Can taking the DAT and Applying late affect your chances?

[ZeroCool]

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Does applying to dental school early actually improve your chances of getting in to school? I'm waiting to take the DAT's until late August, and than applying afterwords. So, when is the best time to take the DAT and apply to dental school? Everyone says that you need to apply as early as possible, but does it really matter?

 

[ysk]

i don't necessarily think that applying early alone will save a doomed applicant into being accepted, but it helps as there are more spaces in the class if you apply early. wouldn't it be a shame if you're not accepted not because you didn't deserve to get in, but because the class filled up before they had a chance to seriously consider you? and if applying early will help your chances at all, better to do it right? what i mean is it's not like you can go back and change your gpa or anything now, but what you can still do is apply early, so why not? one thing that i definitely do advise is applying now before taking the DAT. the application takes weeks to get processed and if you apply after you take your test in late august, it'll miss the first few rounds of interviews and you'll be caught in the busiest traffic of applications.

 

[syn_apse]

applying early is definitely better than applying late. but applying early is not a magic bullet and will not make mediocre stats suddenly competitive. applying early just ensures that adcoms will give your app the proper read and allows you to take spot in the class before the spots are all gone.

taking your dat in august wont hurt you, but dont wait until you take your dat to begin applying to aadsas. it takes them about a month to verify your transcript and mail it out, so do this asap.

hope this helps; best of luck!