How much harder is Dentistry than Optometry?

[MasterStrike]

I am talking about in terms of the DAT/OAT, dental/optometry school, and the boards.

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[StormInTheSky]

All I know is the DAT/OAT are very similar, to the point where study materials overlap.

 

[UnicornOpt]

a lot harder

 

[AcademicEyes]

Isn't that hard for any of us to say, since probably no one has completed dentistry school and optometry school?
How can we compare our experience with one we've never had? Isn't it dependent on which program you attend as well?

Ask people who are currently in those programs what life is like, and form your own opinion.

 

[JBL0008]

I've applied to both. Dental is 1000x harder than Optometry to get into a program. OAT is harder because of the physics section requires more study time than the DAT's PAT section, but a 300 OAT score can get you accepted somewhere. For the DAT you'll want a 21. A 21 DAT vs a 300 OAT are very different. 300 OAT is like 50% while the 21 DAT is 91%. The average OAT score for acceptance is 320-330 depending on school, and that still like a 75%. Dental schools average 21 for DAT but that isn't the same for every school. Mississippi dental average DAT is like 18-19 but they only take in state applicants. All other sections on the OAT and DAT are the same. The other biggest factor is there are more people applying to dental than opt. My state has both and the dental gets about 1800 applicants a year while the Opt gets 400 and the class size for the programs are about the same. GPA requirements for dental are also much higher. I'd guess 3.7-3.8 is the average dental GPA while Opt is like a 3.3-3.4.

 

[happyOD]

I've applied to both. Dental is 1000x harder than Optometry to get into a program. OAT is harder because of the physics section requires more study time than the DAT's PAT section, but a 300 OAT score can get you accepted somewhere. For the DAT you'll want a 21. A 21 DAT vs a 300 OAT are very different. 300 OAT is like 50% while the 21 DAT is 91%. The average OAT score for acceptance is 320-330 depending on school, and that still like a 75%. Dental schools average 21 for DAT but that isn't the same for every school. Mississippi dental average DAT is like 18-19 but they only take in state applicants. All other sections on the OAT and DAT are the same. The other biggest factor is there are more people applying to dental than opt. My state has both and the dental gets about 1800 applicants a year while the Opt gets 400 and the class size for the programs are about the same. GPA requirements for dental are also much higher. I'd guess 3.7-3.8 is the average dental GPA while Opt is like a 3.3-3.4.

Agreed. I applied both schools also medical school and pharmacology at the same time years ago. I would say MCAT is way harder than any other, PCAT has calculus and english, OAT needs physics and DAT has PAT. in all of these, OAT is the easiest one. Also for GPA, medical school 3.9-4.0, dental school ~3.7, optometry school 3.2 or maybe less. In some state, the applications for dental school is even harder than medical school. for example, 51 seats/1200 applications for dental school, and 165/2500 for medical school.
Also for the training, dental school is more like surgeon in medical school, has very deep and detail for anatomy, microbiology, biochemistry, and pathology. optometry school doesn't need much of these courses.