Hi everyone, question about changing up my whole strategy...

[DenTony11235]

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Hi guys, been a while since I've been here.

So my expected graduation date from college is this upcoming May, 2013.

I plan on taking the DAT no earlier than February. It's difficult to do good enough in school AND study for the DAT.

Since I'm applying next year, I will only get into the entering Dental class of 2014, meaning I'll have a full year off from school before i start dental school.... still with me guys?

I was thinking.... maybe i should take off the Spring 2013 semester strictly to study for the DAT. Take and re-take it. Then, i can apply to dental school, and finish getting my degree over next summer or in next December.

I guess the only problem with that strategy would be if Dental schools look at my transcript and go "WTF? this guy needed a whole damn semester to himself to study for the DAT? GTFO!"

Could that be something they'd say? Because if not, i think this would be an excellent strategy for me and would lead to things working out best. What do you guys think?

 

[Sal427]

I really don't think you should take a semester off! You could possibly try to take an easier schedule and spread out the rest of the classes you need to graduate to another semester, so instead of graduating in the spring, you could graduate the next winter.

I wouldn't recommend taking the whole semester off because adcoms will see a big problem with this.

Good luck!

 

[DenTony11235]

Exactly the answer i was looking for. Thank you.

Can anyone else vouch for that the adcoms will come down on me for this?

 

[mmmsteakdinners]

Exactly the answer i was looking for. Thank you.

Can anyone else vouch for that the adcoms will come down on me for this?

just take it in june/july. it only takes like 10 weeks to study for. thats what i did.

 

[LaughingGas]

On average people that scored 20+ , devoted themselves about 10 weeks. Agree w above. They are not going to say that b.c. everyone has different situations. I don't think its worth using whole semester just for DAT.

 

[Zbtb7]

Are you going to take a semester off of dental school to study for the boards?

The DAT takes a few hundred hours to study for. Study for it with your free time during school. If you don't want to interrupt your schoolwork, the DAT can be covered in no more than 4 weeks of full time studying in the summertime (med students spend 4 weeks studying for the Step I boards). I got a 20+ with 2 weeks of studying in the summer.

 

[chill45]

I took the DAT last spring (well end of May) and just lowered my load at school to 12 hours. Worked out pretty well cause I could touch on most things and go over notecards, then once school let out practice tests and final cramming. So a light load in the spring and finish up in the summer. Also you can probably take the DAT up until first week of June and still be in the first batch.

 

[hahahigh]

The DAT, as an exam, is all about efficiency and priority, not length of study. I would wager that 8-10 weeks would be an ideal goal for most candidates; any longer and you begin to forget the material that you learned at the beginning. I took about 6 weeks and have no regrets. Don't worry - all will be well. Good luck with your journey. 👍

 

[UCLAzy]

Are you going to take a semester off of dental school to study for the boards?

for many people, they take a summer semester to study for boards. not sure what your point is, smart guy..

 

[Zbtb7]

for many people, they take a summer semester to study for boards. not sure what your point is, smart guy..

In OP's first post, he was suggesting taking a spring semester off to study for the DATs. Dental students don't take courses during this summer "semester" (maybe if they're remediating). Personally, I don't think you'd be taking a semester off if you're not required to take courses in the first place. I'd call it a break... but I'm not going to argue semantics.

Are you applying this year?