Any advice please ?

[nknhatkhanh]

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Hi all

I'm not consider to be American or Canadian. I came from another country with a F-1 student visa since 2010, so I am consider to be "international student".
I attended high school here in the States. Currently, I just finished my second year (becoming a junior) of a small college (not community college) and try to pursue my dream (to be a dentist). My overall gpa is 3.87, overall science 3.91.
I decided to study for the DAT a little bit early (summer between sophomore and junior), I started to study since June 1st until now. I scheduled my test on August 17th, however I got so nervous,so I reschedule it back to August 24th ( which is only 6 days until my school start). So I have a several question:
1 - Since I'm an "international student", is it very hard for me to get accepted into dental school here ?
2 - What DAT scores do I need to get to compete with others "international" DAT takers ? (if the 1st statement is true)
3 - Due to English is not my first language, it's horrible 🙁 I took 2 RC Bootcamp practice tests 2 weeks ago, I have 14 both times. If it can improve in short amount of time, any advice? If it can not improve in short amount of time, should I wait until next year ?
4 - I only have 4 weeks left until my DAT, but i only finished 1/3 of Destroyer book (1/3 of Bio around 50-60% correct, 1/3 Math around 50-60% correct, nearly 1/3 Gchem around 40-50% correct, 1/3 Ochem - around 40-45% correct) this is the first time I have ever go through Destroyer (in slow pace so I can understand the concept and learn from the mistake) Should I keep going, or wait until next summer to take the test?
5 - If I decided not to take it this summer (I know my money will go down the drain). However, does the dental school notice that I signed up but cancel it? Is it going to hurt me when I apply?

I always think that I only have one and only one time to take it. I just don't want to score low the first time. So, overall my big question is: should I take it now or should I wait until next summer?
I heard, next year ADA is going to change QR to different subject, does anyone knows what subject they change into?

I love to hear advices from any of SDNers especially @orgoman22 and @Ari Rezaei

A lot of thanks first

 

[The Dentanator]

Don't worry about that QR change, from what I have heard it was minor and you should pursue your studies as you would if there was no change. You need to look up the schools you are interested in and contact them or research more into the acceptance rate of international students and that whole deal. Your GPA is a money maker, but you also need other things such as shadowing hours. If your scoring that low on Orgo and Chem it may be smarter to wait, but ultimately it's all up to you. I know the Kaplan Blue Book helped me a lot for the concepts of Orgo and Gen Chem, so that may be worth it. I believe its between like 65 and 80$.
For the RC try experimenting and researching different methods. I know DAT BC has a whole strategy page dedicated to that. Try reading articles practice science articles posted on DAT BC to work on your speed and endurance when reading dense articles like that.
I am not sure about competition among international kids, that would be something else the school sites would probably mention if it even applied. I'm sorry I couldn't answer your other questions, I don't have all the answers. But others on SDN will probably start chiming in and helping, that's why we're here! Good Luck!