Application Advice, 1st time applicant

[Doctor Thriller]

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Good evening all. I need some true hardcore advice. Please be as honest as possible as it is not going to hurt my feelings. I am taking the DAT on May 26th; what scores you guys think I should shoot for to assure acceptance?

3.11 Overall GPA [*Last 68 hours with 41 being upper level sciences (3.65)]
3.23 Science GPA

Minority Black male applicant

Volunteer experiences: Dental Mission Trip
Shadowing hours: 200+

I understand my GPA is sub-standard, but my more recent hours show I have improved every semester. Do schools take this into account? Or should I not even waste my money and apply to only lower standard private schools and my state school?

 

[water88]

It depends what you get on your DAT. Definitely apply to Meharry and Howard.

 

[doc3232]

Good evening all. I need some true hardcore advice. Please be as honest as possible as it is not going to hurt my feelings. I am taking the DAT on May 26th; what scores you guys think I should shoot for to assure acceptance?

3.11 Overall GPA [*Last 68 hours with 41 being upper level sciences (3.65)]
3.23 Science GPA

Minority Black male applicant

Volunteer experiences: Dental Mission Trip
Shadowing hours: 200+

I understand my GPA is sub-standard, but my more recent hours show I have improved every semester. Do schools take this into account? Or should I not even waste my money and apply to only lower standard private schools and my state school?

1. Apply where you will be happy. IMO, I find location very important.
2. get a high DAT score, your gpa isn't great and it seems you did very bad in your early years.
3. Apply to a lot of schools.

good luck

 

[doc toothache]

Good evening all. I need some true hardcore advice. Please be as honest as possible as it is not going to hurt my feelings. I am taking the DAT on May 26th; what scores you guys think I should shoot for to assure acceptance?

3.11 Overall GPA [*Last 68 hours with 41 being upper level sciences (3.65)]
3.23 Science GPA

You shoot for the stars and settle for terra firma.

 

[water88]

You shoot for the stars and settle for terra firma.

While I appreciate the latin, it should really be:

"If you shoot for the moon and miss, you'll still end up among the stars"

 

[doc toothache]

While I appreciate the latin, it should really be:

"If you shoot for the moon and miss, you'll still end up among the stars"

The former takes into account gravity while the latter does not.

 

[sunshine222]

Since you're an underrepresented minority, if you get a 19+ and apply to lots of schools you'll definitely get some interest. Do a search on predents - there are a lot of people who were accepted with low GPA's, and more than a few of those had low DAT's as well.

 

[Doctor Thriller]

Since you're an underrepresented minority, if you get a 19+ and apply to lots of schools you'll definitely get some interest. Do a search on predents - there are a lot of people who were accepted with low GPA's, and more than a few of those had low DAT's as well.

So a 19 - 20 range i should shoot for? I have been doing around that range on Top Score, but I have been bombing the DAT Destroyer questions. Does the DAT Destroyer questions reflect the real thing a whole lot?
I have MCAT books, Kaplan BB material, and Cliff notes for biology.
I have not been doing too well in PAT though. I have CDP but i feel the more i practice the worse i get. Advice?
I am a biological sciences major and I am doing the worse in biology for my sciences. Where do they pull some of these questions from?
Last thing: Are schools going to look at my trend in grades and see that I turned around my grades drastically from earlier in my undergrad days, or are they just going to look at my overall/science GPA and say tough luck?
I appreciate all the advice guys

 

[water88]

The former takes into account gravity while the latter does not.

touché

 

[bustedgrill]

So a 19 - 20 range i should shoot for? I have been doing around that range on Top Score, but I have been bombing the DAT Destroyer questions. Does the DAT Destroyer questions reflect the real thing a whole lot?
I have MCAT books, Kaplan BB material, and Cliff notes for biology.
I have not been doing too well in PAT though. I have CDP but i feel the more i practice the worse i get. Advice?
I am a biological sciences major and I am doing the worse in biology for my sciences. Where do they pull some of these questions from?
Last thing: Are schools going to look at my trend in grades and see that I turned around my grades drastically from earlier in my undergrad days, or are they just going to look at my overall/science GPA and say tough luck?
I appreciate all the advice guys

Schools will view the upward trend as a plus. My advise is take a deep breath, use some of that stress that comes with a subpar gpa to buckle down and study hard for the dat.

 

[muju15]

I would apply on July 1st broadly and be selective with the interviews. You still have a chance, just continue to keep up with your upward GPA trend.

 

[brightsmiles9]

The higher the better!! and make sure to apply as soon as you can, and take the DAT when your ready for it. Good luck!