Maybe I can help with getting you motivated. I have looked at this website over the past year and it has given me lots of good advise towards what study materials to use etc. This is the first time I have responded to a thread. I am a non-traditional student (41yrs) and I understand how it is to work and study. Quiting my job is not an option I need the benefits (health ins, mortgage etc) and I am not currently in school so I wouldnt be able to get loans to live on so I could study for the DAT. I work two full time jobs. I work as a Medical Technologist at night 11 pm - 7 am and then I help my wife performing the medical part of life insurance exams during the day. We start at 7:30 am and I try to get to bed by 6 pm that night. (I get 4 hours of sleep a day) I then get up at 10 pm so I can get ready for my 11 pm shift again. I have been doing this for 14 years. My wife needs my help during the day because she has health issues and also due to the work load. I took the DAT two years ago and performed bad. Since I havent had chemistry in 20 years I decided to cut to the chase and retake my organic, inorgan (I took biochem, physics because they were prereqs for some schools ). With the exception of one B I received A's in all my courses while working both my jobs. I cant tell you how many times I was in the bathroom getting sick before class due to lack of sleep those two years. I took my classes in the evening or I would take them around my day shift employment. I would study at night at work when it was slow, and during my day job I would study in the car between clients. I usually had two tutors on the weekend where I would also put in 6-10 hours on saturday and then again on sunday. I would then start my work week sunday night at 11 pm. My personal physcian has excused me twice from work once in 1998 and 2003 for complete exhaustion. During the last two years my wife would drive me to school or work because she was afraid I would fall asleep and get into a car accident. The DAT is the only thing that will get me into dental school. My total GPA for undergrad was 2.7, the last 60 hours I have maintained a 3.8 GPA. My undergrad gpa was contributed by a very unstable home life and work. Our home life also affect my brother and sister. My brother flunked out of high school and got his GED later that summer. He had started back to school later in life. To make a long story short he was at the top of his class in grad school and will be receiving his doctorate in physics this year. Since I finished retaken courses last may, I have been studying for the DAT on weekends and whenever I can during the week, I am usually studying tired. I was told by a few deans at different dental schools that if my DAT was competive then I would be competitive for their program ( because I would aparently knew the material). I also have to deal with age descrimination. I had one associate dean in admissions at UMKC dental school ask me when I had anatomy last? I told him that it had been 20 years, He told me that anatomy has changed so much in the last 10 years my anatomy class wouldnt be relavent. WTF. I guess he could be right, he might have grown a second head but I couldnt see it because it was up his ***. One thing to remember about admissions committee's, is that they dont give a sh_t what your contending with in your life, they want to see certain DAT scores. Although I think they want good individuals my personal opinion is that its just anouther business. They know by studies from the ADA that if you get a AA 17 or better you will have no problem getting through dental school and yes they want your tuition the full 4 years. They dont want you flunking out your sophmore year because they probably wont be able to fill your slot the next two years with a transfer student from anouther dental school. I have been able to do my best studying at the library where my mind set and atmosphere is condusive to studying. If I try to study at home, I know the TV is in the next room and my bed is one floor up. Also set a time period to study. Maybe if you have a end time when you will stop studying maybe it will be able easier to begin. Also keep in mind that being a dentist is what you really want to do. If all else fails think of my situation that should get you motivated. To me everything is a mind set. My last AA was 14. I know there was alot of material I hadnt covered and I know if I study the next 7 mo I should be more competetive next year. Most students on this website are talking about getting AA 20+, I am looking at obtaining an AA of 17 or 18. I know there are some schools that are fine with that. I know once I get into dental school I will excell because I wont have anything to contend with other than school and my work ethic is unparrallel. I have improved on certain areas of the DAT that keep me positive. I do feel at times everything is against me and why try, I am even having surgery at the end of february and will be down for two weeks. If I can give an analogy, I feel like a chiwauwua at the dog pound (I am finally making some progress with my DAT) or like a dog in the pound I am finally getting adopted (but then my last DAT AA 14) or to complete the analogy the person who is adopting me is Michael Vick. I apologize for being so verbose but I hope this helps. Now I will suck it up, study every chance I get the next 7 mo, and hope to get an interview next year because this is very important to me. Good Luck.
