Good DAT score but should I still retake??

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w1thjd

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Hello!
I just took my DAT last Monday, and thought I did pretty well.
I don't have the percentile with me right now but remember the scores off my head.
Bio - 19 ( I got 19 on the Kaplan diagnostic test three months before studying.... I don't know how it didn't change )
GChem - 27
OChem - 26
PAT - 22
QR - 22
RC - 26
TS - 22
AA - 24 (99.4%)

But I just talked to a professor at UCLA and he told me to consider a retake since it's a little weak for UCLA... I don't want to retake (it was SOOO painful to study over summer). But since my GPA is not that remarkable (3.5 and science GPA = 3.3), I was wondering if you guys think that a retake is necessary for a chance to get into UCLA dental school. Predent.com shows that ucla applicants who were accepted has DAT that are easily over 24.... I would like to go to schools in CA since I've been living here all my life and my family is here. I am focused on going to UCLA dental school since I've been volunteering here for quite a while and absolutely love everything about the school... kind of feels like home now 🙂

btw just for a background information, I'm a third year student so I have one more year to raise my GPA for next cycle. For brief e.c, I did 50 hours of shadowing, 80 hours of volunteering at UCLA dental, and founded the dental portion of the medical volunteering organization (involves making and presenting workshops on dental treatments). I was going to focus my entire year raising GPA and gaining more shadowing and volunteering hours. I gave up a research opportunity at the dental school so I can make sure I can focus solely on GPA (kind of bummed about this decision 🙁 )

what do you think??
 
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You should ask your prof where he gets his weed, cause he is smoking something really strong. Your scores are great - no need for a retake. Your gpa is a bit low, but take some classes to bring that up.

Btw, UCLA sucks!
 
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txlonghorn said:
You should ask your prof where he gets his weed, cause he is smoking something really strong. Your scores are great - no need for a retake. Your gpa is a bit low, but take some classes to bring that up.

Btw, UCLA sucks!
Click to expand...

haha...if you want we can have a week of school pride? btw will you be in dallas this weekend?
 
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w1thjd said:
Hello!
I just took my DAT last Monday, and thought I did pretty well.
I don't have the percentile with me right now but remember the scores off my head.
Bio - 19 ( I got 19 on the Kaplan diagnostic test three months before studying.... I don't know how it didn't change )
GChem - 27
OChem - 26
PAT - 22
QR - 22
RC - 26
TS - 22
AA - 24 (99.4%)

But I just talked to a professor at UCLA and he told me to consider a retake since it's a little weak for UCLA... I don't want to retake (it was SOOO painful to study over summer). But since my GPA is not that remarkable (3.5 and science GPA = 3.3), I was wondering if you guys think that a retake is necessary for a chance to get into UCLA dental school. Predent.com shows that ucla applicants who were accepted has DAT that are easily over 24.... I would like to go to schools in CA since I've been living here all my life and my family is here. I am focused on going to UCLA dental school since I've been volunteering here for quite a while and absolutely love everything about the school... kind of feels like home now 🙂

btw just for a background information, I'm a third year student so I have one more year to raise my GPA for next cycle. For brief e.c, I did 50 hours of shadowing, 80 hours of volunteering at UCLA dental, and founded the dental portion of the medical volunteering organization (involves making and presenting workshops on dental treatments). I was going to focus my entire year raising GPA and gaining more shadowing and volunteering hours. I gave up a research opportunity at the dental school so I can make sure I can focus solely on GPA (kind of bummed about this decision 🙁 )

what do you think??
Click to expand...

UCLA is competitive. Even if you have a 3.7 24, there are no guarantees. I wouldn't retake your scores at all. Don't bank all your hope on one school. Yes UCLA is nice, but its a school where its a "crapshoot" to get in. I've had friends with excellent scores not get interviews, while friends that have lower scores DO get in. (And vice-versa). Gl and chill out!👍
 
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w1thjd said:
Hello!
I just took my DAT last Monday, and thought I did pretty well.
I don't have the percentile with me right now but remember the scores off my head.
Bio - 19 ( I got 19 on the Kaplan diagnostic test three months before studying.... I don't know how it didn't change )
GChem - 27
OChem - 26
PAT - 22
QR - 22
RC - 26
TS - 22
AA - 24 (99.4%)

But I just talked to a professor at UCLA and he told me to consider a retake since it's a little weak for UCLA... I don't want to retake (it was SOOO painful to study over summer). But since my GPA is not that remarkable (3.5 and science GPA = 3.3), I was wondering if you guys think that a retake is necessary for a chance to get into UCLA dental school. Predent.com shows that ucla applicants who were accepted has DAT that are easily over 24.... I would like to go to schools in CA since I've been living here all my life and my family is here. I am focused on going to UCLA dental school since I've been volunteering here for quite a while and absolutely love everything about the school... kind of feels like home now 🙂

btw just for a background information, I'm a third year student so I have one more year to raise my GPA for next cycle. For brief e.c, I did 50 hours of shadowing, 80 hours of volunteering at UCLA dental, and founded the dental portion of the medical volunteering organization (involves making and presenting workshops on dental treatments). I was going to focus my entire year raising GPA and gaining more shadowing and volunteering hours. I gave up a research opportunity at the dental school so I can make sure I can focus solely on GPA (kind of bummed about this decision 🙁 )

what do you think??
Click to expand...

Either your prof should be teaching at Santa Monica CC or he thought those were MCAT scores...
 
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Apply real early, you will def get interview invite from most CA schools, and there's 6 schools in CA.

*before people jump on me saying so, please read again, I said interview invite. It's one step at a time. You have to make the playoffs before you can start talking about championship. I'll be more than happy to get an interview, than I'll worry about acceptance.

Just keep working hard, bring up your GPA, give the schools less reason to doubt you. You scores are solid to me, I want those scores.
 
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Thank you for all your inputs! hahah But i'm still not too sure of my biology score because my GPA has been dropped due to my low grades in biology classes. I received a C in one of them which majorly dropped my GPA 🙁 Would the dental school look at the grades in individual classes or just the overall GPA? And if they do look at individual grade, how would my relatively low biology DAT result look with my low biology GPA? I'm worried about retaking too since biology is just hard to improve (I studied the most for biology) and there is no guarantee I'll do well again in all other subjects.
 
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I really hate posts like this... but just in case you do happen to be clueless, i will respond.

Your professor is an idiot... you scored in the 99th percentile!! Your GPA is not that bad... plus you have an entire year to bring it up! 30 credits of 4.0 can do a lot for you!

UCLA has a serious ego problem... sure they are a good school, but to say a 24 isn't good enough. Sure their 1.9 billion endowment is big, but does it compare to Columbia's 6.5 bil, or Harvards 27.4 bil 😱. Hell even USC has a 2.7 billion endowment. UCLA can try hard to be Ivy, but it's not gonna happen.

I echo DocToothache... you may want to change your thoughts that you are too good for UCLA.
 
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That score is pretty low. I think you should take the advice and retake. I would try for at least a 30 next time.
 
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