Advice needed on either submitting app or taking DAT first

[Member 139582]

Hello everyone, I just started studying for the DATs last week.

I am confused as to whether I should continue to study, take it on July 3rd, THEN work on/submit my application,
or
take a couple days to a week of working on my application, and then only having a bit more than 3 weeks to prepare for the DAT, or end up pushing it back by a week

I am worried about submitting before my DAT because:
I could submit now with previous DAT scores, but they are below avg (19AA/18PAT), and I want the admissions to look at my retake scores, instead of simply brushing aside my old scores and avg GPA(3.58) before they even seriously consider me. Bascically, I want them to consider me once I have new scores that make me look more competitive. Is this a good idea?
[[Also, the fact that one of my LORs(committee) won't be ready until end of July, but I already have an extra letter, so I am content with submitting early, and then having the committee letter sent to schools/AADSAS later.]]

I am worried about submitting after my DAT because:
If I have everything ready (statement/submitted/supplementals) and done by August 11th, It takes around 4 weeks or so for my grades to be verified PLUS another week before AADSAS finally gets mailed out to schools. That would leave my application ready by August 15/22. I worried this won't help my application, but wondering if its worth my new DAT scores.


So I am debating whether to wait until after my DAT's to e-submit, causing my application to not be early by any means, or to e-submit first with subpar DAT and GPA, and hope they will begin to consider me only when my new DAT scores arrive.

Please let me know what you guys think, any and all feedback is welcomed!! I really appreciate the time and effort you guys all put for the pre-dental community, this is such an invaluable resource for applying to dental school.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Glimmer1991]

Submit once you retake your DAT on July 3rd. Work on your application from now until then--if you just put in 30 minutes to an hour a day, you'll have it done in no time.

Please read: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/retaking-dat-and-submitting-app.1076057/

The only hold-up will be your committee. That stinks, but oh well. Can't change much about that. If you didn't have to wait for this, you would be plenty early, even with taking the DAT on July 3rd.

 

[Member 139582]

Yea after reading your post, I agree that I should just wait, on the off-chance they do brush me aside.

That's why I purposefully didn't fill out my date of birth information so that AADSAS can't match my old DAT score to my application,
hopefully this works until I get my new DAT scores. Do you think they can still see the old scores this way?

And yea my committee letter is strong, but I am fine with submitting 2 prof LOR and 1 dentist and just sending the committee directly to AADSAS later, I don't think it's necessary to complete my app, right? Or are you saying it will hold-up my app because it is necessary?

THANK YOU for taking the time to read my situation!