DAT scores, what do you think?

[20090900]

So I really want to do a breakdown but I will do it later as it's 1:30a.m. right now. I just did my DAT today and wanted to thank everyone and anyone that helped me with my questions. So I am a Canadian currently with a 3.3cGPA. I still have 1 year left in my undergrad degree to get my marks up but either way I'm pretty sure I'm going to do an SMP. I have previously taken the Canadian DAT and these were my scores...

PAT: 18
Bio: 20
Chem: 20
RC: 20
AA: 20

I wrote the American DAT and these were my scores...

Bio: 22
Chem: 22
Orgo: 20
PAT: 19
RC: 20
QR: 17
TS: 21
AA: 20

So here's the thing....basically I didn't improve in terms of AA but I think I did quite well on the sciences. Will my QR section really drag me down or "red-flag" me at all? I heard something like QR is one of the lesser (is that a word?/grammatically correct haha) important sections or something? Also I know it's only a AA of 20 but will schools like the fact that although I only got a 20, I did quite well on the sciences and kind of overlook the QR at all? Also if possible, what's more important, TS or AA, or are they approx. equal? I'm kinda rambling so essentially, what do you think about my American DAT scores taking into account my current cGPA???? Assuming my GPA stays the same or increases, should I apply June 2013? Thanks everyone!

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[412smb412]

So I really want to do a breakdown but I will do it later as it's 1:30a.m. right now. I just did my DAT today and wanted to thank everyone and anyone that helped me with my questions. So I am a Canadian currently with a 3.3cGPA. I still have 1 year left in my undergrad degree to get my marks up but either way I'm pretty sure I'm going to do an SMP. I have previously taken the Canadian DAT and these were my scores...

PAT: 18
Bio: 20
Chem: 20
RC: 20
AA: 20

I wrote the American DAT and these were my scores...

Bio: 22
Chem: 22
Orgo: 20
PAT: 19
RC: 20
QR: 17
TS: 21
AA: 20

So here's the thing....basically I didn't improve in terms of AA but I think I did quite well on the sciences. Will my QR section really drag me down or "red-flag" me at all? I heard something like QR is one of the lesser (is that a word?/grammatically correct haha) important sections or something? Also I know it's only a AA of 20 but will schools like the fact that although I only got a 20, I did quite well on the sciences and kind of overlook the QR at all? Also if possible, what's more important, TS or AA, or are they approx. equal? I'm kinda rambling so essentially, what do you think about my American DAT scores taking into account my current cGPA???? Assuming my GPA stays the same or increases, should I apply June 2013? Thanks everyone!

U do realize u need to convert ur cgpa into agpa. 80-100 = 4.0 and 90-100 = 4.3. It is a huge determinant on whether u should apply or not this year! What univ do u go to? Do they give letter or number graders or cgpa grades?

 

[20090900]

Wait are you 100% sure about this? Can you send me the link if possible? I went here and on the 2nd page it says that a 4.0 is 90-100%. My school gives out percentile grades (aka like 88% or whatever).

http://www.adea.org/dental_educatio...tructions/Documents/2011 GPA Calculations.pdf

 

[20090900]

I go to the University of Guelph

Wait are you 100% sure about this? Can you send me the link if possible? I went here and on the 2nd page it says that a 4.0 is 90-100%. My school gives out percentile grades (aka like 88% or whatever).

http://www.adea.org/dental_educatio...tructions/Documents/2011 GPA Calculations.pdf

 

[412smb412]

Wait are you 100% sure about this? Can you send me the link if possible? I went here and on the 2nd page it says that a 4.0 is 90-100%. My school gives out percentile grades (aka like 88% or whatever).

http://www.adea.org/dental_educatio...tructions/Documents/2011 GPA Calculations.pdf

yes i am a 100% sure, it is on the american dental associate application site, u have to look thru it and every1 i know who got in and is appplying uses the scale. if ur school only gives out percentile (like mine, i go to western) then u calculate it a bit differently for american gpa. canadian and american gpa are different for us. check ur univ website for the conversion of ur percentage grade to letter grade, its different for each school. then u take that letter grade and u go to the first page of the site u linked me and convert it. for example for western university its this:

A+ = 90 - 100 = 4.3 (yes 4.3 even though gpa is out of 4.0)
A = 80 - 89 = 4.0
B = 70 - 79 = 3.0
C = 60 - 69 = 2.0
D = 50 - 59 = 1.0

so u see how it can be a benefit and a big hurt to ur gpa depending on how ur marks are. u convert every grade u have into a letter grade according to your university's conversion (i had to call the registrar's office to find the conversions) then take that letter and match it up with teh first page of the site u linked me.

 

[20090900]

Kk thanks a lot. But do I still multiply the GPA score by the number of credits? Here's an example...

Course 1 (86% & 0.5 credits) --> 4.0 --> 4.0 x 0.5 = 2.0
Course 2 (93% & 0.75 credits) --> 4.3 --> 4.3 x 0.75 = 3.225
Course 3 (62% % 1.25 creduts) --> 2.0 --> 2.0 x 1.25 = 2.5

cumulative GPA = (2 + 3.225 + 2.5) / (.5 + .75 + 1.25) = 3.09

Is this the correct way of calculating my cumulative GPA? I appreciate your patience.

 

[20090900]

K so assuming this is correct my cumulative GPA is 3.39. And everyone says this but I really do expect my GPA to go up a little more after 4th year.

 

[412smb412]

Kk thanks a lot. But do I still multiply the GPA score by the number of credits? Here's an example...

Course 1 (86% & 0.5 credits) --> 4.0 --> 4.0 x 0.5 = 2.0
Course 2 (93% & 0.75 credits) --> 4.3 --> 4.3 x 0.75 = 3.225
Course 3 (62% % 1.25 creduts) --> 2.0 --> 2.0 x 1.25 = 2.5

cumulative GPA = (2 + 3.225 + 2.5) / (.5 + .75 + 1.25) = 3.09

Is this the correct way of calculating my cumulative GPA? I appreciate your patience.

yup thats right. make sure u check if ur school has conversion of number to A, B , C OR D or if its B, B+ , B- etc. b/c that will mean ur gpa will go up even more. and its cumulative. so focus on at least 80's and u'll be fine. also ur scores for canadian dat are good. do u think u can pull off a high 80's avg for ur last 2 years?

 

[20090900]

When you say, "focus on at least 80's and u'll be fine"....what does that exactly mean? Like I have a chance/aka I should apply in June 2013? If so ( know your not on admisisons) but personally what do you think my chances are? I'm going to try and own this year (so yes high 80s) but I'm going into my 4th year so I only have 1 year left not 2...unless I do a fifth year?

 

[20090900]

Also it turns out Guelph does define our percentiles as letters too. Can you please send me the link on how to convert letter grades into a GPA #? So considering my grades can be expressed as a % or letter (but are given to us on our transcript as a %), which one do I use to calculate my GPA? Will American school's just take the higher of the two? Here's the % to letter conversion from the UofG website...does Western have this? This is what mine looks like...


Resolution 1
That the assignment of grades at the University of Guelph be based on clearly defined standards, which are to be published in the Undergraduate Calendar for the benefit of faculty and students and that the definitions for each of the numerical grade range (letter grades) be as follows:

80 - 100 (A) Excellent. An outstanding performance in which the student demonstrates a superior grasp of the subject matter, and an ability to go beyond the given material in a critical and constructive manner. The student demonstrates a high degree of creative and/or logical thinking, a superior ability to organize, to analyze, and to integrate ideas, and a thorough familiarity with the appropriate literature and techniques.

70 - 79 (B) Good. A more than adequate performance in which the student demonstrates a thorough grasp of the subject matter, and an ability to organize and examine the material in a critical and constructive manner. The student demonstrates a good understanding of the relevant issues and a familiarity with the appropriate literature and techniques.

60 - 69 (C) Acceptable. An adequate performance in which the student demonstrates a generally adequate grasp of the subject matter and a moderate ability to examine the material in a critical and constructive manner. The student displays an adequate understanding of the relevant issues, and a general familiarity with the appropriate literature and techniques.

50 - 59 (D) Minimally Acceptable. A barely adequate performance in which the student demonstrates a familiarity with the subject matter, but whose attempts to examine the material in a critical and constructive manner are only partially successful. The student displays some understanding of the relevant issues, and some familiarity with the appropriate literature and techniques.

0 - 49 (F) Fail. An inadequate performance.

 

[412smb412]

Also it turns out Guelph does define our percentiles as letters too. Can you please send me the link on how to convert letter grades into a GPA #? So considering my grades can be expressed as a % or letter (but are given to us on our transcript as a %), which one do I use to calculate my GPA? Will American school's just take the higher of the two? Here's the % to letter conversion from the UofG website...does Western have this? This is what mine looks like...


Resolution 1
That the assignment of grades at the University of Guelph be based on clearly defined standards, which are to be published in the Undergraduate Calendar for the benefit of faculty and students and that the definitions for each of the numerical grade range (letter grades) be as follows:

80 - 100 (A) Excellent. An outstanding performance in which the student demonstrates a superior grasp of the subject matter, and an ability to go beyond the given material in a critical and constructive manner. The student demonstrates a high degree of creative and/or logical thinking, a superior ability to organize, to analyze, and to integrate ideas, and a thorough familiarity with the appropriate literature and techniques.

70 - 79 (B) Good. A more than adequate performance in which the student demonstrates a thorough grasp of the subject matter, and an ability to organize and examine the material in a critical and constructive manner. The student demonstrates a good understanding of the relevant issues and a familiarity with the appropriate literature and techniques.

60 - 69 (C) Acceptable. An adequate performance in which the student demonstrates a generally adequate grasp of the subject matter and a moderate ability to examine the material in a critical and constructive manner. The student displays an adequate understanding of the relevant issues, and a general familiarity with the appropriate literature and techniques.

50 - 59 (D) Minimally Acceptable. A barely adequate performance in which the student demonstrates a familiarity with the subject matter, but whose attempts to examine the material in a critical and constructive manner are only partially successful. The student displays some understanding of the relevant issues, and some familiarity with the appropriate literature and techniques.

0 - 49 (F) Fail. An inadequate performance.

so take every grade u have and convert it to a letter. so in ur case 80 - 100 = 4.0. 70-79 = 3.0. and then calculate ur cumulative gpa. so if u do get high 80's this year i would consider doing a fifth year to apply to a canadian school given that ur dat scores are good for western dent and uoft dent. either way i think u should apply to both canadian schools and american schools. bring up ur marks for sure and it looks like u will have a good chance of an interview, but thats just me speculating. also american schools focus on trends aka if ur marks start going up twds the end etc they gain interest in ur application despite ur bad years again there is no gaurantee in anything and especially b/c we are both considered international applicants. but from what i've heard and from my friends who have gotten in i would say ur dat is good and u need to pull higher marks for ur 4th year. if i were u i would do a 5th year if i didnt get in this year. so apply using ur marks now!

also: university of western ontario - average acceptance was a 21 and an avg of 88%, but cut off-s were 18 in reading and 85 for an interview, i have 2 friends that got in with lower dat scores than u and an avg lower than 88.

uoft - average acceptance was a 21 and an avg of 3.85.


pull ur marks up. the only reason why im writing the american dat and canadian dat is b/c i want explore as many options as possible as should u! work hard and u will get the marks, its so much easier to do well in school compared to any standardized test, i beleive...

 

[20090900]

Ya true eh? Ok will do. I calculated by letter GPA and its 3.42 so it's better than a 3.3. I do have an upward trend in my GPA assuming my 4th year goes up. Ya I'm going to apply to American schools for sure and I suppose applying to Canadian wouldn't hurt. Thanks a lot for the help and advice. Have you applied already?

 

[412smb412]

Ya true eh? Ok will do. I calculated by letter GPA and its 3.42 so it's better than a 3.3. I do have an upward trend in my GPA assuming my 4th year goes up. Ya I'm going to apply to American schools for sure and I suppose applying to Canadian wouldn't hurt. Thanks a lot for the help and advice. Have you applied already?

nope. applying for next years cycle and writing the american dat sept 4 and then canadian in nov. most worried about reading comp though... been practicing and have used all my resources and now am looking for more. have done cdr and some of kaplans etc but i need more . leaving topscore for 2 days b4 my exam