DAT scores and dental specialty

[NewtonStar]

Pre-dental here. I just completed the DAT recently and did scored pretty well. Does having a high DAT score help get into a better residency program after dental school?

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[Big Time Hoosier]

Pre-dental here. I just completed the DAT recently and did scored pretty well. Does having a high DAT score help get into a better residency program after dental school?

No. That said, some programs still ask for your score.

Big Hoss

 

[BlackThought]

Pre-dental here. I just completed the DAT recently and did scored pretty well. Does having a high DAT score help get into a better residency program after dental school?

No. Thank God.

 

[deleted913442]

Not at all. I had a lower DAT compared to many friends at my school and am doing better than most. DAT has zero correlation to dental school success. The effort you put into school will dictate class rank and grades.

 

[SchwarzKorkhaus]

lol the DAT has almost zero predictive value of how well you will do in dental school. so in other words, a definite no

 

[Big Time Hoosier]

What does the literature say?

The relationship of performance on the dental admission test and performance on Part I of the National Board Dental Examinations - PubMed

Although many schools use scores on the Dental Admission Test (DAT) to evaluate applicants, the association of these scores with students' performance on Part I of the National Board Dental Examinations (NBDE) has not been recently evaluated. In this study, the hypothesis that the DAT scores...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Dental Admission Test scores and performance on NBDE Part I, revisited - PubMed

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between performance on the Dental Admission Test (DAT) and Part I of the National Board Dental Examination (NBDE Part I) for students at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM). This study was a retrospective cohort study, examining...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Do admissions data and NBDE Part I scores predict clinical performance among dental students? - PubMed

The purpose of this study was to evaluate possible associations between a variety of measures used to evaluate didactic knowledge and clinical performance within a predoctoral dental program. In this study, clinical performance was assessed by clinical productivity and clinical proficiency...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Big Hoss

 

[deleted913442]

One thing that I do think correlates with success in pre-clinic is the PAT. I know some people who didn't do so well on the PAT and are struggling in lab, while I also know other who did extremely well in the PAT section and are incredible in pre-clinic. Again, it doesn't dictate your success, but I've seen a small correlation between those 2.

 

[SoftGel]

Big Hoss's link affirms what I had already heard anecdotally:

the READING COMPREHENSION Section is the most correlated to success in school (not correlated to anything clinical). The ability to process and comprehend large amounts of info is key.

 

[bracketbuster68]

Some residencies do require you to report your DAT scores. Who knows if this will change by the time you’d apply.

 

[A Sweet Tooth]

Some residencies do require you to report your DAT scores. Who knows if this will change by the time you’d apply.

Which residencies/specialties?

 

[bracketbuster68]

Which residencies/specialties?

Ortho for one

 

[apicalforamen]

The DAT is nothing but added cash flow for the ADA - zero predictive value. It'd be similar to a dental school wanting your ACT/SAT scores - irrelevant.

 

[P7898]

You have to ace the DAT.