Who's going to know?
Maybe they just sent that notice as a matter of form.

Maybe Marcus got that paper and filled it in himself." The two would lie awake all night long, staring up into the dark, talking, talking, talking.
"Haven't you got any right to practise if you've not been to a dental college, Mac?
Didn't you ever go ?" Trina would ask again and again.
"No, no," answered the dentist, "I never went.

I learnt from the fellow I was apprenticed to.

I don' know anything about a dental college.

Ain't I got a right to do as I like ?" he suddenly exclaimed.
"If you know your profession, isn't that enough ?" cried Trina.
"Sure, sure," growled McTeague.