DAT vs. MCAT: Reading Comprehension

[Equinis]

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I took a practice DAT at Kaplan.com and the Reading Comprehension murdered me. It was a surprise, because I aced the SAT Reading Comprehension back in the day, and I very nearly aced the GMAT Reading Comprehension section more recently. On the DAT RC, I failed miserably.

Then I went over to Princeton Review. They don't have a practice DAT so I was doing the MCAT Reading Comprehension. This was relatively easy compared to what I had seen at the Kaplan DAT.

So my question is, for anyone who has taken the DAT and the MCAT, is the Reading Comprehension actually more difficult on the DAT? Or is it that Kaplan questions are more challenging than Princeton Review ones?

I'm also sucking at the Perceptual Abilities Test. And I'm not a good at Quantitative stuff (which is not on the MCAT at all). Is it me, is it Kaplan vs. Princeton, or is the DAT significantly harder to crack than the MCAT for a significant amount of people?

 

[OSUDDS]

mcat reading comp is harder

 

[bruinpredent]

i wish all of those bastards who brag that the MCAT is harder than the DAT (not you OP) would read this.

to answer your questions...RC is much harder on the real deal, and the kaplan/princeton PAT is a joke compared to the real deal (as in, the real deal is SIGNIFICANTLY harder). i say this because i've used both kaplan and princeton materials.


i think most people would agree with me. and yes...the DAT is a difficult exam despite what some may claim.

best of luck

 

[Euphoria36]

i think it depends on where your strengths lie.

things like the non-science passages and essay writing on the MCAT are a lot easier for me than going through a very dense & highly technical passage.

but in all fairness, the basic concept remains the same: read and interpret :/

 

[OSUDDS]

the dat was easy, you can skim and find answers. on the mcat you have to actually understand and interpert what is written, which I feel is more difficult.

 

[Euphoria36]

the dat was easy, you can skim and find answers. on the mcat you have to actually understand and interpert what is written, which I feel is more difficult.

ahh..i see what you're saying. but i guess this is where having taken a hand full of courses in poetry & a minor in english helps. 😉

 

[IdiotsAnnoyMe]

i wish all of those bastards who brag that the MCAT is harder than the DAT (not you OP) would read this.

best of luck

Try the official AAMC verbal. That's hard as HELL!!!! There may be some easier passages, but only to be balanced with the grueling passages.

I agree the Princeton Review was easy. Kaplan MCAT verbal was a joke. ExamKracker's was kinda hard too.

DAT verbal's a joke too. There's almost no thinking involved. It's almost strictly, find the information in the passage. How's that "hard"?

MCAT verbal deals with things like... understanding the stance the author takes, defining the limitations of the argument, inferring implications without overreaching the bounds, making analogies, understanding [very well] hidden assumptions within the argument, ...etc. Easier said than done, esp within a stressful environment and a demanding, national curve.

The Kaplan DAT online was designed to be brutal!!!, so that they can get business. This is by no means representative. I took that test, and I can tell you that there are no harder tests out there - DAT, MCAT, GRE, or whatever. In fact, there are some questions where you CAN'T figure out the answer. Kaplan's cruel that way. It's designed to attract business!!! So, there's a mixed comparison.

 

[OSUDDS]

i dont have great reading skills and i actually did fairly well on either section (x DAT, x MCAT), but I just felt the mcat was more difficult as I already said. taking english courses for analytical reading would help alot.

 

[DrAverageJoe]

MCAT verbal reasoning is much harder than DAT reading comprehension. They don't really test the same things. MCAT VR focuses on your ability to read and process information, while DAT RC focuses on your ability to read/remember or skim/search.

 

[DAS]

I am not familiar with MCAT reading section, so I can't compare. But I think getting at least an average score ( like 17-19) is not that difficult if you prepare well. This is coming from a guy who absolutely hates reading comprehension, I did really bad on every exam I took before that has reading comprehension. So, back to your question, if you wanna tackle the reading portion of DAT, go through the tactics that is on the KAPLAN online lesson. Do the workshops, quizes, practice exams .... PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE you will be fine. I didn't personally ace the reading portion, but I got a 19. which is really high for me. Teh first time I took the KAPLAN practice exam, I got 8 on the reaing portion because I had no idea what the reading comp looked like before. I practiced and then started averaging 17-20. So it is duable.

 

[DrAverageJoe]

The DAT RC is completely doable. You are alotted ample time for the section, and you can easily search through the passage for answers. I did two practice RC tests on TopScore, and I scored 99+th percentile on the actual DAT RC.

 

[StephL26]

I think the DAT's RC is more simpler to take, compared to the MCAT's RC. I've done both- though I didn't score well on either, I definitely know that in comparison, at least for me, the DAT's RC required you to be able to find your answers, and the one on the MCAT required more in depth understanding...🙄

 

[in her drawer]

I took a practice DAT at Kaplan.com and the Reading Comprehension murdered me. It was a surprise, because I aced the SAT Reading Comprehension back in the day, and I very nearly aced the GMAT Reading Comprehension section more recently. On the DAT RC, I failed miserably.

At least it was only a practice test. 😉

 

[bruinpredent]

Try the official AAMC verbal. That's hard as HELL!!!! There may be some easier passages, but only to be balanced with the grueling passages.

I agree the Princeton Review was easy. Kaplan MCAT verbal was a joke. ExamKracker's was kinda hard too.

DAT verbal's a joke too. There's almost no thinking involved. It's almost strictly, find the information in the passage. How's that "hard"?

MCAT verbal deals with things like... understanding the stance the author takes, defining the limitations of the argument, inferring implications without overreaching the bounds, making analogies, understanding [very well] hidden assumptions within the argument, ...etc. Easier said than done, esp within a stressful environment and a demanding, national curve.

The Kaplan DAT online was designed to be brutal!!!, so that they can get business. This is by no means representative. I took that test, and I can tell you that there are no harder tests out there - DAT, MCAT, GRE, or whatever. In fact, there are some questions where you CAN'T figure out the answer. Kaplan's cruel that way. It's designed to attract business!!! So, there's a mixed comparison.

I think you missed my point. I did fairly well on the section myself...i got a 23, but my point is that the DAT is difficult, atleast if you want to score well on it. Everyone claims that the DAT is a joke compared to the MCAT, but I don't really think thats fair...they are two different exams testing different things and they are both difficult in their own respects.

The reading section is hard on the DAT for many, and the reason for that being the time constraint thats presented. Once again...it tests something different, how fast you can read/process/find important information rather than the more analytical approach of the MCAT. Doesn't mean its easier.

And for those people who think the exam was easy...yea, its because you studied your ass off for it and so you performed well, and in retrospect you don't remember how much time, effort, sweat and tears you poured into getting that score.


Lets be fair people...the exam is challenging, if not for the material than for time constraints and some rather off the wall, unique sections (PAT anybody?)

 

[IdiotsAnnoyMe]

I think you missed my point. I did fairly well on the section myself...i got a 23, but my point is that the DAT is difficult, atleast if you want to score well on it. Everyone claims that the DAT is a joke compared to the MCAT, but I don't really think thats fair...they are two different exams testing different things and they are both difficult in their own respects.

The reading section is hard on the DAT for many, and the reason for that being the time constraint thats presented. Once again...it tests something different, how fast you can read/process/find important information rather than the more analytical approach of the MCAT. Doesn't mean its easier.

And for those people who think the exam was easy...yea, its because you studied your ass off for it and so you performed well, and in retrospect you don't remember how much time, effort, sweat and tears you poured into getting that score.


Lets be fair people...the exam is challenging, if not for the material than for time constraints and some rather off the wall, unique sections (PAT anybody?)

no, I understand your point exactly. It's the same point lots of dental students make. I still completely disagree wholeheartedly. Of those students who took both the MCAT verbal AND the DAT RC, there hasn't been a single student to say the RC's harder than the Verbal. Many say there's a sharp distinction in difficulty. Regardless of whether the skills involved are different, those same students find MCAT verbal harder. Of those that have taken the DAT but havn't taken the MCAT, they tend to side on the fact that the two tests are "different" and shouldn't be compared. They may be doing this out of pride, because they resent any implication that the DAT's easier.

DAT rc's almost entirely finding the information. How much easier can a reading comprehension section that requires little comprehension get? To prepare for this section, I practiced on 3 different tests. My score turned out great. No sweat. No pain. Sure there are students that don't do well on it, but when's that not the case?

MCAT verbal's still brutal, because it's thinking intensive.

I asked 4 of my premed friends to take the DAT without practice. They took teh official practice test, and the lowest score was a 24TS. On the RC, I told them ahead of time that the passages are long and the questions are find-the-info. The lowest RC was a 19. The lowest math was an 18, due to time contraints. Again, this was without practice. I didn't ask them to take the PAT, because they don't know the rules of the games. Focused pre-meds completely kill this test.

 

[Revelde]

no, I understand your point exactly. It's the same point lots of dental students make. I still completely disagree wholeheartedly. Of those students who took both the MCAT verbal AND the DAT RC, there hasn't been a single student to say the RC's harder than the Verbal. Many say there's a sharp distinction in difficulty. Regardless of whether the skills involved are different, those same students find MCAT verbal harder. Of those that have taken the DAT but havn't taken the MCAT, they tend to side on the fact that the two tests are "different" and shouldn't be compared. They may be doing this out of pride, because they resent any implication that the DAT's easier.

DAT rc's almost entirely finding the information. How much easier can a reading comprehension section that requires little comprehension get? To prepare for this section, I practiced on 3 different tests. My score turned out great. No sweat. No pain. Sure there are students that don't do well on it, but when's that not the case?

MCAT verbal's still brutal, because it's thinking intensive.

I asked 4 of my premed friends to take the DAT without practice. They took teh official practice test, and the lowest score was a 24TS. On the RC, I told them ahead of time that the passages are long and the questions are find-the-info. The lowest RC was a 19. The lowest math was an 18, due to time contraints. Again, this was without practice. I didn't ask them to take the PAT, because they don't know the rules of the games. Focused pre-meds completely kill this test.

Alrite. med guys are smarter than dent guys. is that what u wanna say?
I dont know what kinda friends you hang out with.. but 24 TS without practice looks like a lot for me. sometimes I doubt those people in SDN really exist.. if they would ,,,that will make me feel really sad. I studied for 2 months and didnt make that 24 on TS. what am I . a dumb A**?
man.. I feel bad.

 

[StudentDentist]

I practiced really hard for both. 33 MCAT. 99th percentile DAT.

 

[ddsgirl347]

This thread is completely stupid. the MCAT and the DAT are 2 different tests, looking for two different things. if you think that the DAT is so easy, then i'm assuming you got perfect scores? and, if you think pre-med kids are so much smarter than pre-dents, why aren't you pre-med

 

[bruinpredent]

This thread is completely stupid. the MCAT and the DAT are 2 different tests, looking for two different things. if you think that the DAT is so easy, then i'm assuming you got perfect scores? and, if you think pre-med kids are so much smarter than pre-dents, why aren't you pre-med

werd

 

[Cher*]

Alrite. med guys are smarter than dent guys. is that what u wanna say?
I dont know what kinda friends you hang out with.. but 24 TS without practice looks like a lot for me. sometimes I doubt those people in SDN really exist.. if they would ,,,that will make me feel really sad. I studied for 2 months and didnt make that 24 on TS. what am I . a dumb A**?
man.. I feel bad.

totally agree!
I did well on my kaplan/topscore/achiever RC but when it came to the actual DAT, it was nothing like I had practiced. most of the questions from ALL my passages were inference questions that you had to really think about or you had to have read the passage like three times carefully. it wasn't all just facts that you could look up by glancing or doing road map...

 

[Mackerel]

Alrite. med guys are smarter than dent guys. is that what u wanna say?
I dont know what kinda friends you hang out with.. but 24 TS without practice looks like a lot for me. sometimes I doubt those people in SDN really exist.. if they would ,,,that will make me feel really sad. I studied for 2 months and didnt make that 24 on TS. what am I . a dumb A**?
man.. I feel bad.

Sorry you feel bad but its true. I have 47 pre-med friends who took the REAL DAT and finished in 30 mins! The lowest TS score was a 29! Reading comprehension is a misnomer, it should be called "easy AA boost if your a focused pre-med." I would have pre-dent friends but they annoyme.

 

[DrBowtie]

Just curious, what are the percentiles for DAT RC scores and what is competitive?

The problem with the MCAT is that the scaling is ridiculous with sometimes 1-2 questions meaning a point lower scaled.

 

[in her drawer]

This thread is completely stupid. the MCAT and the DAT are 2 different tests, looking for two different things. if you think that the DAT is so easy, then i'm assuming you got perfect scores? and, if you think pre-med kids are so much smarter than pre-dents, why aren't you pre-med

There was no ill intent in the OP's post. However, the devolution of this thread is stupid.

 

[DrAverageJoe]

Just curious, what are the percentiles for DAT RC scores and what is competitive?

The problem with the MCAT is that the scaling is ridiculous with sometimes 1-2 questions meaning a point lower scaled.

The percentiles are different for each version of the DAT. I think for RC you need a 22 to get above 90th percentile. Most dental schools like to see at least a 20.

 

[dddsmack]

There was no ill intent in the OP's post. However, the devolution of this thread is stupid.

Damn you ad your 55 posts a day, you beat me to it. This thread is about as cool as going to the dentist.

 

[GiveMeDMD]

Sorry you feel bad but its true. I have 47 pre-med friends who took the REAL DAT and finished in 30 mins! The lowest TS score was a 29! Reading comprehension is a misnomer, it should be called "easy AA boost if your a focused pre-med." I would have pre-dent friends but they annoyme.

Congrats on having "47 pre-med" friends, guess that makes you cooler than most. NEWSFLASH: The average dentist works LESS and makes MORE than the average physician, (Wall Street Journal FACT)...... you tell me who's "smarter" 😉

 

[dentstd]

Congrats on having "47 pre-med" friends, guess that makes you cooler than most. NEWSFLASH: The average dentist works LESS and makes MORE than the average physician, (Wall Street Journal FACT)...... you tell me who's "smarter" 😉

eh, our being lazier and overcharging more doesn't make us "smarter"

 

[StudentDentist]

Sorry you feel bad but its true. I have 47 pre-med friends who took the REAL DAT and finished in 30 mins! The lowest TS score was a 29! Reading comprehension is a misnomer, it should be called "easy AA boost if your a focused pre-med." I would have pre-dent friends but they annoyme.

Stop whining, stop being a baby, and learn how to take a criticism like a man. Dentists don't get the same respect from society as physicians. Accept it and learn to live with it. Cuz you'll face it your entire life.

 

[GiveMeDMD]

bump

 

[Mackerel]

Congrats on having "47 pre-med" friends, guess that makes you cooler than most. NEWSFLASH: The average dentist works LESS and makes MORE than the average physician, (Wall Street Journal FACT)...... you tell me who's "smarter" 😉

Maybe my sarcasm would be more apparent if I said 47000 pre-meds

 

[Mackerel]

Stop whining, stop being a baby, and learn how to take a criticism like a man. Dentists don't get the same respect from society as physicians. Accept it and learn to live with it. Cuz you'll face it your entire life.

This must be a quote taped to your bathroom mirror. I imagine you read it out loud every morning. You might want to edit out the man part though, no point in setting goals you wont ever relate to.

 

[in her drawer]

Mackerel, what's with the hostility? Just chill down and level a lil' bit.

 

[StudentDentist]

...as long as he doesn't start shooting rounds down the bell tower of UT Austin, or plant a bomb in a subway.

 

[NYUCD2010]

I got a 800 on the SAT verbal, 29 on the DAT reading comp and a 12 on the MCAT equivalent (though this was 4 years before I took the DAT). DAT is easier -- similar to the SAT. I say your struggle with the DAT RC was just a fluke.

I took a practice DAT at Kaplan.com and the Reading Comprehension murdered me. It was a surprise, because I aced the SAT Reading Comprehension back in the day, and I very nearly aced the GMAT Reading Comprehension section more recently. On the DAT RC, I failed miserably.

Then I went over to Princeton Review. They don't have a practice DAT so I was doing the MCAT Reading Comprehension. This was relatively easy compared to what I had seen at the Kaplan DAT.

So my question is, for anyone who has taken the DAT and the MCAT, is the Reading Comprehension actually more difficult on the DAT? Or is it that Kaplan questions are more challenging than Princeton Review ones?

I'm also sucking at the Perceptual Abilities Test. And I'm not a good at Quantitative stuff (which is not on the MCAT at all). Is it me, is it Kaplan vs. Princeton, or is the DAT significantly harder to crack than the MCAT for a significant amount of people?

 

[ddsjymaeng]

One would say I would love to be a dentist....blah blah blah
without any pride of becoming one.
be a doctor then...

 

[Mackchops]

Why do so many people take the MCAT and the DAT? Are these the people that realize, "crap! My MCAT just isn't going to cut it... what are my other options? Oh!! Dentist!!" I'm interested in going to dental school, so taking the MCAT and making comparisons to it never crossed my mind.

 

[Mackerel]

When a patient walks out of your dental practice free from pain, I believe you recieve the same amount of respect that any other physician would get. The only time the physician vs dentist prestiege issue becomes bothersome to someone is when their self-identity is based on their profession. If you love your job and do it well you will never regret going into such a wonderful profession like dentistry. As far as taking the DAT and the MCAT, I can see people taking both since dentistry IS a part of medicine (the best part)😀

 

[StudentDentist]

When a patient walks out of your dental practice free from pain, I believe you recieve the same amount of respect that any other physician would get. The only time the physician vs dentist prestiege issue becomes bothersome to someone is when their self-identity is based on their profession. If you love your job and do it well you will never regret going into such a wonderful profession like dentistry. As far as taking the DAT and the MCAT, I can see people taking both since dentistry IS a part of medicine (the best part)😀

you can believe whatever you choose. a very, very popular complaint of dentists is that they don't command the same respect from the general society as physicians. might as well learn to accept that truth now.

 

[bruinpredent]

you can believe whatever you choose. a very, very popular complaint of dentists is that they don't command the same respect from the general society as physicians. might as well learn to accept that truth now.

um, guys...who the eff cares? does it really matter if society gives us the same respect as physicians? if you're heart is really in dentistry, you'll do it because you LOVE IT and want to do it, not because of what people will think of you.


and in the end...society's overwhelming acceptance and 100 hour work weeks and no time with the fam? or 35 hour work week, awesome pay, plenty of time to spend with the fam, nice quiet life, and less "respect" from "society?"


i'd take the latter in a heartbeat

 

[997GT3]

no, I understand your point exactly. It's the same point lots of dental students make. I still completely disagree wholeheartedly. Of those students who took both the MCAT verbal AND the DAT RC, there hasn't been a single student to say the RC's harder than the Verbal. Many say there's a sharp distinction in difficulty. Regardless of whether the skills involved are different, those same students find MCAT verbal harder. Of those that have taken the DAT but havn't taken the MCAT, they tend to side on the fact that the two tests are "different" and shouldn't be compared. They may be doing this out of pride, because they resent any implication that the DAT's easier.

DAT rc's almost entirely finding the information. How much easier can a reading comprehension section that requires little comprehension get? To prepare for this section, I practiced on 3 different tests. My score turned out great. No sweat. No pain. Sure there are students that don't do well on it, but when's that not the case?

MCAT verbal's still brutal, because it's thinking intensive.

I asked 4 of my premed friends to take the DAT without practice. They took teh official practice test, and the lowest score was a 24TS. On the RC, I told them ahead of time that the passages are long and the questions are find-the-info. The lowest RC was a 19. The lowest math was an 18, due to time contraints. Again, this was without practice. I didn't ask them to take the PAT, because they don't know the rules of the games. Focused pre-meds completely kill this test.

You go to Georgia?

 

[Ething]

Why do so many people take the MCAT and the DAT? Are these the people that realize, "crap! My MCAT just isn't going to cut it... what are my other options? Oh!! Dentist!!" I'm interested in going to dental school, so taking the MCAT and making comparisons to it never crossed my mind.

It bothers me that so many pre-dent people seem to get upset at the fact that there are a significant amount of students who take both the DAT and the MCAT. "How dare people who aren't 100 percent convinced that they want dentistry try to take away MY seat or MY potential career in MY profession". People, its a free country, if you are smart enough and motivated enough to take more than one test......who cares. Is there anything wrong with making a final decision about your career after you have trully investigated the many different fields you are interested in? Most pre-dents, I would think, have thought about medicine at one point in their life or another. If they haven't, well....it sounds like they are a bit close-minded.

 

[sunmoon6689]

In response to both Mackchops and Ething:

I can honestly say that I took the MCAT two years ago because that is what I thought I wanted. (To be completely truthful, I still question my switch to the dental field purely because it is such a big decision. Dentistry is one of those careers that you are going to want to be sure about before committing to.) However, as I have grown and matured as a person, I started realizing that I wanted different things out of my life. I want to be able to spend a lot of time with my family, I want to relax and decompress a little bit, I don't want to worry about killing anybody (yes, this can happen in dentistry, but hopefully not on a day-to-day basis), etc. There are a lot of great things the dentistry field can offer people. And while I still respect the medical field enormously, I do no longer feel that it is the right place for me. Dentistry seems to encompass the best of both worlds, the ability to practice medicine and the freedom to have a personal life. Basically, I just wanted to let Ething know: you are completely correct. It is about the freedom to change one's mind not the inability to gain entrance to medical school. I could probably gain entrance to medical school a lot sooner (via my state school or osteopathic medicine) than to dental school. Not all ex-premeds are just med school wannabes who couldn't make it. Some of us really have found a better fit with dentistry after exploring other options.

 

[sunmoon6689]

BTW- I am not trying to attack anyone here. I just want to clear up some fairly common misconceptions. While some ex-premeds may pursue dentistry as a second option, this simply does not hold true for everyone.

 

[Ething]

Thank you for agreeing. I was never a pre-med myself and I never took the MCAT. But I have thought about medicine in the past and I respect people who think about all of their options and weigh everything out after careful consideration.

 

[Rezdawg]

I got a 24 RC on the DAT...7 VR on the MCAT.

In my opinion, its not even close. The MCAT is much harder.

The DAT answers can be found directly in the passage itself...doesnt get any easier than that.

 

[blue_moon01]

I agree.
RC is easier than Verbal.
However, I think doing well on a test is a result of hard work and understanding what the test is testing you. With that said, I think RC is easier because it is mostly regurgitation while the Verbal involves critical thinking. Let's not forget both tests also test your other skills that are essential to be doctors/dentists and that is time-management and setting priorities.

SO the Verbal is harder than the RC. THe MCAT is longer than the DAT. Does this means that doctors are smarter than dentists? ABSOLUTELY NOT!. Some doctors are smarter than some dentists and some dentists are smarter than doctors.

The point is... what was the point of this thread again? oh right....

RC is easier than Verbal but not all doctors are smarter than all dentists.

Back in the days, the curriculum and trainings that dentists go through are not as heavy as a doctor's. But today it's rivaled medicine, Dentists have to learn alot about the gross human anatomy as well as diseases in addition to the specific education pertaining to the oral cavity. Dentistry is indeed an early specialization of medicine. Instead of having to go through 4 years of medical school and then deciding on a specialty, dentists go into it already set with what part of medicine they want to focus on and that is the mouth. too bad the public's not aware of the changes and held on to their " doctors are superior to dentists" mentality.

 

[pine88]

I'm with Bruin - I don't understand why pre-dents/dents get all huffy when talking about pre-meds/physicians. Why are they the standard we measure ourselves to? It's another medical field, who cares? If it's harder, if it's easier, if it's all a hoax and med school is a cover for training government spies - who cares? That's not the field we chose.

What's all this respect talk? People make it sound like dentists get laughed at and ridiculed the second they step outside. Why do you care what these people think, whoever "these people" are? You can't go around demanding respect from people. It sounds petty. If you think dentists are getting shafted, and having the same status as a physician is so important to you, go be a physician.

Since I had trouble finding DAT resources originally, I practiced out of MCAT books at first. I agree that the MCAT verbal is harder. The DAT is much more straight-forward. Again, so what? It's not like I chose to take the DAT because I didn't think I could do the MCAT. They have their test, we have ours...

 

[medlife]

In case the two of you above forget how to read, the initial post asks whether Verbal is harder than RC. A student took both tests just to panic from thinking that RC is harder.

 

[KOM]

I think the hostility arises for the simple reason that there is a degree of respect that goes along with succeeding in one of the most demanding fields out there. Not only does everyone want the money, they also want the respect. People hate to hear that the test they took is easier than some other test because it underminds that respect they seek.

Examples:

1) Threads where people argue about how community colleges are easier than 4 year institutions. Everyone with CC courses argues that they're not and they did it to save money, etc. People who haven't gone to CC's say they are because they want to gain more respect for themselves.

2) This thread.

3) Going to an osteopathic school vs. allopathic. Everyone in medicine seems to strive for allopathy because there is this stigma that people with DO's don't have what it takes and are looked upon with less respect.

I think if you're just passionate about what you do nothing else matters. Respect from your peers will come because you share the same interest...not because you have something to prove to them or demand it from them.

...by the way...RC is easier than the verbal.

 

[pine88]

I think the hostility arises for the simple reason that there is a degree of respect that goes along with succeeding in one of the most demanding fields out there. Not only does everyone want the money, they also want the respect. People hate to hear that the test they took is easier than some other test because it underminds that respect they seek.

Examples:

1) Threads where people argue about how community colleges are easier than 4 year institutions. Everyone with CC courses argues that they're not and they did it to save money, etc. People who haven't gone to CC's say they are because they want to gain more respect for themselves.

2) This thread.

3) Going to an osteopathic school vs. allopathic. Everyone in medicine seems to strive for allopathy because there is this stigma that people with DO's don't have what it takes and are looked upon with less respect.

I think if you're just passionate about what you do nothing else matters. Respect from your peers will come because you share the same interest...not because you have something to prove to them or demand it from them.

...by the way...RC is easier than the verbal.

Yeah...after I had my little rant last night I was thinking about it some more. I've never experienced much of this dental difficulty dissing, and I think I know why. This is the generic conversation of when ppl that asks what I'm doing with my life:

Me: I'm going to dental school to be a dentist.
Them: Oh wow! You're going to be a dental assistant?
Me: No...
Them: Oh, you mean a dental hygenist?
Me: (sigh) No, I mean a dentist (*insert sound of me banging my head against a wall*)

I swear this is the response 90% of the people I talk to give me. And I'm definitely starting to get a bit defensive about it. People don't talk about dentistry as being easy much to me, because so many subconsciously don't expect me as a woman to shoot even that far.

I need to go find a male nurse and commiserate😀

So, to sum up, I now understand better where you guys are coming from. Our experiences are just different.