DAT/GPA Correlated to achievement in Dental School & Residency placement

[Dandpez337]

I've been accepted to dental school. I had a borderline undergrad GPA but a stellar DAT. I'm doing a one year post bac right now at a decent medical school, taking hard classes, and so far I'm at 3.91.

As an almost 23 year old guy who hasn't even tasted normal dental school yet, I don't want to sound arrogant, but I'm pretty sure I would like to specialize in prosthodontics or oral surgery. That is why I would like to know if there is any (perhaps ada affiliated) statistics published that relate DAT/GPA to performance in dental school and success in residency matching. Some months ago I found some publication that discussed this kind of thing, but I forgot where I found it. Do any of you have any idea where I could find such information?

thank you very much

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[CMistry]

From my personal experience there isn't a strong correlation. I don't doubt that the brilliant remain brilliant and the ones who slipped by continue slipping, but the majority of people find themselves in the middle. I think these people can do extremely well or poorly depending on their motivation in dental school. Obviously if you are serious about specializing you will put in the effort and do very well, whereas if your end-goal is your D.D.S. you will probably be OK with C's. Yes, dental school is tough. But if you want to get good grades it is doable. I think it's easier when you know exactly what you want to do as it will motivate you the furthest.

-Cyrus

 

[jay47]

I've been accepted to dental school. I had a borderline undergrad GPA but a stellar DAT. I'm doing a one year post bac right now at a decent medical school, taking hard classes, and so far I'm at 3.91.

As an almost 23 year old guy who hasn't even tasted normal dental school yet, I don't want to sound arrogant, but I'm pretty sure I would like to specialize in prosthodontics or oral surgery. That is why I would like to know if there is any (perhaps ada affiliated) statistics published that relate DAT/GPA to performance in dental school and success in residency matching. Some months ago I found some publication that discussed this kind of thing, but I forgot where I found it. Do any of you have any idea where I could find such information?

thank you very much

This is what you are looking for:

http://www.ada.org/sections/educationAndCareers/pdfs/dat_validity_study.pdf

It has every correlation possible.

More information can be found here: http://www.ada.org/3746.aspx

And to answer your question, the most common correlate to first year dental school GPA is undergrad GPA at 88% significance (fact: see page 18 table 9) followed by science GPA (85%) and DAT AA (80%).

Although anecdotal, my experience has shown that desire and willpower, coupled with an above average intellect can take you near the top of your class. Most likely, you studied hard for the DAT and did very well. Your UG gpa may reflect your lack of interest or unenthusiastic attempt at getting good grades and is therefore a poor representation of your capability.

And as far as wanting to specialize- make sure you do a few procedures in OMS in dental school and a few prosth. things before deciding on which specialty you want. Oh, and observe both specialties in real world settings for extended periods of time to see what real professionals do on a day to day basis.

 

[Eonlay]

just got done with my first semester of dental school. I had a sub 3.0 undergrad and just an acceptable DAT score (my 1.5 yr post bac I had 3.7 though). I'm doing very well thus far. not interested in specializing really, but I'd like an awesome residency!

From what I've seen of my class, the past is the past. I know people that had 3.7~3.8s in undergrad that are barely hanging in there.

Go to class, bust your ass, work hard, and you'll be fine.

my big tip for success: take small breaks! if you don't need a 2-5 min break after 50mins of studying, YOU'RE PROBABLY NOT PUSHING YOURSELF HARD ENOUGH!!!

best of luck dude / dudette, sorry I don't have the exact stats you were looking for

 

[preOMFS]

Statistics and correlations don't mean much. If you want to specialize then you will specialize. All you have to do is get in to dental school.

It's kinda like the NFL playoffs... once you are in, anybody can win it all. Your regular season record doesn't matter.

 

[Dandpez337]

thanks to all of you. I did a few hundred hours of observing and assisting of omf and prosth at a university hospital. I'll definitely bust my ass and make the biggest effort in d-school. You have all been very helpful.

 

[wired202808]

This is what you are looking for:

http://www.ada.org/sections/educationAndCareers/pdfs/dat_validity_study.pdf

It has every correlation possible.

More information can be found here: http://www.ada.org/3746.aspx

And to answer your question, the most common correlate to first year dental school GPA is undergrad GPA at 88% significance (fact: see page 18 table 9) followed by science GPA (85%) and DAT AA (80%).

Although anecdotal, my experience has shown that desire and willpower, coupled with an above average intellect can take you near the top of your class. Most likely, you studied hard for the DAT and did very well. Your UG gpa may reflect your lack of interest or unenthusiastic attempt at getting good grades and is therefore a poor representation of your capability.

And as far as wanting to specialize- make sure you do a few procedures in OMS in dental school and a few prosth. things before deciding on which specialty you want. Oh, and observe both specialties in real world settings for extended periods of time to see what real professionals do on a day to day basis.

This report needs to be taken with a grain salt for a variety of the following reasons:
1. Each year the number of reported schools varies. Some years and some categories in Table 9 have huge swings. I.e. Total Science dropping by almost 10 schools from 04 when compared directly with 09. Meanwhile QR jumped by % points and yet almost doubled the amount of reported schools. (see more on this in point 4.)

2. When looking at the last column the latest average is actually the lowest one out of all data points so it seems that all factors are less relevant that year then almost all other years. Hence d-schools are either changing their curriculum so fast that students arent as adequately prepared or the DAT is becoming an outdated model.

3. Explanations are not given for major swings in QR, Bio and GC. The swings are so huge that that something is going on thats not quite explained by the numbers alone.(or it might be when looking at point 4.)

4. The report is fudged by non-analytical methods of comparing apples to oranges. For example, while different schools may have opted in or out of the study in various years, one cannot simply lump in all reported schools for year X into this table and expect it to make sense. The proper way of doing this analysis is by using only the schools you have from Year 1 and then compare them over the following years. New schools that opted in after Year 1 should have their own table. Why? Because mixing in new schools into a table that previously excluded them can severely affect the swings between the years and will totally distort the data. A simple example of this is 07 and 08 vs. 08 and 09 while looking at the QR number of schools, the number jumped from 17 reported schools to 33. Thats almost Double!!! you can't just look at that number and ignore it and say "oh well QR is really important now because its 78% out of these 33 schools." In the past that number was much lower when the # of schools was around the 20s. So is it really 78% important or closer to its previous % of 35 to 40% (Again thats almost double and severely impacts any valid analysis.)

Therefore while I think this report is good, its not great. Its seems to be distorted in a few areas and probably paints a semi finished picture. Yes GPA and sGPA matters and it makes sense, but I think the DAT scores aren't as solid predictors as one would like.

And finally we all know that past performance does not indicate future results. All the correlations here are self reported, vary by year and cannot replace a simple thing like hard work. Yes most students wont change their study methods, but its not to say that one cannot improve themself in d-school in order to maximize their chances of specializing, if they truly want it bad enough.