differences were apparent between ethnic groups. A quarter had family relations who were dentists, and 30% were related to doctors. Over half (53%) decided to apply within the last year, with popular motivating factors including a general interest in dentistry, a desire to help people and to work with their hands. Dentistry was the first choice of career of 89%, with medicine the most popular alternative. Conclusion Valuable information was gathered from these prospective dental students regarding their backgrounds and the decision process involved in their career selection. This will prove beneficial when developing the recruitment process and allow appropriate tailoring to the target audience.

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Quantitative evidence suggests that higher education students may exhibit gender bias against women when evaluating the teaching of male and female faculty. Qualitative research in this area has been concerned with the broader context of institutional sexism in academia, which has been represented as a pervasive and depressing in¯uence on women lecturers. Relatively little research has investigated university teachers' specific views about student perceptions and behaviour. This study explored this issue qualitatively in a group of British academics. While most of the female academics represented students as having prejudiced views about them, the prevailing understanding in the literature of women university staff as demoralized, alienated and experiencing tension between their occupational and feminine selves was not confirmed. Rather, women appeared entirely confident in their identities as conscientious teachers, a circumstance which related empirically (and possibly theoretically) to an almost unanimous derogation of their male colleagues. No body of literature about male lecturers' views of sexism exists: this study suggested that they contrast markedly with those of their female colleagues. Problematic aspects of women's apparent assiduity about teaching are discussed, as is the other principal area of concern raised by the study, namely the extensive areas of disagreement in outlook between the female and male respondents.

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