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DATslim

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I am thinking of applying to Columbia U. and i just wanted to know how competitive is it? like average stats for acceptance? and how is there dental program overall? i have heard that they are a better specialty school. thanks.

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This is a good question and many people have asked the same question as well. Since I've been busy these days with everything that is going on, I won't be able to give you a detailed response. However, I do suggest search through the other threads, and you will get more information about the school then you ever want to know. Also, you will be quickly acquainted with Dr.Badvibes.

I do suggest you getting real high DAT scores. That's probably the main reason they liked my app.
 
jk5177 said:
Also, you will be quickly acquainted with Dr.Badvibes.
Ha, common sense. Theory of the universe now.
 
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DATslim said:
I am thinking of applying to Columbia U. and i just wanted to know how competitive is it? like average stats for acceptance? and how is there dental program overall? i have heard that they are a better specialty school. thanks.

According to "ASDA guide to dental schools," the average GPA was 3.5 and DAT AA was 21 and PAT was 20 two years ago. It should be pretty much the same right now. Maybe just little higher. If you do well on DAT and you have a decent GPA around 3.3 or higher, you will probably get an interview from there.
 
t12kim said:
According to "ASDA guide to dental schools," the average GPA was 3.5 and DAT AA was 21 and PAT was 20 two years ago. It should be pretty much the same right now. Maybe just little higher. If you do well on DAT and you have a decent GPA around 3.3 or higher, you will probably get an interview from there.

DAT of 22 this year, was told in my interview.
 
DATslim said:
I am thinking of applying to Columbia U. and i just wanted to know how competitive is it?

I remember checking out columbia's website when I first started the whole dental school application. I was pretty naive then, and was so impressed and frightened by the whole "ivy league" thing and columbia's stellar reputation in general. I remember thinking to myself: 'sweet lord could I get into this school?!' Turns out, getting accepted into columbia isn't that big of a deal. You could have a pretty crappy GPA (ala 3.1/3.2) and still get accepted if your DAT scores are somewhat high (ala AA22). And is it really that hard to get a AA22 on the DAT? No, in my opinion. *flame shields on*

Columbia does not have a secondary application and their interviews are super-short and not difficult. I wasn't asked once about my research publications, yet was questioned and praised to no end about my family's "amazing professional pedigree." At the time I was happy about that, but in retrospect it's pretty lame.

Is it a good school? I have no idea. Dr.BadVibes goes a little nuts putting down columbia students' match rate into specialties. But ultimately he's correct. Again, when I first applied, I thought coming from columbia would give you a huge leg up on the specialty applications. Turns out, it doesn't particularly. Seems like you gotta work your butt off there and compete.
 
delicious said:
I remember checking out columbia's website when I first started the whole dental school application. I was pretty naive then, and was so impressed and frightened by the whole "ivy league" thing and columbia's stellar reputation in general. I remember thinking to myself: 'sweet lord could I get into this school?!' Turns out, getting accepted into columbia isn't that big of a deal. You could have a pretty crappy GPA (ala 3.1/3.2) and still get accepted if your DAT scores are somewhat high (ala AA22). And is it really that hard to get a AA22 on the DAT? No, in my opinion. *flame shields on*

Columbia does not have a secondary application and their interviews are super-short and not difficult. I wasn't asked once about my research publications, yet was questioned and praised to no end about my family's "amazing professional pedigree." At the time I was happy about that, but in retrospect it's pretty lame.

Is it a good school? I have no idea. Dr.BadVibes goes a little nuts putting down columbia students' match rate into specialties. But ultimately he's correct. Again, when I first applied, I thought coming from columbia would give you a huge leg up on the specialty applications. Turns out, it doesn't particularly. Seems like you gotta work your butt off there and compete.

So then where are you going delicious? Maybe I should change my name to xxxlicious
 
"You could have a pretty crappy GPA (ala 3.1/3.2) and still get accepted if your DAT scores are somewhat high (ala AA22)."

of course anything is possible, but i don't believe you. Where did you get this info? Also, GPA and DAT is not everything my man.


"I wasn't asked once about my research publications, yet was questioned and praised to no end about my family's "amazing professional pedigree." At the time I was happy about that, but in retrospect it's pretty lame."

what do your parents do?
 
t12kim said:
According to "ASDA guide to dental schools," the average GPA was 3.5 and DAT AA was 21 and PAT was 20 two years ago..

Where do you get your info from? According to your own website, the average GPA two years ago was 3.4.

http://dental.columbia.edu/education/faqs.htm

If the average GPA was 3.4, I don't think it's a stretch at all to suggest that there's a bunch of people with 3.1/3.2 GPAs. No stretch at all. But hey, not that 3.1 or 3.2 isn't a respectable GPA. Just comparing that to other schools, doesn't seem so great. I don't mean to knock columbia. I like that school. I'm just relating my personal experiences from the application cycle. It may help alleviate some of the stress of applying to CU.
 
Profchaos said:
So then where are you going delicious? Maybe I should change my name to xxxlicious

huh??!
 
Profchaos said:
Which school do you pick over Columbia?

Fine, I'm from a small town called Calais in Maine. :laugh:

Dude, what does it matter what school I picked over Columbia? Do you have something to prove or what? It would be more enlightening (considering the initial post) to ask what my DAT and GPA were, as well as my experiences.
 
It is true that a 3.1-beyond and a 20/21+ Academic DAT will get you an interview. But they tend to accept those with higher science gpas in the end.
They are trying to match Harvard/UCLA/etc in the 22 avg DAT in the coming years.
 
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delicious said:
I remember checking out columbia's website when I first started the whole dental school application. I was pretty naive then, and was so impressed and frightened by the whole "ivy league" thing and columbia's stellar reputation in general. I remember thinking to myself: 'sweet lord could I get into this school?!' Turns out, getting accepted into columbia isn't that big of a deal. You could have a pretty crappy GPA (ala 3.1/3.2) and still get accepted if your DAT scores are somewhat high (ala AA22). And is it really that hard to get a AA22 on the DAT? No, in my opinion. *flame shields on*


I do agree. For me, last year (2004) I had taken the DAT in September, after not really having studied science for a number of years, and decided that I was going to hold off on applications until the 2005 cycle and gain clinical experience in an office for a year. But after persuasion by my friends in the profession, I decided, even though it was dangerously late, to apply for dental school. I got done with my AADSAS application at the end of Nov., which means that it didn't even get to the schools until late December/early January. I'm 28 by the way, and graduated college in 1999. My GPA was 3.2 sci, and 3.1 total (not really so impressive by Columbia standards, or perhaps any at all). But what I did have as a sparkle of hope were my DAT's, 22/23/18. Even though it was insanely late, (and I don't know many people who'd dare take chances on sending an app. in Jan), I applied to 7 schools, and got interviews with all of them. UMDNJ, Temple, Columbia, Boston, Case, NYU,... and even though I didn't send in my application fee for Stony Brook, they called me up personally and told me that the committee reviewed my application and said that if I sent the application fee, then they'd arrange a quick date for an interview.

I'm not saying this to show how great I am. I'm certainly not. I just came to the realization that since the DAT's is an exam that EVERY candidate takes, it really is a significant bench mark to rate students as opposed to schools where the level of difficulty of gaining A's varies from school to school. The DAT could go a long way for those who don't have alot to cling onto. I thought it was an impossibility for me 8 months ago, but I'm glad to say that I'll be entering Dental school in September.

The Columbia interview was pretty serious in my experience. After the interview, all of us candidates grouped together in the common conference room, outside of the Columbia restaurant (where they conduct the interviews on the 4th floor of the dental building) and everyone was really happy and some ended pretty quick. It seemed that alot of people had a very comfortable interview. I didn't really know how to take this,... where most interviewers had friendly faces, and I even heard giggles of laughter from a number of other interview-tables, my interviewer just had a serious face and asked specific questions regarding my file... work experience, grades, recommendations etc... and just glared at me waiting for answers. And I did not get asked the general questions like "why dentistry?" or "do you want to specialize?" or "what do you do with your hands?" At that moment I had a flashback to my UMDNJ interview where I had the same exerience.... and that was my first interview. The guy talked to me saying things in a way that told me,"Don't be surprized if we don't accept you". So having learned from that hot-seat experience, I came back at all this interviewer's questions very calmly and friendly and tried to present an amicable repoire,.. and before I knew it, the cold atmosphere warmed considerably, and we were even laughing at some things too. At the end, the interviewer gave me some of his own personal advice about things I should really do before entering Columbia in the fall. hmmmmm......

As far as UMDNJ, I ended up gaining my acceptance letter from them after all.

So for those of you out there who don't think that your GPA's can cut it, it most certainly isn't the end. You have a second chance through your DAT's, and as "delicious" pointed out,... and I agree.... it really isn't that difficult... for those who approach it with an earnest goal.

sorry for making this too long.
 
Okazaki said:
(and I don't know many people who'd dare take chances on sending an app. in Jan)

I submitted my AADSAS Feb 1st! :eek:

I do not recommend this, however I am expecting interview invites from UNLV and Dalhousie, at least.

At the very least, I hoped to gain experience to help me for next year's app cycle.
 
Wow!!! That is the latest I've heard. What is your AADSAS number? The reason I asked because it tells me how many applicants this year.
 
jk5177 said:
Wow!!! That is the latest I've heard. What is your AADSAS number? The reason I asked because it tells me how many applicants this year.

AADSAS ID 91XX. :eek:

The nice thing was--it only took them one week to get my app out to the schools. I think it's because my app was the last one on their desks! I'm still trying to figure out how they failed to send out my LORs and transcripts, though.
 
jk5177 said:
Wow!!! That is the latest I've heard. What is your AADSAS number? The reason I asked because it tells me how many applicants this year.


Hey jk5177, I believe we were at the same Columbia interview.
I think this is their last week of interviews before the decisions are made.
 
Okazaki:

My interviewer was sort of straightfaced too, but then I realized that is the norm for the person, so that doesn't bother me anymore. Sometimes I rather have a serious interview then a light-hearted. Just because their interview is light-hearted, it doesn't mean they are accepted. The interviewers are very good at not giving any clues. I think they are bound by rules not to give the impression that the applicant is accepted or not.

Good luck on your final stretch of this long process. Feel free to email me or whatever.
 
If you have a DAT of 22 and gpa of 3.3 coming from a reputable big name school you certainly can get in...we have people from Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Tufts, Columbia, Barnard, Duke, Emory, Northwestern, UMich, Georgia Tech, UWash, GWU, Wesleyan, NYU...etc. I'm sure not everyone from these schools had 3.9's but they all had really high DATs. We also have people from FIU and Queens College who had 4.0 GPAs and were the top of their class with the same DAT.

Admission most likely looks for some kind of balance. So really strive to do your best on the DAT if your GPA is not outstanding.
 
Right on! I'm glad this turned into a productive thread. I think the ultimate take on Columbia is that you have to shine really bright in just one thing. Like an awesome DAT score, or sweet GPA. Just don't be intimidated and scared like I was.
 
Adding on to what was said earlier:
I think they take into consideration the difficulty of your undergrad. So, shining in only one thing doesnt' guarantee you admissions if you went to a community college, got a 4.0 and got 17 on the DAT....not sure if you'd get into Columbia.

The examples of 4.0's i gave that went to schools that weren't considered as highly difficult and competitive ALSO had DATs of 23 and 22.

Basically, a high DAT can save you if you got a low GPA at a relatively difficult well-known undergrad. Otherwise, most likely you need both.
 
My friend informed me that his friend got in with a 3.0 gpa. I'm not certain whether this person retook the DAT, but my friend also informed me that his friend had '18s' on the DAT.
 
Having "18's" on the DAT is fine if it's just on one or two sections...like the PAT and orgo let's say for example. You can still get a 22 if your reading and gchem are around 25.
Also, maybe that person's overall GPA was a 3.0 and his science gpa was 3.5 or vice versa.
 
ajy1013 said:
My friend informed me that his friend got in with a 3.0 gpa. I'm not certain whether this person retook the DAT, but my friend also informed me that his friend had '18s' on the DAT.

Your friend is dreaming or nepotism played a role in getting someone with a 3.0 and 18 DAT into Columbia. You will not even get an interview with that. Though they are honorable marks.
 
ajy1013 said:
My friend informed me that his friend got in with a 3.0 gpa. I'm not certain whether this person retook the DAT, but my friend also informed me that his friend had '18s' on the DAT.

Don't mislead those innocents to waste their money if they've only got that much stats. No affense.
 
As far as UMDNJ, I ended up gaining my acceptance letter from them after all.

So for those of you out there who don't think that your GPA's can cut it, it most certainly isn't the end. You have a second chance through your DAT's, and as "delicious" pointed out,... and I agree.... it really isn't that difficult... for those who approach it with an earnest goal.

sorry for making this too long.[/QUOTE]


I am going to the interview in CU on March. 18.
This is going to be my first interview, (and only 2 interviews I have got til today). I have totally no idea on what the interview likes......you post helps me so much.
:thumbup:
 
hey i agree with the fact that a lower gpa from a relatively harder school may be looked past if your dats are high enough. im saying ths out of my own experience, i had a 2.9 sci gpa 3.3 overall and 21/20 on th dats, and i go to ucla. but i also think that when it comes down to scores like mine they def take into consideration letters of rec and the type of person you come across as on paper. all im saying is with one high score and one low one you better have an app that stands out among the rest.
 
benbenxu said:
I am going to the interview in CU on March. 18.
This is going to be my first interview, (and only 2 interviews I have got til today). I have totally no idea on what the interview likes......you post helps me so much.
:thumbup:

Your stats seem very similar to mine. It's hard to believe that you didn't get interviews much sooner... especially from NYU. But best of luck to you. Just keep yourself composed, and don't pressure yourself to give the best answer for every question they ask you. Be sincere and friendly.... that'll go a long way.

Good luck Benbenxu
 
delicious said:
Right on! I'm glad this turned into a productive thread. I think the ultimate take on Columbia is that you have to shine really bright in just one thing. Like an awesome DAT score, or sweet GPA. Just don't be intimidated and scared like I was.

i agree. one of the more useful columbia threads in recent modern history. not hard to see why. look who hasn't posted.

the general consensus, which I personally agree, is that if you want to get into columbia, you need a killer DAT, i.e 21, 22+. if your gpa is lower, you might want to get even higher scores. I agree with previous posters that it is highly unlikely someone got into columbia with an 18 on AA or TS.
 
MrBenny said:
i agree. one of the more useful columbia threads in recent modern history. not hard to see why. look who hasn't posted.

the general consensus, which I personally agree, is that if you want to get into columbia, you need a killer DAT, i.e 21, 22+. if your gpa is lower, you might want to get even higher scores. I agree with previous posters that it is highly unlikely someone got into columbia with an 18 on AA or TS.

Agreed....I've talked to quite a few classmates beginning of first year...no one had below a twenty. At least the ones I've talked to anyway.(hey it was orientation week and we had nothing better to talk about). From my viewpoint columbia considers foremost the DAT after that undergrad institute prestige(pretty obvious judging from the class pool). I guess the adcom view those two factors as most "objective".
 
nnjh said:
From my viewpoint columbia considers foremost the DAT after that undergrad institute prestige(pretty obvious judging from the class pool).

I felt this during my interview too. My GPA was on the low side at 3.2 (science at 3.2 as well), but my DAT was 20+ in all subjects. Also, I have MS in biology from Harvard (GPA 3.6), and that's all they focused on during my interview.

So, I think they look at DAT first, then GPA/school name (not saying this is good or bad system; just my impression on what they look first).

Good luck~ :thumbup:
 
I have a 21 AA/TS DAT, avg gpa, but my PAT was 15... will columbia be okay with that... I already got an interview, will they hold my PAT score against me?
 
dentist_to_be? said:
I have a 21 AA/TS DAT, avg gpa, but my PAT was 15... will columbia be okay with that... I already got an interview, will they hold my PAT score against me?

Nope! I had an 18 and a carving score of 8! I don't beleive they consider these tests to be very indicitive of a good dental student at Columbia. Best wishes.
 
foh said:
I felt this during my interview too. My GPA was on the low side at 3.2 (science at 3.2 as well), but my DAT was 20+ in all subjects. Also, I have MS in biology from Harvard (GPA 3.6), and that's all they focused on during my interview.

So, I think they look at DAT first, then GPA/school name (not saying this is good or bad system; just my impression on what they look first).

Good luck~ :thumbup:

3.6 from Harvard is hot..damn.
 
dentist_to_be? said:
I have a 21 AA/TS DAT, avg gpa, but my PAT was 15... will columbia be okay with that... I already got an interview, will they hold my PAT score against me?

no! I am sure you have a great chance. I got PAT of 16. No one cared. They are just interested in your Science scores. good luck!!
 
dentist_to_be? said:
I have a 21 AA/TS DAT, avg gpa, but my PAT was 15... will columbia be okay with that... I already got an interview, will they hold my PAT score against me?


I think the adcom rips off the PAT score section before reviewing the DAT scores. :laugh:
 
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