Getting more Competitive

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You should change to header of Getting More Competitive at Pits.. you;re making people think its the same everywhere.

And actually when you "really" look at the #s its not that much more competitive. The 2006 and 2007 stats were pretty similar but as you can see they went down the subsequent years because less people can meet a 3.7 GPA threshold.
 
You should change to header of Getting More Competitive at Pits.. you;re making people think its the same everywhere.

And actually when you "really" look at the #s its not that much more competitive. The 2006 and 2007 stats were pretty similar but as you can see they went down the subsequent years because less people can meet a 3.7 GPA threshold.

😕

What numbers are you looking at?

DAT up more than 2 points (huge jump) in 10 years, and sGPA and oGPA up more than 0.2.

You can't isolate 1 or 2 years and look at it. Look at the trends. You can't in any deny U Pitt is MUCH more competitive over the last 10 years.

This shows at Pitt at least, DAT is getting more and more important. A 2 point jump is huge.
 
You should change to header of Getting More Competitive at Pits.. you;re making people think its the same everywhere.

And actually when you "really" look at the #s its not that much more competitive. The 2006 and 2007 stats were pretty similar but as you can see they went down the subsequent years because less people can meet a 3.7 GPA threshold.

It seems to be getting more competitive at various places though. If you can access a recent copy of the ADEA guidebook (2010-2012), the avg DAT scores and GPA's are higher than that of 2007's (what predents.com lists).
 
😕

What numbers are you looking at?

DAT up more than 2 points (huge jump) in 10 years, and sGPA and oGPA up more than 0.2.

You can't isolate 1 or 2 years and look at it. Look at the trends. You can't in any deny U Pitt is MUCH more competitive over the last 10 years.

This shows at Pitt at least, DAT is getting more and more important. A 2 point jump is huge.

2h34vt0.jpg


Lets look at this graphically. Also please be very careful when saying a trend exists esp when you talk about the GPA. I'll get to the DAT soon.

If you look at this graphically the GPA is pretty much sideways from year to year for the last 4 years. The school tried to raise the entering GPA from year to year and they got away with it until 2006, After that all you is sideways action indicating that high GPA students are no longer applying to the school or the school decided to start accepting less qualified students until the previous years. There could also be a decrease in applicants in a particular year, but the GPA is pretty much fixed at averages of the last 4 years and hence has no real change. Its still the same between 2008, 09, 10, and 11.

The DAT is another story.... a minor "trend" exists from 2003 to 2007 but you see how this must have smacked the school back in its place as the DAT value falls from 20 to 19 in 2008. Now yes of course the #s are on the rise since then but its pretty obvious that the current levels are unsustainable and will fall in the near future. Whether in one or two years.

So again be mindful of trend this and trend that. Yes DAT is higher, but anyone with glasses can tell this is not gonna be sustainable for long. The GPA is negligible and is sideways.
 
It seems to be getting more competitive at various places though. If you can access a recent copy of the ADEA guidebook (2010-2012), the avg DAT scores and GPA's are higher than that of 2007's (what predents.com lists).

Using predents to determine real values is like using the Enriquer for real news. I dont have a copy of the 2010 and 2012 editions but if I did I would like to compare how much the #s really shifted by. In the end they're probably neglible. Even if the average goes up from 2011's 19.3 AA, it might only be something like 19.5. Its not gonna do what Pitt did and jump to 20.5 for all 60 something schools. Its averages after all.
 
2h34vt0.jpg


Lets look at this graphically. Also please be very careful when saying a trend exists esp when you talk about the GPA. I'll get to the DAT soon.

If you look at this graphically the GPA is pretty much sideways from year to year for the last 4 years. The school tried to raise the entering GPA from year to year and they got away with it until 2006, After that all you is sideways action indicating that high GPA students are no longer applying to the school or the school decided to start accepting less qualified students until the previous years. There could also be a decrease in applicants in a particular year, but the GPA is pretty much fixed at averages of the last 4 years and hence has no real change. Its still the same between 2008, 09, 10, and 11.

The DAT is another story.... a minor "trend" exists from 2003 to 2007 but you see how this must have smacked the school back in its place as the DAT value falls from 20 to 19 in 2008. Now yes of course the #s are on the rise since then but its pretty obvious that the current levels are unsustainable and will fall in the near future. Whether in one or two years.

So again be mindful of trend this and trend that. Yes DAT is higher, but anyone with glasses can tell this is not gonna be sustainable for long. The GPA is negligible and is sideways.

Interesting info. Where is the data from?
 
You're funny wired.

You spent all that time just to make graphs that show great trend lines of growing competitiveness yet you somehow see something different 🙂

Of course it can't go infinitely higher, and GPA has seemed to stabilize (but that is at a much higher level than 10 years ago) all the while DAT has increased meaning students with equal GPAs have needed higher DATs to get in = more competitive. Science GPA is an even better positive trend for competitiveness.
 
You're funny wired.

You spent all that time just to make graphs that show great trend lines of growing competitiveness yet you somehow see something different 🙂

Of course it can't go infinitely higher, and GPA has seemed to stabilize (but that is at a much higher level than 10 years ago) all the while DAT has increased meaning students with equal GPAs have needed higher DATs to get in = more competitive. Science GPA is an even better positive trend for competitiveness.

I dont know why you dont see what everyone else does... which is the fact that DAT is not sustainable at 20.5. It wont be.. its gonna fall. Esp if the average DAT is below that. PS anyone with Excel can make a graph like that in 10 minutes.

And looking at scores from 10 years ago and comparing them to today is the worst way to do any sort of analysis. Trends as you mentioned are the correct way to look at things, but thats assuming real trends exist. Here you see some patterns but they reverse themselves too quickly to be called real trends. And obv scores from 10 years ago are lower... the same can be said for MCAT scores, PCAT scores, etc.

Point of the story is that the sGPA went up year over year for almost all years, oGPA is negligible due to sideways and DAT is gonna crash back to the 19s in the next or post next cycle.
 
Interesting info. Where is the data from?

Thats from the super ultra "competitive data" that the OP posted. I just put it into a graph so you can see that in reality, the GPA is identical over the last 4 years and the DAT is gonna crash back to reality in the next or post next cycle. I believe theres a ton of data on what happened in the past and I will try to include it here.
 
Thats from the super ultra "competitive data" that the OP posted. I just put it into a graph so you can see that in reality, the GPA is identical over the last 4 years and the DAT is gonna crash back to reality in the next or post next cycle. I believe theres a ton of data on what happened in the past and I will try to include it here.

You have an amazing ability to see into the future.

You have great excel knowledge 😉

You speak for everyone else.

And you care a lot about Pitt.


Jack of all trades.
 
Using predents to determine real values is like using the Enriquer for real news. I dont have a copy of the 2010 and 2012 editions but if I did I would like to compare how much the #s really shifted by. In the end they're probably neglible. Even if the average goes up from 2011's 19.3 AA, it might only be something like 19.5. Its not gonna do what Pitt did and jump to 20.5 for all 60 something schools. Its averages after all.

Predents says their info is from the 45th edition of the ADEA guidebook (which is from 2007 if you google it). I have information from the 2010 ADEA guidebook. I'm not saying DAT scores go up by five and avg GPAs are going up by .4 for all of the schools. But the numbers are going up (negligible or not is up to the person who is looking at the data) and for some schools it's a significant difference.
 
You have an amazing ability to see into the future.

You have great excel knowledge 😉

And you care a lot about Pitt.


Jack of all trades.

you can admit when someone else is right 😉 it doesnt cost anything and it shouldnt hurt your pride... we all learn from each other.
 
Kind of pointless to just look at one specific school for trends of competitiveness...

Should look at the average GPA and DAT of all accepted students since a student's GPA and DAT does not have a 100% correlation with which school he/she chooses...
 
Kind of pointless to just look at one specific school for trends of competitiveness...

Should look at the average GPA and DAT of all accepted students since a student's GPA and DAT does not have a 100% correlation with which school he/she chooses...

Yep 👍
 
Predents says their info is from the 45th edition of the ADEA guidebook (which is from 2007 if you google it). I have information from the 2010 ADEA guidebook. I'm not saying DAT scores go up by five and avg GPAs are going up by .4 for all of the schools. But the numbers are going up (negligible or not is up to the person who is looking at the data) and for some schools it's a significant difference.

Actually the #s aren't going up. Here's the proof straight from the pudding:

fz3spd.jpg


Straight from the ADEA http://www.ada.org/sections/professionalResources/pdfs/survey_ed_vol2.pdf

The only thing certain is that the avg PAT score went up. The average DAT went down. The oGPA went up but then went down and is less than 0.10 higher than in the last 5 years. Same for sGPA which is negligible withing that range. There is no data for 2010 to 2011 or 2011 to 2012 but the numbers are going to be pretty close. When average oGPAs go from 3.56 to 3.58 or 3.59. That's not really a big swing when you're looking at thousands of students.
 
you can admit when someone else is right 😉 it doesnt cost anything and it shouldnt hurt your pride... we all learn from each other.

I would if you were.

Actually the #s aren't going up. Here's the proof straight from the pudding:

fz3spd.jpg


Straight from the ADEA http://www.ada.org/sections/professionalResources/pdfs/survey_ed_vol2.pdf

The only thing certain is that the avg PAT score went up. The average DAT went down. The oGPA went up but then went down and is less than 0.10 higher than in the last 5 years. Same for sGPA which is negligible withing that range. There is no data for 2010 to 2011 or 2011 to 2012 but the numbers are going to be pretty close. When average oGPAs go from 3.56 to 3.58 or 3.59. That's not really a big swing when you're looking at thousands of students.


All you are proving is that you don't have a good grasp of statistics. I know what I know, I know what you don't know. I will leave it be at that.
 
Actually the #s aren't going up. Here's the proof straight from the pudding:

fz3spd.jpg


Straight from the ADEA http://www.ada.org/sections/professionalResources/pdfs/survey_ed_vol2.pdf

The only thing certain is that the avg PAT score went up. The average DAT went down. The oGPA went up but then went down and is less than 0.10 higher than in the last 5 years. Same for sGPA which is negligible withing that range. There is no data for 2010 to 2011 or 2011 to 2012 but the numbers are going to be pretty close. When average oGPAs go from 3.56 to 3.58 or 3.59. That's not really a big swing when you're looking at thousands of students.

So for the most part, the numbers are going up, like what was said in earlier posts 🙄......
The AA portion of the DAT is interesting to look at. But overall the numbers are going up in regards to PAT, and GPA (except for that one year but then it bounced back).

You know what would be more interesting to look at? How many people apply to dental school each year and how that has changed. That is going to influence these numbers. If more people with great numbers apply, more will get accepted, and the averages will shift up. That's another kind of competition to look at...quality (GPA and DAT) is one thing but so is quantity.
 
All you are proving is that you don't have a good grasp of statistics. I know what I know, I know what you don't know. I will leave it be at that.

I dunno what you know because you havent said anything yet :laugh: You just said I'm wrong but I have no clue why. The proof is in the pudding and I know stats really well so please unless you intend on writing something to explain your viewpoint, dont insult me. I provided empirical evidence of relative stability and actual DAT decreases. When you want to chime in something that contributes to the competitiveness I will be the first one to listen. 👍
 
So for the most part, the numbers are going up, like what was said in earlier posts 🙄......
The AA portion of the DAT is interesting to look at. But overall the numbers are going up in regards to PAT, and GPA (except for that one year but then it bounced back).

You know what would be more interesting to look at? How many people apply to dental school each year and how that has changed. That is going to influence these numbers. If more people with great numbers apply, more will get accepted, and the averages will shift up. That's another kind of competition to look at...quality (GPA and DAT) is one thing but so is quantity.

Yes I can really see how a sGPA change from 3.42 to 3.48 will kill your chances of applying to d-school 🙄 DAT decreased, oGPA plateaued and sGPA is the only # that actually went up.

The averages imply that students are applying with higher GPAs, but when you compare yourself against an average a 3.52 to a 3.55 doesnt make anyone that much more competitive. When GPA swings go from 3.55 to 3.7 then you can really begin worrying. Thats why the OP got shell shocked at Pitts high DAT increase and previously high GPA increase .

For now slow and marginal increase are happening, but they're not that huge and for most applicants they will not change anything.
 
you can admit when someone else is right 😉 it doesnt cost anything and it shouldnt hurt your pride... we all learn from each other.

Actually wired, you're wrong. This is an internet forum and I have no idea how you look like when you're presenting your information. But in my imagination, you're saying it in a very pretentious and condescending tone haha.

Anyways, I believe the reason for the spike in DAT and GPAs has more to do with the economy/job market. When the job market does well, there will be less people applying to graduate programs. When the job market is poor, more people apply to graduate school to try to ride out the economy.

An interviewer told me that in the 70s there was one year with less applicants than seats in dental school. The overall trend is that it's getting more and more difficult to get into graduate programs because there will be more people competing for less spots. It is feasible that the average DAT score keeps going up. If there are more people taking the DAT, than there will be more people getting 21+ and taking up the seats in dental school.
 
Yes I can really see how a sGPA change from 3.42 to 3.48 will kill your chances of applying to d-school 🙄 DAT decreased, oGPA plateaued and sGPA is the only # that actually went up.

The averages imply that students are applying with higher GPAs, but when you compare yourself against an average a 3.52 to a 3.55 doesnt make anyone that much more competitive. When GPA swings go from 3.55 to 3.7 then you can really begin worrying. Thats why the OP got shell shocked at Pitts high DAT increase and previously high GPA increase .

For now slow and marginal increase are happening, but they're not that huge and for most applicants they will not change anything.

3/4 factors here say that there has been an increase in numbers. This data is for overall dental schools. Specific dental schools will vary. I doubt the majority of applicants will be applying to every single dental school.

These negligible/significant/whatever changes will be seen differently by different people anyways. Oh the beauty in the diversity of opinions....
 
Actually wired, you're wrong. This is an internet forum and I have no idea how you look like when you're presenting your information. But in my imagination, you're saying it in a very pretentious and condescending tone haha.

Anyways, I believe the reason for the spike in DAT and GPAs has more to do with the economy/job market. When the job market does well, there will be less people applying to graduate programs. When the job market is poor, more people apply to graduate school to try to ride out the economy.

An interviewer told me that in the 70s there was one year with less applicants than seats in dental school. The overall trend is that it's getting more and more difficult to get into graduate programs because there will be more people competing for less spots. It is feasible that the average DAT score keeps going up. If there are more people taking the DAT, than there will be more people getting 21+ and taking up the seats in dental school.

21 AA is approximately the 95% percentile. Its statistically impossible for enough students to keep hitting 21+ to shift the whole average. The average itself can never be that high unless the test gets easier or only the smartest students take the exam.

The graph above shows that AA actually went down and is still around 19AA, meanwhile the average for all applicants is around a 17AA.
 
I dunno what you know because you havent said anything yet :laugh: You just said I'm wrong but I have no clue why. The proof is in the pudding and I know stats really well so please unless you intend on writing something to explain your viewpoint, dont insult me. I provided empirical evidence of relative stability and actual DAT decreases. When you want to chime in something that contributes to the competitiveness I will be the first one to listen. 👍


There is no sense in ever taking any time to break things down for you, because you more than anyone I have ever read in this forum (with the exception of when I used to read Mr. Avicii's posts here) lack the ability to see anything except through through extreme bias of your original viewpoint.

A good trait in a person is the ability to be objective and examine all information before making a position on the topic. You completely lack that ability and take up a position then use any information you can find and twist it into fitting your position. You have an amazing knack to only read what you want to and misconstrue posts. You probably have no idea that you do it.

I believe that the charts you keep posting speak for themselves, and anyone without the preconceived notions you have will be able to glean the data they need without me breaking down the #'s.


All of this to say, dental school is getting more competitive and will likely continue to do so until the number of applicants drop.
 
3/4 factors here say that there has been an increase in numbers. This data is for overall dental schools. Specific dental schools will vary. I doubt the majority of applicants will be applying to every single dental school.

These negligible/significant/whatever changes will be seen differently by different people anyways. Oh the beauty in the diversity of opinions....

Numbers w/o logic indicate a growth
Numbers w/ logic indicate marginal growth thats not quite important. A 0.07 and 0.06 GPA shifts wont make or break a single individual. They will only break a large data set of individuals. So what I'm saying is that you as applicant X are probably not going to be affected by any of these numerical changes.

PAT and sGPA are the only straight forward #s but again PAT needs to be above a cutoff for school X, otherwise it wont make or break you. sGPA is indicate above, again 0.06 growth isnt going to matter either. and oGPA is equivalent in the last 3 out of 5 years. Obv it has growth, but you can see its sideways at this point.
 
21 AA is approximately the 95% percentile. Its statistically impossible for enough students to keep hitting 21+ to shift the whole average. The average itself can never be that high unless the test gets easier or only the smartest students take the exam.

The graph above shows that AA actually went down and is still around 19AA, meanwhile the average for all applicants is around a 17AA.


Your 'knowledge' of statistics is showing through great:laugh:

Extreme example so you can understand that you are wrong. Curious if you will admit it?

1,000,000 people take the DAT. 21AA is 95th percentile. 50,000 people score a 21 or above. There are 5,000 seats for dental students. You figured it out.

What is your definition of statistically impossible?
 
There is no sense in ever taking any time to break things down for you, because you more than anyone I have ever read in this forum (with the exception of when I used to read Mr. Avicii's posts here) lack the ability to see anything except through through extreme bias of your original viewpoint.

A good trait in a person is the ability to be objective and examine all information before making a position on the topic. You completely lack that ability and take up a position then use any information you can find and twist it into fitting your position. You have an amazing knack to only read what you want to and misconstrue posts. You probably have no idea that you do it.

I believe that the charts you keep posting speak for themselves, and anyone without the preconceived notions you have will be able to glean the data they need without me breaking down the #'s.


All of this to say, dental school is getting more competitive and will likely continue to do so until the number of applicants drop.

I guess this is what I get for helping you in the previous thread.
 
glean is one of my favorite words
 
21 AA is approximately the 95% percentile. Its statistically impossible for enough students to keep hitting 21+ to shift the whole average. The average itself can never be that high unless the test gets easier or only the smartest students take the exam.

The graph above shows that AA actually went down and is still around 19AA, meanwhile the average for all applicants is around a 17AA.

You're not listening to what we're saying. I understand that a 21 is 95th percentile.

Let me break it down for you. Let's say 100 people apply to dental school and 5 of them get 21+ on the DAT and there are 50 seats. There are 5 people among the 50 that have 21+ on the DAT. A few years later 200 people apply to dental school with the same 50 seats. Guess what! there are now 10 people with 21+ among the 50, therefore bringing up the average.

Overall, getting into Med school, dental, pharm, etc is getting more competitive. The economy will add some noise in the trend, but overall it's getting more difficult.
 
Your 'knowledge' of statistics is showing through great:laugh:

Extreme example so you can understand that you are wrong. Curious if you will admit it?

1,000,000 people take the DAT. 21AA is 95th percentile. 50,000 people score a 21 or above. There are 5,000 seats for dental students. You figured it out.

What is your definition of statistically impossible?

1M taking the DAT 😕
 
You're not listening to what we're saying. I understand that a 21 is 95th percentile.

Let me break it down for you. Let's say 100 people apply to dental school and 5 of them get 21+ on the DAT and there are 50 seats. There are 5 people among the 50 that have 21+ on the DAT. A few years later 200 people apply to dental school with the same 50 seats. Guess what! there are now 10 people with 21+ among the 50, therefore bringing up the average.

Overall, getting into Med school, dental, pharm, etc is getting more competitive. The economy will add some noise in the trend, but overall it's getting more difficult.

I know what you said, but assuming that more and more people apply each year w/o ever breaking that trend is impossible. More people apply during the last few years due to a bad economy that number will eventually go back down.

Yes overall things are more competitive, but by marginal standards. When average DAT scores go from 19 to 21 (as you imply) and when GPA goes up from 3.5 to 3.7 then its going to be really tough to enter this profession. For now its going from 3.52 to 3.56 etc. Marginal differences.
 
I swear that amalgamgrillz and this wired guy are one in the same person.
When amalgam disappears from SDN, here comes another guys that make similar
silly/pointless arguments with everyone....
 
I swear that amalgamgrillz and this wired guy are one in the same person.
When amalgam disappears from SDN, here comes another guys that make similar
silly/pointless arguments with everyone....

I'm glad you're here for me baker! I appreciate your business.
 
I know what you said, but assuming that more and more people apply each year w/o ever breaking that trend is impossible. More people apply during the last few years due to a bad economy that number will eventually go back down.

Yes overall things are more competitive, but by marginal standards. When average DAT scores go from 19 to 21 (as you imply) and when GPA goes up from 3.5 to 3.7 then its going to be really tough to enter this profession. For now its going from 3.52 to 3.56 etc. Marginal differences.

Again, another example of you not listening. When did I say that the numbers will never go back down? Do you honestly think we think that the average GPA and DAT will barrel forward until the only way to get into dental school is if you have a 4.0 and 30DAT?
 
Again, another example of you not listening. When did I say that the numbers will never go back down? Do you honestly think we think that the average GPA and DAT will barrel forward until the only way to get into dental school is if you have a 4.0 and 30DAT?

Yes I think the numbers will go up from now until forever.
 
Ha, if you were sensitive enough, you would have left a long time ago 😛

PS: Am i repeating you now? 😉

I'm only here for the monkeys 😛 if there were tigers I would leave.
 
thats how i feel about you too 🙂

Sure you do wired. Sure you do.... I mean, oh no 🙁 Woe is me because wired disagrees with me and doesn't think I'm repeating him all the time anymore.

But really, I'm done. No need to bump this thread over our petty juvenile bickering
 
Sure you do wired. Sure you do.... I mean, oh no 🙁 Woe is me because wired disagrees with me and doesn't think I'm repeating him all the time anymore.

But really, I'm done. No need to bump this thread over our petty juvenile bickering

lol you do repeat a lot.
 
Ok children, here is my take on this whole thing:

It appears to me that Pitt has been making some administrative improvements the past few years, which have resulted in higher class numbers. Essentially, Pitt has been able to pull a stronger pool of students out of the larger pool of applicants. This means they are slowly making their way up the proverbial ladder in the eyes of those applying.

The DAT averages for the pool of applicants will never change. It is mathematically set. However, the average DAT for a school can and could very well maintain a number quite a bit above the average (such as 20-21). This is due to a larger proportion of higher performing students attending that school. If they maintain their perceived level of quality, this will persist. Furthermore, if the application pool grows at a rate proportionally higher than that of the number seats per year, then the average admitted student to all dental schools will have higher stats across the board.

Hope this helps. 👍
 
I swear that amalgamgrillz and this wired guy are one in the same person.
When amalgam disappears from SDN, here comes another guys that make similar
silly/pointless arguments with everyone....

Hahaha. I am so convinced that Wired is actually Mr. Avicii. I've had a feeling for awhile. Tell me I'm right Wired so I can feel good about myself 🙂.

This guy is not Amalgam. Amalgam was a condescending person, but he was very eloquent in his writing and he insulted people in a very witty way. He was actually kind of funny if he wasn't insulting you lol. Despite that, I did get in argument with him about his condescension back in the day.

I'm also predicting that HeyCharlie is YoHomey. Just putting it out there haha.
 
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Hahaha. I am so convinced that Wired is actually Mr. Avicii. I've had a feeling for awhile. Tell me I'm right Wired so I can feel good about myself 🙂.

This guy is not Amalgam. Amalgam was a condescending person, but he was very eloquent in his writing and he insulted people in a very witty way. He was actually kind of funny if he wasn't insulting you lol. Despite that, I did get in argument with him about his condescension back in the day.

I'm also predicting that HeyCharlie is YoHomey. Just putting it out there haha.

You are right, wired is not Amalgan...and you could be right about HeyCharlie and YoHomey as I have enjoyed reading both of their posts.

I believe the progression went like this...Wired --> RP37 --> DDS25 --> MrAvicci --> back to Wired.

It has gone through cycles of when people stop respecting him/her they pop back up with a new user name. All of these people are very argumentative, need to have the last word, are non-trads that think they know everything particularly about business yet obviously don't and are extremely opinionated. They will try to be helpful for awhile, but then their true self shines through.



Haha I have tried to stay off SDN lately but the conspiracy theory pulls me back in😀
 
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