DAT Sept. Retake?/2017-2018 Application Advice

[Dr.Varicocele]

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Hi Everyone,
I would really like everyone's opinion and help. I applied this application cycle in July with these stats, here a little about me:
-University of Pennsylvania Undergrad
-D1 College varsity athlete
-GPA 3.75, SciGPA 3.62,
-Published author, tons of volunteering, my mom is also a Dentist etc.
- DAT scores: 20AA, 21TS, 20 Bio, 22GC, 22OChem, 19PAT, 16 RC :/, 18QR.

I would really love to go to a top dental school. UCLA, Columbia, UPenn, Pitt, UNC, but I am nervous about my DAT scores. I think the 16RC might be killing me a bit. I am considering retaking the DAT because I did very well in undergrad and have good extracurriculars, but my DAT is low and hurting my app. Should I retake the DAT? or just continue with my app? If I retook the DAT, it would September 30. Is this too late even if I do well? Or, should I just apply and not retake it so my application does not get put on hold. I am struggling trying to figure out what to do! Please help guys.
Thanks!

 

[Life of Pablo]

I got a 16 RC and have 4 interviews so far. In terms of getting into the top schools, yeah the 16 in RC may hurt me but honestly who knows? I also think that if a school won't accept me based on one subsection of a standardized test, then I wouldn't want to go there anyways.
I wouldn't stress out too much about getting into an ivy league or any other top school because even with better DAT scores, there's still no saying if you will get in or not. I definitely think your scores are good enough to land interviews/acceptances though.

Edit: if your reason for wanting to attend a prestigious dental school is so that you can specialize - you can specialize wherever you go regardless of the school. Ivy league schools don't necessarily make it any easier. They are just comprised of very driven dental students (think gunners) that would specialize regardless of what dental school they went to.

 

[JLT223]

You are more than likely to receive interviews. Just be able to explain why the RC is low. If you're freaking out call each school and see if they have a cutoff score for that section.

 

[FeralisExtremum]

I think you'll be fine with applying to dental school in general, but for some of the specific schools you listed (UCLA, Columbia, UPenn, UNC) I would advise retaking to be more competitive - Columbia and Upenn have an average AA above a 20 and UCLA/UNC are very selective about their OOS applicants.

 

[Kibe3143]

Nah. Roll the dice with your scores. Most skools have a cut off limit of a 15 minimum in each section. So you should still get interview invites.

 

[Dr.Varicocele]

Thank you guys for all the advice. I am thinking I might actually retake DAT, but I will NOT notify schools to put my app on hold. This way, I still have the advantage of having applied early. As some of you are indicating, hopefully my current DAT scores are good enough to not get rejected right away and maybe get an interview anyway. Or worst case, I will just update my application with my new scores when they come in to help my app.

 

[Dr.Varicocele]

I got a 16 RC and have 4 interviews so far. In terms of getting into the top schools, yeah the 16 in RC may hurt me but honestly who knows? I also think that if a school won't accept me based on one subsection of a standardized test, then I wouldn't want to go there anyways.
I wouldn't stress out too much about getting into an ivy league or any other top school because even with better DAT scores, there's still no saying if you will get in or not. I definitely think your scores are good enough to land interviews/acceptances though.

Edit: if your reason for wanting to attend a prestigious dental school is so that you can specialize - you can specialize wherever you go regardless of the school. Ivy league schools don't necessarily make it any easier. They are just comprised of very driven dental students (think gunners) that would specialize regardless of what dental school they went to.

Thanks for the reply man. Yea, I think going to an ivy undergrad and wanting specialize has driven my desire towards those types of schools. And I have to agree with you as well, a higher DAT won't necessarily make or break me at those schools. I like to think I have good extracurriculars which seems to be important at the private schools.