MCAT or DAT

[anonuser344]

Which harder

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[lumya]

Both tests are difficult. In my opinion, the DAT is difficult in that there's a visual perception section where you have to determine the degree of angles. The MCAT is hard because it's longer sections with a lot of reading comprehension. Both can be hard without invalidating the other.

 

[GreenDuck12]

Fact: Bears beats Battlestar Galactica.

 

[Splenda88]

I took both...

I got 21 on the DAT when I took it in 2013. I believe that was around 80th percentile. Then I decided I was going to pursue medicine instead and I took a MCAT diagnostics exam at that time and I scored 21. After studying for a good 12 wks, I was able to score 27 on the real exam, which was ~60 percentile.

The MCAT in my opinion was much more difficult given that English is my second language. Even the Biological Science section in the MCAT was somewhat an English comprehension section.

 

[sobertiger]

MCAT, and it's not close

 

[Blueprint Med School]

They're weighted exams, so the question really becomes "do people study more for the MCAT or DAT?" because really, standardized exam scores are less functions of how smart you are, and more functions of how willing you are to put in the hours needed.

Nobody can say for certain but I'd put any amount of money on the average student spending significantly more time studying for the MCAT.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[deleted1066189]

I hear the PAT section is a real pain. If you're Canadian, the PAT is even more high stakes, as you'll have to carve a bar of soap!!

Canadian Dental Association

 

[scoopdaboop]

The PAT is a joke. It's just put there to make the DAT seem difficult, yet it has very little relevance in how well you will do in dental school. Also, dental schools put the least emphasis on PAT compared to other sections. The curve is also atrocious; ie you can miss like 20 + and get a good score.

 

[LegendaryPanda]

Keep in mind that the above user, who seems to be a newly admitted DO, has been coming down to the dentistry forums recently to talk about how med students are better than dental students, how much harder medical school is than dental school, and how OMFS isn't even that competitive compared to medical specialties due to our low CBSE scores. Most of what he said had been debunked, but no surprise that he or she is still continuing on this narrative.

And I quote:

This thread is not productive:

1-Getting into dental school is way less competitive than MD programs. DO programs are about the same.

2- Getting through medical school is way harder than getting through dental school. (don't give me the BS about "we have to go to lab"). Rotation years in medicine is tough, and the primary motivation for someone to get through medical school is their shadowing experience when they realized the attending's impact on their patients.

3- Everyone knows dental specialties require probably half the effort compared to a competitive medical specialty in terms of actually being competitive for one. OMFS during residency is clearly brutal rivaling that of medical sub specialties, but even being competitive for OMFS isn't that difficult.

Now, the average medical applicant, 230 step 1 etc. can easily be competitive for all dental specialties assuming they worked just as hard if they chose dentistry. Same cannot be said the other way around.

So because of this, I would imagine most orthodontic peoples would still go for that, realizing that they probably don't have the same work ethic, nor do they want to work as hard as their medical peers because they don't have an ego. I believe you need a certain amount of ego to get through medical school. That is probably a boon to dentists, because they don't really care about prestige or ego, so in the end they get a decent lifestyle and live comfortably.

You will have some people who get jaded in medicine and would choose dentistry, and I imagine others in dentistry with an ego who will choose medicine. So in the end, it comes down to your innate, almost primal desires and how you wish to be perceived by society.

Also, just because FM/IM/peds isn't competitive in MD circles, doesn't mean the applicants themselves aren't better than your average DDS applicant to specialties. This is just based from step 1 scores, vs DDS students who take the CBSE. And, I know for a fact, that dental students study using same resources/ lengthy time periods for the cbse. Also, the point about class rank is school dependent. Several dental schools are P/F, and medical schools with P/F often have internal rankings. But, step 1 is more important anyways, and a lot harder to do well in than doing well in medical school.

I wouldn't know how hard hand work is, but it seems like there's a ceiling based on genetics? Either way, idk how big lab grading is in dental school and how it decides your class rank. If it's a big factor, then okay, point taken: different skillsets.

 

[Splenda88]

Keep in mind that the above user has been coming down to the dentistry forums recently to talk about how med students are better than dental students, how much harder medical school is than dental school, and how OMFS isn't even that competitive compared to medical specialties due to our low CBSE scores. Most of what he said had been debunked, but no surprise that he or she is still continuing on this narrative.

And I quote:

Lol...

Why would someone feel the need to write such thing about dental school? I don't understand it...

 

[scoopdaboop]

Keep in mind that the above user has been coming down to the dentistry forums recently to talk about how med students are better than dental students, how much harder medical school is than dental school, and how OMFS isn't even that competitive compared to medical specialties due to our low CBSE scores. Most of what he said had been debunked, but no surprise that he or she is still continuing on this narrative.

And I quote:

I'll say the same thing about CARS. CARS is a joke. They can just remove that section of the exam and remove a needless headache for a lot of people. Nobody cares if you can comprehend something that some old white guy wrote. I can't imagine people doing well in the MCAT who don't know English decently well so you don't need to add CARS.