Got rejected bc had a <20 ON READING COMP. of DAT??

['11]

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how many of you feel like you were rejected soley bc you didnt do well on onw specific part of DAT? eg. reading comprehension <19

 

[gujudentist]

hey yeah i got rejected from penn, i think, cuz of my PAT score. everything else sized up, but s'all good--got into a few other places whcih may be a better fit.

 

[zthang]

I don't think a school would reject you for getting a 17, 18, or 19 on any part of the dat. Under 17...maybe, but not just b/c it's under 20.

At my interview for case, the professor interviewing me said that they consider reading comp the most important section of the dat.

 

[dddsmack]

Remember that the norms for RC are a bit higher. A 20 on RC is 70th percentile-ish. Anything below a 20 is not a great score at all for most versions of the test.

 

[osubum]

I think this has been said a million times, but I'll add the million and first.

It is not just scores they look at, it is your whole app.

For example, If you do not have high DAT scores, but have shadowed for over 80 documented hours in the past 1-2 years with Dentists, performed reseacrh (important to publish!) and shadowed in other fields (Med/Pharm/Opt/research) without appplying to any of them, they will see you as a very well rounded candidate. Even if you have 17AA and a 3.4GPA, you'll get in somewhere.

If you decide to do the minimum to apply = only take only the difficult classes they require, shadow for the min amount of time, only look at dentistry....well, you better make sure you have a really high GPA and DAT score.

Ohh one more thing, once you get an interview the acceptance is only yours to lose.

 

[I'mFillingFine]

Ohh one more thing, once you get an interview the acceptance is only yours to lose.

oooh, not true, not true. This will make people feel horrible if they are rejected after their interviews!

If schools accepted everyone who did well on interviews, they would only interview the number they want to accept. Obviously, they interview twice as many. You are NOT accepted when you're interviewed, and if they were positive about wanting you in every way, you really can't scare them that badly!

Check any school's statistics....most interview about twice as many as are accepted.

Also, some factors in an application that haven't been mentioned: personal statement, letters of recommendation, your schedule of coursework (including a balance of other subjects), awards, extracurriculars. These make a big difference!

No, I don't think that one lowish score makes a huge difference....I got below a 17 on one part and I did fine.

 

[shamrock2006]

i got a 17 in one section and a 16 in another, I think that's what keeps getting me waitlisted..eesh

 

[osubum]

Of course every school every school interviews more than they have spots for. If they only interviewed the number of spots they have that would mean if you got an interview you got in. I said if you get an interview the acceptance is only yours too lose.

What I mean is that if you are lacking in other areas in you application, but can still get an interview, then you have a chance to show them why they should pick you. This is what every interview is: a chance to evaluate aspects of the client that can not be seen in paper from communication skills to desire for the position. This is why some people with lower credentials get positions over others. If a person's grades were too low from the start, they would not be given an interview.

Now sometimes after an interview people will hear they did not get in because of their GPA, DAT, etc. Those details are tangible reasons provide an applicant to complete while they spend more time thinking about why they want this. It does not mean; if for the next year you strictly work on bringing your GPA from a 3.40 to a 3.41 you will definitely get in. Maybe next year you can convey how direly you need to get in.

I point this out because most people applying have not been in competitive interviews before. They think the interview is a flip of the coin. IT IS NOT! Practice answering questions on your feet…don’t give a practiced answer (If you do not understand why it is valid for this past sentence to contradict itself I suggest you take time and ask your pre-d advisor, it is a very important aspect most people never get!).

Pointers for an interview:
Have q’s about the interviewers school.
Show how unique you are.
Not everything is about dentistry; show them you are well rounded by talking about other aspects of life.
Know why you want to be a dentist.
Sit up straight in your chair, away from the back.
Address the interviewer, at least once, by the name they have introduced themselves with.
Give thought to their question...if you blurt out a practiced phrase they will quit caring about what you have to say because it is no longer genuine.

 

['11]

where?


QUOTE=shamrock2006;4504006]i got a 17 in one section and a 16 in another, I think that's what keeps getting me waitlisted..eesh[/QUOTE]

 

[Ething]

I know for a fact that penn takes a bunch of people with under par PAT scores, so it is not that. Reading comprehension on the other hand....i dont think they take too many people with under a 20.

 

[shamrock2006]

where?


QUOTE=shamrock2006;4504006]i got a 17 in one section and a 16 in another, I think that's what keeps getting me waitlisted..eesh

[/QUOTE]

SIU (so. illinois), Louisville, Marquette, Creighton...and I haven't heard back regarding my NYU interview so i'm assuming that at best i'm on the waitlist...or even rejected.

 

[shamrock2006]

where?


QUOTE=shamrock2006;4504006]i got a 17 in one section and a 16 in another, I think that's what keeps getting me waitlisted..eesh

[/QUOTE]

SIU (so. illinois), Louisville, Marquette, Creighton...and I haven't heard back regarding my NYU interview so i'm assuming that at best i'm on the waitlist...or even rejected...i dont really think i have a legitimiate shot anymore

 

[rupkaur]

how many of you feel like you were rejected soley bc you didnt do well on onw specific part of DAT? eg. reading comprehension <19

I went on interview today and interviewer told me why I did bad in reading comprehension bcz I got 17 there. He asked me whether I m considering about taking the test again. I think that my interview was suck..even our tour guide and another admission girl told us at lunch Did anyone interview w/ that guy and I was the one who did. They asked me how did it go, i said okay. They told me that he is a really hard guy to go along w/ bcz he is very intimitated and keep asking the same question over and over again until he get good response. He asked me y did I get "D" in one of the classes, y 17 in reading, all negative point he could have brought, he brought those up...I like the campus, but I hate that guy...i m pretty much sure that I will get rejection or wait listed, just have to wait two more weeks to see result...
don't worry bcz most of the students are on the same boat...

 

[samsoonee]

It is not just scores they look at, it is your whole app.

Werd.

I think it's great that people are looking at places that they should improve, but it's really not about one particular portion of your app.

 

[Yellow Snow]

I haven't received any rejections but I know that my QR = 14😱 is keeping me out of my state school.

 

[Orthodox Bear]

I got rejected from PENN and I have solid stats. If it was anything I would say because I got a 16 in QR

 

[Ething]

I know penn also places an emphasis on bio.

 

['11]

so what schools other than upenn care about RC score?

 

[Envision]

so what schools other than upenn care about RC score?

UNLV, UCLA looks at it highly.

 

[I'mFillingFine]

Do they still, if English isn't your first language? I would think it wouldn't be a fair assessment.

 

['11]

that is exactly what i am talking about

Do they still, if English isn't your first language? I would think it wouldn't be a fair assessment.

 

[dddsmack]

I think it is an extremely fair assesment. All the material you see in dental school wll be in English, right? So if you can't read and comprehend English, you will struggle in D school.

Is my logic way off?

 

[DMD to Be]

I've always heard that the two most important sections are reading and bio. If this is true, I would understand. The bulk of the material in dental school is biology, and if you can't read and comprehend what you have read...then you will struggle in dental school. I AM NOT saying that these ARE the 2 most important sections in the DAT - only speculating and sharing what I have heard.

 

['11]

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off
who says if you get a 18 on Reading comp of DAT, you cant read and comprehend English????

&#191;Se Habla Espa&#241;ol? 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂

if you can't read and comprehend English, you will struggle in D school.

Is my logic way off?

 

[dddsmack]

way to go posting half of my quote, 🙂

 

[DMD to Be]

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off
who says if you get a 18 on Reading comp of DAT, you cant read and comprehend English???? Great question!!! I don't know who said this?? Definitely not me. I didn't mention the word english anywhere in my post nor did I mention any specific scores. I can see this is a touchy subject for you. Sorry about that. 🙁
¿Se Habla Español? 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂

And...si, hablo espanol. Last time I checked though, dental schools in the U.S. use textbooks printed in english. Your comment above is a 180 of what I said. Again, I plainly stated that the bulk of the material in dental school is biology, and if you can't read and comprehend what you have read...then you will struggle in dental school. This is a fact. Pure and simple.

 

[dddsmack]

The bulk of the material in dental school is biology, and if you can't read and comprehend what you have read...then you will struggle in dental school.

I don't see any problem with what you have said.

 

[DMD to Be]

way to go posting half of my quote, 🙂

Ha, my bad. It's such a good quote though. You should patent it. 😉

 

[dddsmack]

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off
who says if you get a 18 on Reading comp of DAT, you cant read and comprehend English????

¿Se Habla Español? 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂

In the whole quote, I asked if all material was in english. If so, then it would make sense to qoute the rest.

 

[RockstarDMD]

Some schools use equations to determine acceptances. I don't really think this is a reliable method, nevertheless it is a reality.

 

[KOM]

Bah, Reading "Comprehension" my a$$. Am I the only one who went straight to the questions, and then looked for the answer in the text. I don't feel like it took any skills or tested me on anything worthwhile. It was just like a word hunt puzzle. I scored a 23.

 

[RockstarDMD]

Bah, Reading "Comprehension" my a$$. Am I the only one who went straight to the questions, and then looked for the answer in the text. I don't feel like it took any skills or tested me on anything worthwhile. It was just like a word hunt puzzle. I scored a 23.

I agree with KOM. I don't believe it has any indication of how a student will test in a "Bio" related class. There are many people with low reading comp scores and high Bio scores and vice versa.

 

[I'mFillingFine]

Bah, Reading "Comprehension" my a$$. Am I the only one who went straight to the questions, and then looked for the answer in the text. I don't feel like it took any skills or tested me on anything worthwhile. It was just like a word hunt puzzle. I scored a 23.

*shifty eyes* I didn't nothing of the sort. *shifty eyes*

 

[DATkilla]

I got rejected from PENN and I have solid stats. If it was anything I would say because I got a 16 in QR

i got a 16 on QR too and got an interview which i'm yet to attend.

 

['11]

wow

i got a 16 on QR too and got an interview which i'm yet to attend.

 

['11]

wow

i got a 16 on QR too and got an interview which i'm yet to attend.

 

[bassman65]

I scored a 16 on my QR section and have still been accepted into 2 schools so far. of course, i off set this with a 28 on organic chemistry and a 21 on PT so this may have overridden the bad one. 🙂

 

[CaliDDS]

you are lucky!

I scored a 16 on my QR section and have still been accepted into 2 schools so far. of course, i off set this with a 28 on organic chemistry and a 21 on PT so this may have overridden the bad one. 🙂

 

[bassman65]

you are lucky!

i don't think so. I took 3 of the 4 interviews that I was offered and I got accepted at all three schools. I have a solid GPA and some shadowing experience. I did badly in one section of the DAT but they didn't cut me because of that. I had nothing below a 19 on the rest of the test. The best thing I did was not try to bull**** my way through my interviews, which I think alot of people do. Just be honest with them and they'll respect you alot more than if you give some rehearsed response. When they asked me about my 16 in QR, I was honest in that I had not taken college math in 6 years and I didn't really focus on it when I studied for my DATs. And even though I had a bad score, I have an Economics degree in which I learned how to use alot of math and graphs to solve Economics problems. My QR section relied heavily on trig and probability, which are my worst two subjects in math. It wasn't easy trig either, like in the practice DATs I took...it was cosecant, secant and cotanget stuff. I knew they were reciprocals, but I couldn't remember which related to which normal trig function.

It seems that schools are increasingly using GPA and DATs as first round cutoffs because they have so many applications to go through now, but I can't see any school rejecting you because of one section score on one part of your application. If you do well on all the other sections, and you have a decent application, there is a good chance they will look at you. Just be honest in why you didn't do well.

 

[Visceral]

Some schools really love reading comprehension. I know here in Canada, one school requires around 19, changes yearly, just for an interview. Problem is that it is a hard cut off, from what I have been told, so a 3.9+ GPA etc. doesn't matter if you have an 18.

 

[jackbauer!]

i took dat first time and scored 20/20/17 (with a 20 in RC)...i retook and scored 22/22/18 (with a 17 in RC)....

i did much better 2nd time OVERALL, but my RC dropped by 3 points!! Hopefully schools will look at my RC score at my first exam....and i hope it doesn't keep me from getting accepted!

jb!🙂

 

[jmick101]

Let me just jump in here and say that RC is very important in your evaluation. Some Harvard kid did research comparing DAT stats and NBDE 1 stats and found a relationship between good RC scores and good overall board scores. (http://www.jdentaled.org/cgi/content/abstract/70/3/258)

Makes sense doesnt it, good reader=good student. This kind of shoots out of the water the argument that RC is worthless and an application afterthought. According to this research RC is one of the most important parts on the DAT.

 

[dat_student]

... UCLA looks at it highly.

not sure if that's an accurate statement. UCLA looks at everything. I doubt UCLA rejects anyone based on any one section alone.

 

[EnviroDentist]

i took dat first time and scored 20/20/17 (with a 20 in RC)...i retook and scored 22/22/18 (with a 17 in RC)....

i did much better 2nd time OVERALL, but my RC dropped by 3 points!! Hopefully schools will look at my RC score at my first exam....and i hope it doesn't keep me from getting accepted!

jb!🙂

How much did you study each time JB? I took it for the first time and took the Kaplan course, didn't do most of the recommended stuff and got a 20/21. I assumed this was good enough and both schools I interviewed at said that my scores were good, but from reading on SDN, I feel like I might need to retake it. Anyway, just wondering how much time it took you to raise your score?

 

[f20cdentist]

I went on interview today and interviewer told me why I did bad in reading comprehension bcz I got 17 there. He asked me whether I m considering about taking the test again. I think that my interview was suck..even our tour guide and another admission girl told us at lunch Did anyone interview w/ that guy and I was the one who did. They asked me how did it go, i said okay. They told me that he is a really hard guy to go along w/ bcz he is very intimitated and keep asking the same question over and over again until he get good response. He asked me y did I get "D" in one of the classes, y 17 in reading, all negative point he could have brought, he brought those up...I like the campus, but I hate that guy...i m pretty much sure that I will get rejection or wait listed, just have to wait two more weeks to see result...
don't worry bcz most of the students are on the same boat...[/QUOTEO]

DR Hittleman at NYU ???

 

[Red Falcon]

It depends on the school. I made sure I applied to schools that didn't favor QR, since my score on that section wasn't so hot (13). It turned out to be the best choice I could've made since I got into all five schools that I applied to. My instate school even said one subscore does not a DAT make. They looked at the whole picture, and I was very grateful for that, so I sent them a deposit a few weeks back to let them know my intentions.

I feel sorry for some of these dental students who live in states where anything less than 17 on a subsection will not get them an interview. That's such an exclusive way of eliminating applicants since it is only a small part of the entire application process. Yet these same schools will allow people with DUI's to explain themselves and gain admission. So backwards in a way.

 

[onamission]

Red Falcon,
Which schools did you get into? And how did you determine who didn't place a lot on emphasis on QR? I got a 19 TS, 18 AA, 20 RC, 21 PAT but only a 15 on QR. My undergrad is engineering, so go figure! I just found myself engrossed in that section of the test and actually "solving" problems instead of "taking the test" and ran out of time. I haven't gotten any interviews yet.

 

[pre-dentalguy]

oooh, not true, not true. This will make people feel horrible if they are rejected after their interviews!

If schools accepted everyone who did well on interviews, they would only interview the number they want to accept. Obviously, they interview twice as many. You are NOT accepted when you're interviewed, and if they were positive about wanting you in every way, you really can't scare them that badly!

Check any school's statistics....most interview about twice as many as are accepted.

Also, some factors in an application that haven't been mentioned: personal statement, letters of recommendation, your schedule of coursework (including a balance of other subjects), awards, extracurriculars. These make a big difference!

No, I don't think that one lowish score makes a huge difference....I got below a 17 on one part and I did fine.

Very true... very true!!

 

[dudewhensmydat]

oooh, not true, not true. This will make people feel horrible if they are rejected after their interviews!

If schools accepted everyone who did well on interviews, they would only interview the number they want to accept. Obviously, they interview twice as many. You are NOT accepted when you're interviewed, and if they were positive about wanting you in every way, you really can't scare them that badly!

Check any school's statistics....most interview about twice as many as are accepted.

Also, some factors in an application that haven't been mentioned: personal statement, letters of recommendation, your schedule of coursework (including a balance of other subjects), awards, extracurriculars. These make a big difference!

No, I don't think that one lowish score makes a huge difference....I got below a 17 on one part and I did fine.

I heard this is true for UOP😀 , unless you're interviewing for an alternate position.