,

[UCLA808]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hello SDN,

I’m kind of in a hole in regards to if I should retake my DAT or just to apply with my scores. Any suggestions would be helpful to make my final decision.

Applying as a Hawaii resident, Hawaii doesn’t have any dental schools. Therefore all my choices would have to be out of state. there are some schools who give preference to Hawaii residents such as Washington and UMKC, but don’t know any others.

Bio-19
Gen chem-19
Ochem - 21
TS-19
QR-19
Reading-19 (big mistake )
AA-19
PAT-23


Background: cGPA:3.6 sGPA:~3.75
I am applying as non traditional applicant (economics major). Planned to finish all science requirements by this summer.

I was fortunate enough to be a NCAA D1 athlete in college but things didn’t plan out in that career path.

Shadowing hours:
100 hours general
100 hours pediatric
Planning to get orth hours soon

Volunteering:
Did a lot of volunteering as an undergrad with my athletics team, volunteering with pre dental club, volunteering with current job.

 

[BKBIGGIE10]

You should get interviews bc your DAT is borderline but your gpa is competitive. You have nothing to lose (besides application fees) to apply and you might be surprised by the positive response. A former D1 student athlete from Hawaii sounds like an interesting applicant!

Stay positive. If you’re still worried about your score, devote 8-10 weeks of review (Orgoman and Chad’s Videos are solid) and crush it. Applications aren’t reviewed until August at the earliest at most schools.

Lots of haters out there so don’t let the negativity get to you. DS is worth pursuing.

 

[deleted1004032]

I agree with BKBIGGIE10 that you are an interesting applicant to an admissions Dean. I think you will be competitive with your application profile as long as you write a solid personal statement and have equally solid recommendation letters. Don't underestimate the power of those documents!

But if I'm ADCOM, I'm hoping to see higher DAT TS score if you only took the minimum required science courses for admission. Remember that most applicants will be applying with BS or MS in life sciences. The DAT is an opportunity for you to showcase that you are capable of learning and retaining a large amount of technical info and understand the basis of the advanced sciences you will be learning in dental school. The DAT provides a standard method of objectively comparing applicants with no bias.

If I were you, I would apply this cycle but also retake the DAT at the end of the summer. Focus really hard on bringing up TS score with a bomb biology score. Doing so would greatly increase your chances of gaining acceptance your first try.