Interviews and Rejections: What to think?

[Shane41]

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I know that sdn represents a lot of great applicants but what about the applicants right on the boerder of getting in? I have had one pre dec 1st interview and have also been invited to one more interview a week after december 1st. However, I have been rejected from Case, Nova, Arizona, and Temple...What does this mean?

Am I actually a strong candidate?
Will I actually get in?
Why are some schools interviewing me and I am getting straight rejected by others?
Why havent I heard from about 8 other schools?

Here are some things to consider about why this is happening which is coming straight from the dean of admissions at Detroit Mercy's dental school from their open house.

She said a few things:
1.) They already have more applcants on October 27 of this yaar than ALL of last year combined.
2.) She said a LOT of schools are having problems with the mass amount of applicants.
3.) She also said that they look at your dat scores in this order: Reading Comp, Bio, Org, Gen Chem..NOT BY AA FIRST!
4.) She also said that many schools will simply look at TS before AA


This process is killing me...is anyone else in my boat?

It also seems like the schools I have been rejected from had a lot of early applicants )june and July) and it also seems like a lot of decent applicants have been rejected from those schools. Schools had my stuff Aug. 29

 

[Mackchops]

I'm sorry, but what dental school would concern themselves the most with an applicants RC score?? Even more than Bio? I don't get that one...

Don't fret. It's tough on you but, as you said, it's also been a tough year on the schools. Their timing is off and some are trying to be conservative to make sure they don't miss out on such a competitive crowd. Dec. 1st is an arbitrary date and is NOT the end of the road. So chin up and good luck, pal. You'll be fine.

 

[Magna Cum Latte]

I heard from an adcom member that they do put a lot of weight on RC because they want graduates who will be able to stay up to date with new advancements in dentistry through professional journals. The adcoms correlate our ability to quickly read (and damn do i mean quickly) the dat passages and comprehend their contents with our future ability to stay up to date with the new advances in the sh$tloads of articles in dental journals. However, I do not necessarily believe that all dental schools look at RC scores first.

 

[socalpredent]

to add to what magna cum latte said, I also heard that there was a correlation between RC scores and performance on board exams. I guess schools don't want to be graduating a bunch of dentists who can't pass boards, and thus can't practice...

 

[dddsmack]

I have also been told that RC is the most important score on the DAT as far as predicting how students will do with all the material.

 

[dentstd]

I have also been told that RC is the most important score on the DAT as far as predicting how students will do with all the material.

but who tha hell remembers all the junk facts given to us like that? I tried my best to memorize the passages as I read it, but I could only memorize the first 7-9 paragraphs. The remaining 5-7 were blurs. Nevermind trying to remember the facts for extended periods of time.

 

[dddsmack]

I don't agree with what I said, I was just passing the word along.

🙂

 

[Istr8nthem]

RC score may not be lookied at being the most important overall score, but more likely, it can be a great predictor of a student who may struggle with written or verbal communication. This primarily effects students whom english is their second language. I can tell you, that is what we look at first, if there is any sign of a communication issue (which can be noted by a low RC score) it isn't a good sign for the applicant. I can say that AA and PAT are the most important scores here.

 

[dddsmack]

Another pet peeve:

Reading Comprehension = Verbal section of the DAT

 

[Mackchops]

It still blows my mind how many college grads confuse there and their. Talk about pet peeves! The RC won't weed those people out, either.

 

[Istr8nthem]

It still blows my mind how many college grads confuse there and their. Talk about pet peeves! The RC won't weed those people out, either.

This is where the implementation of the "writing sample" at the interview really helps out. It's very easy to notice issues with written english, and the interview itself helps weed out problems with spoken english.

 

[Shane41]

Ok, so back to the original question. There has to be more people than myself getting rejections and interviews, isnt there?

 

[fajitapita]

RC score may not be lookied at being the most important overall score, but more likely, it can be a great predictor of a student who may struggle with written or verbal communication. This primarily effects students whom english is their second language. I can tell you, that is what we look at first, if there is any sign of a communication issue (which can be noted by a low RC score) it isn't a good sign for the applicant. I can say that AA and PAT are the most important scores here.

And what school are you representing?

 

[Toothfairy86]

People in my Kaplan class were also asking about the Reading Comp section, and our teacher told us that it was only an indicator of success in dental school...that's all

 

[Istr8nthem]

And what school are you representing?

I represent a very well respected school on the east coast. And I will tell you that what I am saying is not hearsay, it's exactly how we do things. I wish to remain anonymous, so I will not be mentioning which specific school I am at. You can trust that what I am telling you are real facts and how we do things here. I know many schools work the same as we do, so while I may generalize, many of the things I mention are almost universal in the admissions departments at many schools. The reason I am on here is because I wish someone answered the questions I had when I went through this process years ago. No hidden objectives here, I'm only here to answer questions and try to help out a bit.

 

[jim85213]

RC score may not be lookied at being the most important overall score, but more likely, it can be a great predictor of a student who may struggle with written or verbal communication. This primarily effects students whom english is their second language. I can tell you, that is what we look at first, if there is any sign of a communication issue (which can be noted by a low RC score) it isn't a good sign for the applicant. I can say that AA and PAT are the most important scores here.

So what's considered a low RC score? I got a 17 in RC and I think it's killing me. I have two rejections and zero interviews. It's too bad that the RC score is viewed that way because I do very well at verbal communication. In fact, I would say it is one of my major strengths. My issue with the RC section is that I have great reading comprehension but I cannot read quickly and catch all the material. That may say something about my written communication but has nothing to do with my verbal communication.

 

[Istr8nthem]

So what's considered a low RC score? I got a 17 in RC and I think it's killing me. I have two rejections and zero interviews. It's too bad that the RC score is viewed that way because I do very well at verbal communication. In fact, I would say it is one of my major strengths. My issue with the RC section is that I have great reading comprehension but I cannot read quickly and catch all the material. That may say something about my written communication but has nothing to do with my verbal communication.

Your stats aren't bad at all. May i ask where you did your undergrad work at? CC or 4 year school?? And dont worry, letters are still going out for interviews. Your PAT is great and I'm not sure that a 17 is going to "kill you." Give me a little more info about your experiences in the dental field/undergrad attended, etc. You can PM me and I can let you know better where you stand compared to other applicants. Hope i helped.

 

[jim85213]

I'll PM you.

 

[maksidaa]

i got close to a 30 on the RC and i've only got four interviews when i applied to 14 (i'm not complaining that i onlu got 4 interviews, i'm just trying to understand what RC has to do w/ it). the rest of my stats are above average, so if there's such an emphasis on RC why haven't i gotten 8 or 9 interviews like some other people?

 

[shamrock2006]

Yea i'm looking for a little help on this as well...i've taken the DAT twice and got a 21 RC the first time and a 19 the second time unfortunately...so i kind of think i have shown i can handle some extensive reading...esp given that i've taken a lot of reading/writing intensive courses in my undergrad.