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anyone here applying to dental school as well or submitting dat scores
Just to help ya out I did a search which pulled up a few somewhat similar threads.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/search.php?searchid=14449264
Dentist. In the pod forums that is.unm, thanks but the link didnt work! what did you search?
maybe it's just me, but i honestly have no idea why any of the schools take dat scores. i'll just go so far as to say that certain schools with higher standards, specifically those in the midwestern region of the united states, which may or may not be located in iowa, do not allow such practices...
maybe it's just me, but i honestly have no idea why any of the schools take dat scores. i'll just go so far as to say that certain schools with higher standards, specifically those in the midwestern region of the united states, which may or may not be located in iowa, do not allow such practices...
I am not sure that I totally agree with that assessment.Higher standards? What is the average mcat score of this school that may or may not be in iowa..a 23? That's somewhere below the 40th percentile for that test. Maybe some schools want to expand their applicant pool and possibly get more qualified applicants. Now I am not saying that mcat and DAT scores should be weighted the same, but in my opinion, someone getting in the 70th or 80th percentile on the DAT is def a more qualified applicant than the person scoring in the 35th percentile on the mcat. Maybe when podiatry schools set an mcat cutoff above the national mean than they you can start arguing about only accepting the mcat.
AGDPM said:And I happen to believe that Veterinarians know more about diseases, pathologies, and treatment than any other health care profession, IMO.
Vets can also kill their patients if they don't believe they'll recover from a particular illness/injury...comparing vets and internists is just dumb.
AGDPM and Dental Jerry are missing the point. The whole "to DAT or not to DAT" debate has nothing to do with one test being "harder" than the other, or one being a better predecator of success. It has everything to do with perception. This is a profession whose academic institutions don't all seem to take themselves seriously. If you want to raise standards, you have to have a larger applicant pool. If you want a larger applicant pool, you have to be taken seriously by pre-med types. In order to do that you need to market yourself as a serious medical institution. No allo program would be caught accepting a DAT score, because dentists take the DAT, not MD's. Until the institutions create some sort of standards amongst themselves, how can they expect to have any legitimacy among undergrads? And if that day doesn't come then podiatry will continue to be the best OK career to fall back on amongst health professionals, the attrition rate will remain unacceptably high, and institutions will still have to keep their board pass rates a secret so that nobody laughs at them...
Dental Jerry said:I know in my case, and I'm sure others as well, the fact that some schools accept the DAT actually opened my eyes to the profession. I didn't know about podiatry school before I applied to dental school. I discovered it after I had already applied and interviewed. Even after I got accepted to D school, I still thought podiatry was a better fit, and chose to attend. If they did not accept the DAT than I never would have come across, and eventually pursued the profession, and I am sure there are others like me out there.
Vets can also kill their patients if they don't believe they'll recover from a particular illness/injury...comparing vets and internists is just dumb.
AGDPM and Dental Jerry are missing the point. The whole "to DAT or not to DAT" debate has nothing to do with one test being "harder" than the other, or one being a better predecator of success. It has everything to do with perception. This is a profession whose academic institutions don't all seem to take themselves seriously. If you want to raise standards, you have to have a larger applicant pool. If you want a larger applicant pool, you have to be taken seriously by pre-med types. In order to do that you need to market yourself as a serious medical institution. No allo program would be caught accepting a DAT score, because dentists take the DAT, not MD's. Until the institutions create some sort of standards amongst themselves, how can they expect to have any legitimacy among undergrads? And if that day doesn't come then podiatry will continue to be the best OK career to fall back on amongst health professionals, the attrition rate will remain unacceptably high, and institutions will still have to keep their board pass rates a secret so that nobody laughs at them...
And you better believe that some of those matriculating statistics and attrition rates aren't helping the professions fight against states with limited scopes. Ammo for orthos is what I'm gonna call it...
... They just realized that they couldn't get into dental school with their poor DAT scores and/or sub par GPA. Didn't take long to figure out Temple, Ohio, or Barry would take them. Now they can still become a doctor and make mom and dad proud. Those are the kids dropping out, not passing boards, not finding a residency, etc. And you better believe that some of those matriculating statistics and attrition rates aren't helping the professions fight against states with limited scopes. Ammo for orthos is what I'm gonna call it...
Dental Jerry said:however, I don't believe that not accepting the DAT is the first place they should start. They should start by increasing their cutoff for gpa and mcat scores.
Dental Jerry said:Why should someone with say a 3.7 gpa and 19 on the DAT be overlooked when someone with a 3.0 and 21 on the mcat is being accepted?
AGDPM said:There are no statistical data linking pre-dent students with subpar GPA and/or DAT scores to high attrition rate, not passing boards, finding residency, etc. That's your opinion. Attrition can be of other reasons than just failing out of school. If a AMA and Ortho lobbyist took us to court and blames attrition rate for lack of training is just plane dumb. Attrition rate means we weeded out those from the public. Like if MD and DO schools don't have attrition.
How do you increase the cutoff for GPA and MCAT when you only have 1000 applicants for a little over 500 seats? That's the problem. And if you have a number of solutions, then the cheapest and easiest (not accepting DAT, GRE, etc.) ought to be the first to become common practice. Marketing may be the "biggest" issue here but it takes a lot of time that practicing pods may or may not have and a lot of money.
...If pod programs were MCAT only, then that DAT student listed above can take the MCAT. If you were that dental student and knew anything about the profession then you'd know it didn't take more than a 20 on the MCAT in order to get in. Sign up for the MCAT, do some light preperation, pay your $300, and follow the application procedure. Not doing so says to me you are lazy and that you are only going to pod school to say you are some sort of doctor. If that dental student REALLY wanted to go into podiatry, he/she could easily take the MCAT.
.... And a high attrition rate shows that in general the students entering and/or the training they are recieving is sub-par. Again, it's not nearly the biggest argument, but it exists.... And even though I have no "statistics", it is very reasonable to say that the individuals who are the LEAST prepared for pod school are the MOST likely to fail. Pre-dents might not even make up the majority of that "group" but like I mentioned earlier, not accepting the DAT would take care of a couple of those kids and it doesn't cost any program money. And the last word of that last sentence is why several of our fine podiatric institutions operate.
Perhaps they will advance our profession much more than anyone, who knows......IMHO
And maybe pigs will fly out of my butt one day too.
I have to disagree with your logic. Those who would be likely to advance our profession either 1) really have an interest and love for the profession (which few or no rejects from other professional schools probably have)
So you're saying I have no chance of of advancing the profession? Damn![]()
I really hope 2015 is successful along with today's podiatrist campaign. Most of the people I have encountered think that podiatry is a specialization within MD/DO and not its own profession.
i think the most who are pro DAT here are misunderstanding that this is not an arguement over which test is more legit or difficult. if podiatry schools should take the DAT, then should you be able to get into an allopathic school taking the OAT? or get into pharm school with the LSAT(a stretch i know). pod school's have a lot of improvements to make in the area of educating undergrads about the field. however, just by the numbers of available faculty or even practicing DPMs this is simply not possible. incoming students should choose the profession based on it's own merits, not because it's the only other profession they can fall back on if they decide (or admissions decides for them) that dental school is not in their best interest. our profession has come an awful long way, but it is still an uphill climb, and like it or not it starts with the schools themselves...separate schools, different title, different standards, AND different admissions tests all are part of the vast confusion many folks have about our profession. it has to start somewhere, and the easiest, most logical starting point is uniformity in admission standards. you start from the bottom and work your way up.
Dental Jarry said:The mcat was designed for MD/DO school...
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Somebody give this man a prize...
Modern Podiatry is a relatively young profession (the DPM degree isn't even 50 years old). If you are a young profession that is desperately trying to become more UNIFORM (in your education and training) as well as trying to be accepted by the big boys (allopathic programs), what do you do??? Oh yeah, you adopt their entrance exam, curriculum, and get your residency training on par with any other allopathic surgical subspecialty.
Maybe nobody else has seen "the hangover"...Dentists aren't even real doctors![]()
Most of the people I have encountered think that podiatry is a specialization within MD/DO and not its own profession.
I know in my case, and I'm sure others as well, the fact that some schools accept the DAT actually opened my eyes to the profession..... I If they did not accept the DAT than I never would have come across, and eventually pursued the profession, and I am sure there are others like me out there.
Obviously it's important to make the profession more uniform, but that does not mean to become a carbon copy of MD school. OF course you want to get your curriculum and residency training on par with med school but you have to be able to differentiate yourself at the same time. Just like this person said:
I am going to call bull **** here Jar-dog. What did you do, google "graduate schools that accept the DAT?"
You are telling me you would not have pursued podiatry if they said, "you seen really smart and we want to accept you, but you need to take the MCAT." Exactly.
You found this profession just fine. It had NOTHING to do with the fact that they accept the DAT. The fact that they will was just icing on the cake.
And yeah, lets NOT make a carbon copy of MD school when you DO want a carbon copy of their scope and privileges.
What are you talking about? If someone wants a carbon copy of an MDs scope than they would go the DO route, not into podiatry.
Obviously it's important to make the profession more uniform, but that does not mean to become a carbon copy of MD school. OF course you want to get your curriculum and residency training on par with med school but you have to be able to differentiate yourself at the same time. Just like this person said:
Jar-bear, you just said you wanted curriculum and residency training to be on par with MD's. C'mon man. You are better than that.
(curriculum + residency + scope) x MD level = carbon copy of MD school + pod specific subjects
Is that too hard of an equation for you to figure out? I think it is a physics equation, didn't you get tested on that on your DAT's????
Oh, thats right......
What are you talking about? If someone wants a carbon copy of an MDs scope than they would go the DO route, not into podiatry.