How much emphasis is placed on the DAT?

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KristenG

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I was wondering how much emphasis the schools place on the DAT versus GPA? I have an overall and science GPA of 3.8, but I only scored an AA of 16 on the DAT. What are my chances of being accepted?

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Do a quick search and you will find many discussions on this topic. I will give you a quick answer: Your GPA is good but that 16AA is going to hurt you a lot, especially if your undergrad institution is not well known. They may question how you did so well in school and so poorly on the DAT. My advice would be to tell the schools (if you have already applied) that you intend on retaking the DAT and that you just had a bad experience while taking it. If you don't want to retake the DAT apply to schools that don't regard the DAT as very important such as Marquette. Good luck.
 
The point is that you dont want to give adcom reasons to reject you. There are so many other things than your gpa and dat to consider.
 
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Other things to consider are research expierence, work expierence at a dental clinic, and another big one is your letters of recommendations. If a person is on the boader line of getting in or not ( in the program) strong letters of reccomendation can definately presude the addmission to give that person a chance.
 
Thanks for your input. I don't have any research experience, but I have 2.5 years of clinical experience as a registered nurse.
 
Just raise the AA two points and you should be fine. Apply, of course, to more then one school. I am interested in why you scored 16 AA? Did you not study? I can not image not studing for this test; I viewed it as the most important test I have ever taken.

Also know that QR is the least valued section of most schools. RC is highly valued as well as all sci sections. PAT may or may not be valued. 16 is an average, so I know that you did score lower then 16 on some sections and higher on others. Some schools state specifically that they will not accept scores below 17 or 16 on any section. Since your GPA rocks, they may let you slide?? I do not know, and I would not take that risk. Just study the whole summer if you need in order to raise your DAT.
 
to tell you the truth, it's all about the dat's or having a decent gpa... you have almost a 100% chance of getting in dental school if your dats are in the 20's. all that the dats sadly to say..... i personally think that test is stupid, just measure crap..... think about ochem, gchem, and bio, reading, pat, math, it's all Buullllll, also the percentiles every test taker gets is BS. how can this be a standard test, when some people can get harder problems then others........ it's a bunch of bolony.... i'm getting hungry, and a bolony sandwich sounds great!!!!:clap:
 
I am definitely changing careers because of a variety of reasons. The main reason is because of the politics involved in working in a hospital. I enjoy patient care a lot, but if I am going to continue in any type of health care I want to be able to do things for the right reasons.
Regarding my DAT scores: I did study, however apparently not enough. I have also been out of school for several years and am a little rusty on some of the subjects. What is the best preparation for the DAT?
Thanks for everyone's input. It is greatly appreciated!
 
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