How important is the PAT score?

[KHANSAHAAB]

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I know the DAT scores are a major factor in the selection process, but I'm wondering if there is any one section that is given preference by the adcom or are all sections equally weighed. I ask this because I got a 16 on my PAT and a 19 AA/20 TS. Since the curriculam in dental school is mostly science based (atleast in the initial years), I was thinking maybe they would lean more towards/prefer a strong science score.

 

[drhobie7]

The PAT section is important. I recommend retaking the DAT. Do lots of practice problems for the PAT section.

 

[food4thots]

different schools vary in degrees of importance on each section of the DAT. i think sciences and pat are most scrutinized, while QR is the most overlooked of the sections. you can find this information in the ADEA dental book.

 

[sunflower1]

I know the DAT scores are a major factor in the selection process, but I'm wondering if there is any one section that is given preference by the adcom or are all sections equally weighed. I ask this because I got a 16 on my PAT and a 19 AA/20 TS. Since the curriculam in dental school is mostly science based (atleast in the initial years), I was thinking maybe they would lean more towards/prefer a strong science score.

Hey I got very close to ur score, and i got in 2 good schools and still have more interviews i belive if u think u ll do better in everything if u take it again , go head other wise dont , Thats not bad at all(16 i mean)

 

[DIRTIE]

I know the DAT scores are a major factor in the selection process, but I'm wondering if there is any one section that is given preference by the adcom or are all sections equally weighed. I ask this because I got a 16 on my PAT and a 19 AA/20 TS. Since the curriculam in dental school is mostly science based (atleast in the initial years), I was thinking maybe they would lean more towards/prefer a strong science score.

If your GPA is above a 3.5 I would not retake it, if it is below a 3.5 I would.
The rest of your DAT is much more important. Schools look at the AA #1, everything else is secondary, atleast at the majority of schools. If you want to go to UCLA, Harvard, Pacific and a few other schools then I would also retake it, but a 19 AA won't get you into those schools anyways, so you would have to raise all of your scores.

 

[L8DYV]

Different people at different schools have different opinions about scores on the PAT. Much of what I've heard is that they just dont understand how the PAT section can be all inclusivly indicative of hand-eye skills...So just to put that out there.

 

[KHANSAHAAB]

Hey I got very close to ur score, and i got in 2 good schools and still have more interviews i belive if u think u ll do better in everything if u take it again , go head other wise dont , Thats not bad at all(16 i mean)

what was your GPA sunflower?

 

[EyeAmCommi]

According to the DAT Handbook released by the ADA, the PAT section is the best indicator of a person's ability to succeed in dental school. However, schools do look at that score a little differently than others.

What percentile is a 16?

 

[BallDontLie]

It's interesting that you say that becuase at my interview at UDM, they told me my PAT was a little disappointing compared to my academic sections but they just brushed it off and said its not really a big deal because they found that the PAT is not as good of an indicator as the AA/TS. Of course this is gonna vary from school to school, but thats just my experience at one school...

 

[EyeAmCommi]

It's interesting that you say that becuase at my interview at UDM, they told me my PAT was a little disappointing compared to my academic sections but they just brushed it off and said its not really a big deal because they found that the PAT is not as good of an indicator as the AA/TS. Of course this is gonna vary from school to school, but thats just my experience at one school...

The DAT Handbook gives it the highest correlation value to dental school success over all other sections by a huge margin. Personally, I'm not sure what exactly it measures but the statistics are hard to beat. I think this topic has been covered a lot on SDN by the way.

 

[superchris147]

It's interesting that you say that becuase at my interview at UDM, they told me my PAT was a little disappointing compared to my academic sections but they just brushed it off and said its not really a big deal because they found that the PAT is not as good of an indicator as the AA/TS. Of course this is gonna vary from school to school, but thats just my experience at one school...

even though i kind of agree that the PAT doesn't really relate to how well you can do in dental school i feel that a lot of schools think that it is really important. when i applied i scored an 18 on my PAT and that was the lowest score i got (overall AA of either 21 or 22, i can't remember) and I applied to 25 schools and only got into two of them. I feel like my PAT score really hurt me. So to the OP i would really recommend retaking the DAT if you feel you won't hurt your AA that much.

 

[BallDontLie]

Dont get me wrong here, Im not trying to trivialize the PAT at all. Its definitely a very important factor. I was just sharing what I was told during an interview.

You applied to 25 schools and only got into 2? Wow, that's insane. Talk about a stressful situation... It had to be more than just the PAT keeping you out. You did better than I did and I went to 3 interviews and got into all 3...only one flat out rejection and the rest I withdrew before a decision was made.

 

[EyeAmCommi]

even though i kind of agree that the PAT doesn't really relate to how well you can do in dental school i feel that a lot of schools think that it is really important. when i applied i scored an 18 on my PAT and that was the lowest score i got (overall AA of either 21 or 22, i can't remember) and I applied to 25 schools and only got into two of them. I feel like my PAT score really hurt me. So to the OP i would really recommend retaking the DAT if you feel you won't hurt your AA that much.

I thought that an 18 was really good, like at least 90 percentile or something. BallDontLie is right, I think there are other factors that affected your application, not the PAT score.

 

[food4thots]

i applied to about 17 schools last year.. w/ a 21AA/16 PAT. and was not admitted to any. i got a 20 on PAT, and am accepted to one of school of my top choice. was this a factor? i'm not sure, but i'm happy with the results this year.

 

[BallDontLie]

Geez, 17 schools? 25 schools?? Sounds expensive.....almost as expensive as what my tuition is gonna cost me 😱

 

[superchris147]

Dont get me wrong here, Im not trying to trivialize the PAT at all. Its definitely a very important factor. I was just sharing what I was told during an interview.

You applied to 25 schools and only got into 2? Wow, that's insane. Talk about a stressful situation... It had to be more than just the PAT keeping you out. You did better than I did and I went to 3 interviews and got into all 3...only one flat out rejection and the rest I withdrew before a decision was made.

yeah it was pretty stressful, but I don't really know what else it could have been cuz I had 2 and a half years of research experience at UCLA and a good GPA well above the average GPA at ucla. I know there are other factors than just the PAT but in my case it was either my PAT or the fact that I was applying out of state to most of these schools (no luck with the california schools). Anyways, all i'm saying is that from my experience if I got a 16 on the PAT I would definitely retake it. It might save you a lot of money (aka reapplying) and time (aka reapplying). If I recall correctly my PAT of 18 was only around 70% (disclaimer: that was like 3 years ago though so don't quote me on it)

 

[PDizzle]

From what I have gathered from adcoms is that the PAT is important up to a certain level that the school deems acceptable. Above that, it doesn't matter much. Below this level you may have a problem and your app may be put into a different pile....the "not-so-good-to-be-in" pile. 🙁

For example, an AA of 23 is much better then an AA of 20 while a PAT of 23 is most likely no better than a PAT of 20.

 

[geckel]

I would like to add that some schools have a minimum cut off of a 17 in every section. If you decide to retake the test then I would recommend studying something more substantial then kaplan for the PAT. Ace the DAT is actually ok on that section...........but the whole program is full of errors so watch out.

 

[mellowt]

To me it seems like you just have to do above the average PAT score of the specific schools and you should be okay. After that everything else are going to be the deciding factors e.g. GPA, volunteering, etc. Honestly I got a 23 on the PAT and I got on the alt list for Creighton so PAT is important but not that important I guess.

 

[Pzak]

Since every school is different.........go to www.predents.com and rank the schools according to their PAT scores, this will give you an idea which schools put high priority on the PAT section.