Do I have a chance anywhere?

[Tonya]

Hi guys,

Can I get into ANY dental school with these DAT scores? Where can I apply?

PAT 19
QR 15
RC 18
BIO 23
GC 19
OC 18
TS 20
AA 19

My GPA is 3.0 ( 2008 )and my grad GPA is 3.1 ( 2010)
I am also a red cross volunteer and have more than 30 hours of dentist shadowing experience.
Have some research experience too.
I don't know how to improve my application anymore. Please help
Thanks

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[Tonya]

please help
I appreciate it.

 

[shhmarco]

Hello hello....I am on the same boat as you with slightly lower DAT. I did some extensive research using the ADEA official guide. It is an uphill battle for people like us...but it IS possible. I recommend using the guide to look at stats to see where your best odds would be. STAY POSITIVE!

 

[draw7seven]

Tell us a little more. How long ago did you take the DAT? Do you think you could do better on it before application deadlines for your in-state options? Are you an under-represented minority, or a member of some group that might help boost your chances at a "niche" school?

Don't fret: my GPA is hardly better than yours, and I wasn't happy with my scores at all last year. I worked my butt off this year and saw MAJOR improvements on my DAT. If this is something you really want to do and it's at all feasible, you may want to stack on another year of shadowing and volunteering while you work through MathDestroyer and CrackDAT! You could easily develop better strategies to pick up those math and RC scores and nail it next year.

Best of luck no matter what you decide.

 

[Datooth]

The 15 in QR will screen you out of some schools. However, its also one the least important sections so some schools may let your squeak by (you should probably call each school and ask). Your GPA is definitely low for DS admissions. I'd highly recommend you beef up your ECs to compensate for your low GPA. Get your shadowing to the 100 hour mark, get a few hundred more volunteer hours, and try to beef up your research as well.

 

[Tonya]

Tell us a little more. How long ago did you take the DAT? Do you think you could do better on it before application deadlines for your in-state options? Are you an under-represented minor, or a member of some group that might help boost your chances at a "niche" school?

Don't fret: my GPA is hardly better than yours, and I wasn't happy with my scores at all last year. I worked my butt off this year and saw MAJOR improvements on my DAT. If this is something you really want to do and it's at all feasible, you may want to stack on another year of shadowing and volunteering while you work through MathDestroyer and CrackDAT! You could easily develop better strategies to pick up those math and RC scores and nail it next year.

Best of luck no matter what you decide.

Thanks for your response. I took the DAT today. But it is not my first time taking it & cannot take it again until next year.
I am an under-represented minority.
So with these scores, my chances of acceptance is low?

 

[draw7seven]

I would agree that you should call schools and be frank about your scores, ask if it's worth applying. I would put Howard on your radar as a school that prioritizes educating URM dentists highly, and perhaps cares less about test scores or GPAs than many other schools (this sounds like a really crappy thing to say until you read their mission statement or look at their numbers in the ADEA Guide).

Frankly, I'm not sure that your chances are high, but I'm not an addcomm, I'm just some guy on a forum. If you can afford to, you should apply, especially if you haven't applied before. After I got my crummy DAT scores last year, I applied as a "dry run" just to learn the ropes of AADSAS and secondary apps, etc. It wasn't cheap, and I went in knowing that I wouldn't get an interview, but this year I was glad I did it.

 

[valkyrie08]

I looked through the ADEA book, and most schools recommend at least 80 hours of shadowing, so you should work on that. And also maybe you should take the DAT again because your GPA is low. Good luck!

 

[gn4]

Aside from the QR, your DAT is not bad. If I were you, I'd take a chance and apply this year. Depends on how much money you have. I'd apply to Meharry, Howard, and State School