Advice Needed!!!!

[jdcinza13]

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Ok, so I freely admit that I may have screwed myself by retaking the DAT, but I need some advice from the posters in this section because you will have a better likelihood of being able to give helpful advice. Here goes:

I applied last year, to about 4 schools. Long story short, I didn't get in. My DAT was 18/19/18, so they weren't horrible. My cum. GPA is 3.6 and 3.4 science.

This year I applied to:

Arizona, Creighton, Loma Linda, Marquette, Nova, Temple, Tufts, Colorado, Louisville, UNLV, Oklahoma, VCU.

I have over 50 hours shadowing, lots of community involvement, I didn't go to a "top tier" school, and all my sciences were taken at community college. I took a month off of work and studied my arse off for the DAT to get a better score, but it didn't work out. I thought I had NAILED the DAT and that I would be getting at least a 19 AA. It didn't happen. My scores are as follows:

1st 2nd
AA 18 17
TS 19 16
PAT 18 18
Bio 18 16
GC 20 16
OC 19 18
RC 19 21
QR 14 13

Like I said before, I felt like I really nailed the test and it came back like this. I am devastated to say the least, but I know I can still pick up the pieces...but I want to know what you think will be my best option. The next time I can take the test is Nov. 4th. I'm planning on retaking the DAT, and calling my schools, but don't know exactly what to say.

Does Anyone know what I should ask the schools, or tell them?

Is it possible that I could have gotten about the same # of questions right and the curve/scores have changed that much?

What would be my best course of action to get interviews knowing that my DAT sucked so bad?

Any constructive criticism/advice would be welcome, and I'll do just about anything necessary to get into school. I do however, work full time and have a family, so I won't be able to study 8 hours/day for the next 90 days.

Also, All the schools already have my application and I've heard back from 6 of them about 2ndary's. I will be going forward with the app fees and everything, but I guess I'm just lost. Please let me know what you think, and what I should do. Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

[frogger33]

I dont remember off the top of my head, but if you did not automatically send your new DAT scores off to the schools you applied to and already sent out your ADDAS application, then if you do not request for your DAT scores to be sent to the schools.... then they may never get your new scores.

Personally that is what I would do if I was in your shoes. If you already had the scores sent to the schools, then I have no advice. You will need to come up with some reason why your scores droped 🙁

Sorry I could not be of more help and good luck

 

[jay228]

and all my sciences were taken at community college.

significant chunks of course work, esp. the pre-requisites, taken all at a CC, is an automatic red flag with adcoms.... and at some schools an automatic disqualifier.

I would call the schools up, and ask directly about their policies on CC classes. if you can't get any real info, contact/write the adcoms directly instead of the secretaries.

 

[DIRTIE]

Temple And Marquette Look Like Your Best Bets. I Believe That Temple Will Take Your Highest In Each Section Then Average Them To Get Your New Score, Something Like That. I Would Call Them And They Will Tell You

 

[DIRTIE]

Another Idea Is Move To Vegas Now And Tell The Admissions Commitee That You Will Be A Resident By The Time School Starts Next Fall Since You Will Have Been Here Long Enough, That Will Give You A Huge Advantage.

 

[mg777]

Another Idea Is Move To Vegas Now And Tell The Admissions Commitee That You Will Be A Resident By The Time School Starts Next Fall Since You Will Have Been Here Long Enough, That Will Give You A Huge Advantage.

your capitalization usage is impressive

 

[mg777]

Ok, so I freely admit that I may have screwed myself by retaking the DAT, but I need some advice from the posters in this section because you will have a better likelihood of being able to give helpful advice. Here goes:

I applied last year, to about 4 schools. Long story short, I didn't get in. My DAT was 18/19/18, so they weren't horrible. My cum. GPA is 3.6 and 3.4 science.

This year I applied to:

Arizona, Creighton, Loma Linda, Marquette, Nova, Temple, Tufts, Colorado, Louisville, UNLV, Oklahoma, VCU.

I have over 50 hours shadowing, lots of community involvement, I didn't go to a "top tier" school, and all my sciences were taken at community college. I took a month off of work and studied my arse off for the DAT to get a better score, but it didn't work out. I thought I had NAILED the DAT and that I would be getting at least a 19 AA. It didn't happen. My scores are as follows:

1st 2nd
AA 18 17
TS 19 16
PAT 18 18
Bio 18 16
GC 20 16
OC 19 18
RC 19 21
QR 14 13

Like I said before, I felt like I really nailed the test and it came back like this. I am devastated to say the least, but I know I can still pick up the pieces...but I want to know what you think will be my best option. The next time I can take the test is Nov. 4th. I'm planning on retaking the DAT, and calling my schools, but don't know exactly what to say.

Tell them you're going to retake the DAT. You will most likely get an interview invite and may have already attended an interview by the time you retake the DAT. As your app is now, I'd bet you will get at least one interview. Looking at your DAT scores again here, you do have some low numbers but I still say you get at least one interview. It may not be as early as I had estimated to start with.

Does Anyone know what I should ask the schools, or tell them?

Tell them what happened on the second DAT the same way you explained here. I would not go into great detail explaining your reasoning or thoughts on the second attempt. You're scores from the first were not "bad", so dont dwell on the second attempt and in effect draw the admissions committee's attention away from your first attempt.

Is it possible that I could have gotten about the same # of questions right and the curve/scores have changed that much?

I would shy away from any type of explanation like this at an interview or over the phone. Stick to what you know happened. Tell them your circumstances. They'll see you're applying again, and realize it appears you really wish to pursue dentistry as a profession.

What would be my best course of action to get interviews knowing that my DAT sucked so bad?

There's not much more you can do that I can think of. You're not taking classes so you cant do well this semester. It seems all you can do is try to nail the DAT the next time you take it, and if you get an interview, prepare for it.

 

[DIRTIE]

your capitalization usage is impressive

tHaNkYoU! I try. Actually that is why I decided to major in biology

 

[wimmcs]

significant chunks of course work, esp. the pre-requisites, taken all at a CC, is an automatic red flag with adcoms.... and at some schools an automatic disqualifier.

I would call the schools up, and ask directly about their policies on CC classes. if you can't get any real info, contact/write the adcoms directly instead of the secretaries.

NONE of my interviews ever had ANY issues w/classes taken at the CC level, at least that was never brought up in ANY of my interviews. And, I got in to some pretty good schools. The one school I didn't bother to apply because their "disclaimer" on the CC classes was Marquette. Glad I didn't waste my money because I would have gone to any of the four schools I got accepted before going to Marquette.
But, like this post indicates, there are some schools that do frown upon it, but fortunately for me, that was never an issue.