DAT Done June 1 - Advice?

[BRoy7]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Finished the DAT today and it feels great. I'm new to SDN and just discovered it a couple of weeks ago, so it was helpful leading up to my test. Anyway, I would love to get some advice from some of you on here. Here were my scores:

20 AA
23 PAT
18 Biology
18 Gen Chem
16 O Chem
26 RC
20 QR

I'm pretty happy with them, especially since I have not taken organic chemistry yet and had to cram with Kaplan's book the last 3 weeks. That's where I would like some input. I wasn't heading the dental route a year ago, but was rather pursuing law school. Then I had some great shadowing experiences with dentists last summer that I just visited because they were cool guys, and almost immediately changed course. I dropped all my classes for the coming fall semester and registered for Gen Chem, Biology, and Physiology.

I just finished my junior year, so my thoughts last summer were that I wanted to stay on track and still graduate spring 2011, and just swap the DAT for the LSAT and hopefully start dental school fall 2011. I'm not worried about getting pre-req courses in, I'll take O Chem and Physics and Bio Chem this coming semester, then O Chem and Physics 2 the second semester, along with any other pre-reqs should I get in anywhere that requires more. I'll still graduate with a degree in Economics and have a 3.55 gpa with a 3.15 scgpa.

So that's where I stand, I'd appreciate hearing what my chances are in all of your opinions. Just to help fill in the gaps: I'll be applying to 20 schools, since I enjoyed my shadowing so much I was able to get in close to 100 hours last summer w/ 4 different dentists, have volunteered at a hospital about 4 hours a week for about 2 years, and began doing research in an antiviral research lab on campus last fall (~20 hrs/week) when I decided I'd need some science exposure to help compensate for my low science gpa. Look forward to hearing thoughts and advice. Thanks!

 

[chimm]

Finished the DAT today and it feels great. I'm new to SDN and just discovered it a couple of weeks ago, so it was helpful leading up to my test. Anyway, I would love to get some advice from some of you on here. Here were my scores:

20 AA
23 PAT
18 Biology
18 Gen Chem
16 O Chem
26 RC
20 QR

I'm pretty happy with them, especially since I have not taken organic chemistry yet and had to cram with Kaplan's book the last 3 weeks. That's where I would like some input. I wasn't heading the dental route a year ago, but was rather pursuing law school. Then I had some great shadowing experiences with dentists last summer that I just visited because they were cool guys, and almost immediately changed course. I dropped all my classes for the coming fall semester and registered for Gen Chem, Biology, and Physiology.

I just finished my junior year, so my thoughts last summer were that I wanted to stay on track and still graduate spring 2011, and just swap the DAT for the LSAT and hopefully start dental school fall 2011. I'm not worried about getting pre-req courses in, I'll take O Chem and Physics and Bio Chem this coming semester, then O Chem and Physics 2 the second semester, along with any other pre-reqs should I get in anywhere that requires more. I'll still graduate with a degree in Economics and have a 3.55 gpa with a 3.15 scgpa.

So that's where I stand, I'd appreciate hearing what my chances are in all of your opinions. Just to help fill in the gaps: I'll be applying to 20 schools, since I enjoyed my shadowing so much I was able to get in close to 100 hours last summer w/ 4 different dentists, have volunteered at a hospital about 4 hours a week for about 2 years, and began doing research in an antiviral research lab on campus last fall (~20 hrs/week) when I decided I'd need some science exposure to help compensate for my low science gpa. Look forward to hearing thoughts and advice. Thanks!

Sorry, but your science GPA is pretty lacking and your TS does not look redeeming at all 🙁. I don't think d-schools will look favorably upon that. I would study for another month, focusing on the sciences, and then retake, but I think many wouldn't with that AA and PAT.

 

[takedailyfiber]

Finished the DAT today and it feels great. I'm new to SDN and just discovered it a couple of weeks ago, so it was helpful leading up to my test. Anyway, I would love to get some advice from some of you on here. Here were my scores:

20 AA
23 PAT
18 Biology
18 Gen Chem
16 O Chem
26 RC
20 QR

I'm pretty happy with them, especially since I have not taken organic chemistry yet and had to cram with Kaplan's book the last 3 weeks. That's where I would like some input. I wasn't heading the dental route a year ago, but was rather pursuing law school. Then I had some great shadowing experiences with dentists last summer that I just visited because they were cool guys, and almost immediately changed course. I dropped all my classes for the coming fall semester and registered for Gen Chem, Biology, and Physiology.

I just finished my junior year, so my thoughts last summer were that I wanted to stay on track and still graduate spring 2011, and just swap the DAT for the LSAT and hopefully start dental school fall 2011. I'm not worried about getting pre-req courses in, I'll take O Chem and Physics and Bio Chem this coming semester, then O Chem and Physics 2 the second semester, along with any other pre-reqs should I get in anywhere that requires more. I'll still graduate with a degree in Economics and have a 3.55 gpa with a 3.15 scgpa.

So that's where I stand, I'd appreciate hearing what my chances are in all of your opinions. Just to help fill in the gaps: I'll be applying to 20 schools, since I enjoyed my shadowing so much I was able to get in close to 100 hours last summer w/ 4 different dentists, have volunteered at a hospital about 4 hours a week for about 2 years, and began doing research in an antiviral research lab on campus last fall (~20 hrs/week) when I decided I'd need some science exposure to help compensate for my low science gpa. Look forward to hearing thoughts and advice. Thanks!

First of all, your username makes us friends. Diehard Blazer fan here too. That alone makes you awesome.

Actually, my biggest concern is with your pre-reqs. If you want to matriculate in Fall 2011, you're applying now, correct?

You will be applying without having completed O-chem, Biochem, and Physics, which are three core requirements for every dental school and almost half of your science GPA calculation. Have you taken Cell and Molecular Bio yet? That's another core requirement. These 4 classes are not only "weeder/filter" classes because they are an indicator of who does well in tougher science classes, but because they are also a big measurement tool for dental schools in deciding which students will best represent their programs. The only class in dental school is hard science classes, after all.

I have a feeling that dental schools will definitely notice that you haven't completed these courses. You have an "ok" (as in not bad, not great) DAT score, but I don't think your science sections were high enough to convince dental schools that you knew the material despite not having taken the courses.

I would not apply to 20 schools because of this; that may cost you a bundle of money and not lead to as many interviews as you might think.

Is there any chance you can take these classes this summer? If you are determined to apply this cycle, taking maybe 2 or 3 of these classes and doing well in them would help you greatly.

 

[UndergradGuy7]

Science GPA is low and you DAT science scores didn't exactly make up for it. Especially the organic chem score. It might be below the cutoff or right at it for some schools.

Re-take DAT, take more science classes.

RC, PAT, QR are all good.

 

[alanan84]

Your sGPA is low but a plus is you still have a lot of sciences classes to take that can raise it. With a 20AA I'm not sure I'd recommend a retake like the other posters. Focus on getting that science GPA up.

I don't know about your school but generally both O Chem classes are prereqs for biochem so you may want to double check that if you haven't already.

I do agree with the other posters however, that a low TS combined with a low science GPA is a red flag. If you do retake, do it AFTER you've taken your Bio, Gen Chem, and O Chem class. That clearly was the reason for the low TS. Good luck.

 

[Zakl]

If your apply to 20 schools, then chances are high that your going to get into one of them. Since you have no preference, then yea don't retake the DAT and focus on raising your Science GPA. If you however are looking forward to going to a specific school, re-take the DAT and do better on the Science portion which you only did 1 point above national average. Because I'm sure applicant readers will be like wow this guy can read and find information pretty well, but wait he isn't good at memorizing stuff. So, yea overall I would say good job, I got the same AA as you, but everything was 20-21. Hope all goes well for you.

ZakL