Don't take RC too lightly...

[bisconito]

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From looking over the recent posts, I have seen that most of the advice has made the reading comprehension section seem like an expendable one. This is not the truth, however. I have spoken personally with the heads of admission at Columbia and VCU, who have both stressed that reading comprehension is crucial. They are looking for RC scores above 20. At Columbia, Dr. MacManus told me that the students who receive a score below 20 tend to have a lot of difficulty in the curriculum. Every section on the DAT is important. From speaking with admissions officers, the reading section comes up in conversation and is always portrayed as one of the few confirming aspects of an application. Thus, your RC score will give you a hint to your performance in dental school; just ask any first or second-year dental student about how much reading they do each week, then ask them how many times they can re-read that material if need be.
Dan

 

[anoose007]

No offense but I wouldn't dare to apply to a school that wanted at least 80 or 90 G's a year to go to and thats not even including living expenses!

 

[Tejv24]

But, if you want to specialize then Columbia and harvard are the key schools to go for and plus, that tuition will be a joke compared to what you would get from the school.

 

[El Sol]

Wouldn't it be harder to specialize in a very competitive environment filled with people who want to specialize?

 

[bisconito]

Wouldn't it be harder to specialize in a very competitive environment filled with people who want to specialize?

I believe that most residency programs are merit-based with a heavy hand laid on the boards. It is true that the Ivy league schools have more students specialize because they tend to score higher on the boards than most other schools. So, every dental student across the world is really competing for every specialty, it is just that the best students are given the opportunity. If you look at Columbia's rate of specialization and compare it to other schools, it is very surprising how high it is. Thus, if you want to specialize, then you should strongly consider a school that places a lot of students annually, but these are often the highly-priced private schools and public schools.
P.S. Some professionals do not specialize right away. It may be worthwile to relieve you debt and then try to specialize when you are more financially capable.

 

[pocahantus]

I believe that most residency programs are merit-based with a heavy hand laid on the boards. It is true that the Ivy league schools have more students specialize because they tend to score higher on the boards than most other schools. So, every dental student across the world is really competing for every specialty, it is just that the best students are given the opportunity. If you look at Columbia's rate of specialization and compare it to other schools, it is very surprising how high it is. Thus, if you want to specialize, then you should strongly consider a school that places a lot of students annually, but these are often the highly-priced private schools and public schools.
P.S. Some professionals do not specialize right away. It may be worthwile to relieve you debt and then try to specialize when you are more financially capable.

UCLA's specialization rate gives Columbia a run for their money and costs much less....and you dont have to put up with what seems like sub zero temperature for months on end.....so go figure!Different strokes for different folks.

 

[hokie4life]

thanks for the extra warning to make sure we don't forget to study for RC as well but what is the best way? Everyone says it's more tone and inference but the practice tests like topscore don't really address that? MCAT verbal does but the passages are so different in length so I don't know if it'd be worth it to try those or if it'd just be a waste of time?

 

[bisconito]

thanks for the extra warning to make sure we don't forget to study for RC as well but what is the best way? Everyone says it's more tone and inference but the practice tests like topscore don't really address that? MCAT verbal does but the passages are so different in length so I don't know if it'd be worth it to try those or if it'd just be a waste of time?

Yes, Topscore's RC was way too easy. Most of the questions had identical wording in the passage, and there are no questions involving inference. As far as DAT prep goes, I did not find the Kaplan book, Cliff's DAT, or Barron's DAT helpful for the section. Instead, I came up with my own strategy. I skipped all inference questions at the beginning, then started on questions that had specific answers and returned to the inference questions. After finding the answers to the other questions, I could answer the inference questions without a whole lot of stress. I never read any of the passage at the beginning, it was simply too time-consuming on the actual DAT. I am not sure how I got a 21 on RC, but I am very happy for it... major boost 🙂.

 

[ddstobe]

From looking over the recent posts, I have seen that most of the advice has made the reading comprehension section seem like an expendable one. This is not the truth, however. I have spoken personally with the heads of admission at Columbia and VCU, who have both stressed that reading comprehension is crucial. They are looking for RC scores above 20. At Columbia, Dr. MacManus told me that the students who receive a score below 20 tend to have a lot of difficulty in the curriculum. Every section on the DAT is important. From speaking with admissions officers, the reading section comes up in conversation and is always portrayed as one of the few confirming aspects of an application. Thus, your RC score will give you a hint to your performance in dental school; just ask any first or second-year dental student about how much reading they do each week, then ask them how many times they can re-read that material if need be.
Dan

Good comment. You said Harvard and Columbia look closely on the RC, I'm wondering if that also applies to all other schools?