DAT Taken on 5/8/10 - Feeling devastated...Advice Needed

[dayzgrl123]

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Hi Guys,
I need your advice on my situation. I'll try to include as much info about me so that you have the complete picture. I'm 34, non-traditional female student. After 11 very successful (yet miserable) years in business, I decided to follow my passion in Dentistry. I took a 5 month leave of absence from work starting in January so that I could take pre-reqs and study for the DAT. Undergraduate GPA is 3.0 (was pre-med but then changed to business), MBA GPA is 3.4 (got my MBA full-time at a top-tier school while traveling all over the world for work).

Study schedule since Jan 5: 3 days with 6-8 hours of study, 4 days with 12-hrs of study, no days off (not even weekends), no sleeping in, no dinners out with friends. I literally did nothing else but study. Materials include all the regular KBB, Crack DAT, Chad's videos, Orgoman for chem, math, bio (not ochem). I have not yet had O-chem, and decided to learn that on my own with a tutor. I am also in a shadowing program at a dentist's office. Since I am a very social and outgoing person, this schedule has been tough, but I was happy to do it believing it would pay off.

Scores:
PAT-18
QR-16
RC-19
Bio-18
Chem-17
Ochem-14
TS-16
AA - 17

After devoting my entire soul to this for the past 4 months, it is hard to express how heartbroken I am by my DAT scores. I have always been a poor test-staker, but make up for it in drive, personality, and charm.

A couple questions -
1. Do I apply for the fall 2011 cycle or will I be laughed out the door?
2. Do I retake in August (when most schools need the scores, but before I take ochem) or retake in December (after ochem, but too late for some schools)?
3. Hate to bring this up again, but I am 34...not sure what my chances are if I wait another year to apply given current stats posted on ADA?

Thanks in advance for any advice or thoughts...

 

[darkwalk]

Those stats seem low. I think you will have a tough chance on getting in. Are you URM by any chance? The two questions you have to ask yourself is this:

1. Do you think you can drastically improve your DAT score if you studied more considering that you've already spent so much time on it? I'd say the score to shoot for is 21-22 in order to offset your low GPA. (this is my personal view, can anyone else comment?)

2. Do you want to spend thousands of dollars to apply (travel, app cost, etc..) and possibly get rejected, but have the energy and finance to do it all over again? Or do you want to improve your chances and apply once?

 

[dayzgrl123]

I am not a URM. Not sure I will "drastically" improve with a retake, but probably could improve ochem a bit. You are spot-on with #2...the financial/time investments are something that have been weighing on my mind.

 

[dentaldawg32]

I wouldn't apply this year. I would do a post-bacc or master's because your GPA is a bit low and that MBA won't really matter much in the eyes of the adcom. You also need to retake that DAT and bring it up your AA to at least a 19 to have any sort of shot.

 

[yappy]

What ever you do make sure and change the way you study. Your aim should be to figure out why your scores were low. Was it due to slow pace not finishing all questions? not knowing the material? not being able to reason through questions (poor testing stratagies)?
It seems like after the length of time you spent studing you should have a good grasp of the sciences being tested. What was your practice test scores like? did you do enough of them?

 

[dacent52]

You should retake your DAT. The scores are low, but since the material is still fresh in your mind, go back right away and study for lets say another 3-4 month and then take DAT. If you will stop studying for a while, you will quickly forget everything.

 

[slashnroses19]

you just gotta work on the chemistries. memorize the dat destroyer book and focus on chem.

 

[alanan84]

You're trying to rush this too much.

DO NOT retake until you have completed both ochem classes AND you are doing well on your practice tests. It doesn't help you one bit to rush this test.

As for whether you should apply this cycle, that's up to you.

 

[SugarNaCl]

Some schools are more willing to accept non-traditional students than others. To be honest, if you don't have the raw stats, you often won't get the interview to showcase your charming personality in the first place. DS is stat driven unfortunately.

Still, I would not say to give up if this is something you truly want. Speak to schools and see what you can do to improve your chances. Some are very willing to do this BEFORE the application cycle starts.

I personally graduated from college with just an average GPA, went through an MS program in neuroimmunology coming out with a 3.6, worked in clinical research for a pharm/tox lab at a cancer hospital for 3 years, had 4 publications to major scientific journals and had decent DAT scores before I applied. I also asked ADCOMs what I could do and was pleasantly surprised when VCU said... nothing more. Everything looks good. Get an LOR from a dentist. Some schools were helpful, others didn't care. In the end, I got in even as an out of stater. You probably can too if you put in the effort.