I'm torn between what to do right now. I am not nearly as far along as I had hoped. My test date right now is July 1st, but it seems that I'll be lucky to get an 18 TS/AA right now. I was thinking of postponing it a few weeks and studying more, but that leaves me at mid October for a retake if need be. When is the "cutoff" for taking the test to be notified on the Dec 1 acceptance cycle?
When is the latest to take DAT for Dec. 1 acceptance?
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I would suggest mid-August DAT at the absolute latest! You can be great but if you dont have your stuff in on a reasonable time, believe me, schools aren't waiting for you! Early bird gets the worm, its too competitive for schools to wait. If I were you and you know for sure you're not ready yet, I would re-schedule to mid-July and really study hard. I can tell you, I think you will always feel somewhat underprepared, I think its just natural but if you know for sure, shoot for mid to end of July. Thats my opinion.
You're probably already late if you were hoping to hear from schools during December. First round of interviews begin during Oct/Nov, and to be invited for this round you should submit your complete application (including your DAT scores) sometime before July 14th (since that's the date, when AADSAS starts mailing out applications to schools). So, if you take your exam at mid Aug, considering the time required to process your scores, the schools will receive your scores by early Sep, which is when they've already started selecting applicants for the first round of interviews. So, taking your DAT that late will probably give you a mid December interview, which means you won't hear from the schools till after Jan.
Well I didn't say anything about mid August. I said a few weeks to make it mid July. The retake would be October. And I know that this is my first time applying, but I think it's a far stretch to say that I'm too late to hear from schools in December when the admission process has been open for only 3 weeks, no?
I don't know how relevant this is, but everything else on my app is very good IMO (GPA, honors/awards, volunteer work, experience in the dental field)
PS: It doesn't say on the other schools, but I just looked at my number 1 choice and their website says to have everything in before Oct 1st to be notified on the Dec 1st cycle. How relevant do you think that website info is?
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I have talked to three of the schools that I am very interested in. When talking with them I asked them if it would be to my advantage to take the DAT in June or July or if I should stick with my plan and wait to August or if August is to late. ALL of them said august is not to late besides they only had the apps for a couple of weeks. They said it is more important to wait a few weeks and get the score you want than to rush it. Thats the insight I recieved. Just another opinion! It really is up to you and if you want to chance retaking it...
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I also disagree. I think it's more important to get a good score. I know several people who took their DATs in late August last year and were still accepted by Dec 1. Their interviews may not have been the very earliest ones (starting October 1 for instance), but they interviewed mostly in late October/early November and were accepted in the first round.
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The truth is, no one really knows. We can only predict the extremes. If you apply in June, you're early. If you apply in December, you're late. Other than that all we can do is use our best judgment. The schools seem pretty laid back about the date of applications (ones I've talked to). Submit your application now and then take it later. That way it's already processed and verified and sent out..just waiting on your DAT scores (which you can fax over anyways).
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I spoke with a director of admissions at a dental school in the midwest on Friday and he informed me that they recently had a meeting and the first wave of mailed applications leaving AADSAS is June 29th.
Thanks for the responses guys. I had planned on just submitting the application asap (hopefully within the next few days, just finalizing personal statement) and then working on everything else after.
Let me put the question a little differently. Let's assume that I do end up needing to retake. At this point, it's already going to be in early October, which means the score won't get there until mid to late October (I've heard about two weeks to get there). If I postpone the test, the retake would be late October, so they won't get it until mid November. Like I said, my number 1 school choice says they want everything in by Oct 1st for the Dec 1st notification, but it states that they will give an interview without the DAT (which I'm sure is unlikely, but who knows?). The other schools don't give an exact date of when to have everything in.
So my question is this: Is it a moot point if they get the retake in mid/late Oct vs. mid Nov? I could certainly be wrong, but I would assume that there is a very good chance they would have already decided whether or not to interview me by the time my earliest retake would get there (mid/late Oct). If that's the case, it would probably be more advantageous to wait, see what I mean?
Sorry for the long post, but I really appreciate the feedback because I need to make a decision VERY soon as to whether to wait or not. Thanks a lot!
Going with your retake position, I think you are cutting it close to the second cycle. Why not just study hard and schedule it mid-July/early August so you can avoid the retake, save your money, and avoid all the stress?
Well that's why I was asking opinions.
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so how does the process work exactly? say you submit your apps in early June and take the DAT in early july. how long before you know your score? and how long does it take for ADA to send your score to AADSA and in turn how long does it take for AADSAS to send your score to schools you applied to?
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Yep, my cousin took her first DAT in July and again in October...she still got accepted to 2 schools (not sure if it was Dec. 1). This was a couple of cycles ago.
You know your score right after you submit the test. But ADA takes about 2-3 weeks for the scores to get uploaded and sent to dental schools. A bunch of crap if you ask me considering were paying $235 to take the test and $72 for each school app, and it's all online with a DENTPIN. It should be a day or two but unfortunately its not.
I took the DAT on November 16th, faxed my scores and got in on Dec. 1st. It's possible to get in with late DAT scores but you need to have very good scores, that's a fact.
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the OP got into more than one dental school. congrats to him. 🙂
but back to me,😀 if i take the DAT mid july, my score would show up on ADDASS(sp?) within 2-3 weeks? should i wait to submit apps when DAT score arrives? does that mean schools wont have my complete app till mid august? would it be better to submit everything in June, then just wait for DAT scores? or maybe submitt apps around july 1 and take DAT mid july. Does it matter? or is everything moot until schools get DAT?
but back to me,😀 if i take the DAT mid july, my score would show up on ADDASS(sp?) within 2-3 weeks? should i wait to submit apps when DAT score arrives? does that mean schools wont have my complete app till mid august? would it be better to submit everything in June, then just wait for DAT scores? or maybe submitt apps around july 1 and take DAT mid july. Does it matter? or is everything moot until schools get DAT?
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I was wondering the same thing. I am planning on taking the DAT at the end of July, around the 25th, and submitting my application in June. Is this too late or even cutting it close for December 1st acceptances? Thanks.
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Good question.. I was wondering the exact same thing... Do you start turning everything in without the DAT score then turn the DAT score in later.. Or wait for everything before submitting the application?
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bump
IMO submitting the application early is the better thing to do. The schools will take a look at it and then put it on hold "waiting for the DAT."
So at least you get the headache of submitting the application and mailing your transcripts to AADSAS out of the way.
So that when you take your DAT, the schools already have your application and its complete for review by the admission committee.
Also some schools would be willing to accept a faxed copy from you, so check with them.
The earlier you can take the DAT the better.
So at least you get the headache of submitting the application and mailing your transcripts to AADSAS out of the way.
So that when you take your DAT, the schools already have your application and its complete for review by the admission committee.
Also some schools would be willing to accept a faxed copy from you, so check with them.
The earlier you can take the DAT the better.
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Some people might actually disagree with me, but I actually suggest pushing your test date up a few weeks. If you take it in early May, and don't like your score, you can retake it in August and still have it looked at by dental schools.
May is three MONTHS from now! If you focus really hard and study with a buddy to keep on track, then there is no reason why you can't improve in three months. DAT prep isn't about how long you stretch it-- heck if you start too early you might even forget what you reviewed earlier. I did four weeks of solid preparing and got great scores, so it's entirely possible to raise your score substantially within a short time. Just don't slack off!
May is three MONTHS from now! If you focus really hard and study with a buddy to keep on track, then there is no reason why you can't improve in three months. DAT prep isn't about how long you stretch it-- heck if you start too early you might even forget what you reviewed earlier. I did four weeks of solid preparing and got great scores, so it's entirely possible to raise your score substantially within a short time. Just don't slack off!
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