mcat vs dat...pls help!

[DRHRT]

So.. I have recently taken the mcat n I don't think I did too well. I have and still want to be a doctor specifically pediatric cardiologist. I am extremely passionate about this field. however, after taking the mcat i feel really discouraged and disappointed. Now, I'm debating about studying for the Dat or should I study and retake the MCAT...??? The Dat is only discrete questions n I feel like i can do really well on it.

Bio major/ chem minor
3.55 c.gpa
3.43 s. gpa

Have experience as MA, shadowed pediatrician & worked as Admin.Ass @ a medical center. Oh, n 4 years @ a pharmacy. No research experience (other then labs in undergrad)

So what do you guys suggest??? DAT? MCAT?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[dwgrubbs1s]

I would wait and see what your MCAT score is first. What was your practice test like? Also, medicine and dentistry are pretty different. If you are as dead set on medicine as what you have originally stated, then I would hold my horses until I seen my MCAT results. In the words of Aaron Rodgers "R-E-L-A-X".

 

[Cranjis McBasketball]

So.. I have recently taken the mcat n I don't think I did too well. I have and still want to be a doctor specifically pediatric cardiologist. I am extremely passionate about this field. however, after taking the mcat i feel really discouraged and disappointed. Now, I'm debating about studying for the Dat or should I study and retake the MCAT...??? The Dat is only discrete questions n I feel like i can do really well on it.

Bio major/ chem minor
3.55 c.gpa
3.43 s. gpa

Have experience as MA, shadowed pediatrician & worked as Admin.Ass @ a medical center. Oh, n 4 years @ a pharmacy. No research experience (other then labs in undergrad)

So what do you guys suggest??? DAT? MCAT?

Why would you want to take the DAT? The DAT is easier, but do not expect that the recall questions for bio to be easy. The biology can be anything from plants, to anat and phys, to embryology, to taxonomy, to evolution, etc. I studied my butt off for the test and got questions that I had never seen and probably wouldn't have known the answers if I had studied a month longer. The chemistries are pretty straight forward and you have a good idea what you will get asked, along with the math section. The PAT section comes with practice. Your passion is clearly medicine. Don't make my mistake. I was gun-ho pre-med but shadowed doctors that shooed me away and told me to get out. I got scared that I wasnt smart enough and I didn't want to work crazy hours in residency. So I switched to dental. I shadowed and tried to convince myself that I loved dental... I invested over a year into it. I took the DAT and did well enough to get into school and have been working as a dental assistant for a while. I can tell you now that I just cannot keep pursuing it. I do not enjoy the job at all, which made me be honest with myself and admit to never really enjoying the shadowing. Dental is very different from medicine. I am now having to study for the MCAT while working and praying that I do well enough to get in this cycle. Your GPA is excellent. Just retake the MCAT and keep doing medicine!

 

[Robracer89]

My friend took the mcat twice and the dat once. Really smart guy but didn't score higher then the 67th percentile on the mcat but took the DAT and got in the 95th percentile and got into dental school but ymmv

 

[FCMike11]

So.. I have recently taken the mcat n I don't think I did too well. I have and still want to be a doctor specifically pediatric cardiologist. I am extremely passionate about this field. however, after taking the mcat i feel really discouraged and disappointed. Now, I'm debating about studying for the Dat or should I study and retake the MCAT...??? The Dat is only discrete questions n I feel like i can do really well on it.

Bio major/ chem minor
3.55 c.gpa
3.43 s. gpa

Have experience as MA, shadowed pediatrician & worked as Admin.Ass @ a medical center. Oh, n 4 years @ a pharmacy. No research experience (other then labs in undergrad)

So what do you guys suggest??? DAT? MCAT?

How were you doing on practice exam's verbal?

Do you want to be a medical doctor or dentist?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using SDN mobile

 

[CLB_MD]

Took the MCAT three times. Scored 508 first attempt, 502 second attempt (really sick during exam but decided not to void exam), and 513 on third attempt. Just be sure to use the AAMC official practice tests/section banks; made the biggest improvement for me. Was just sticking to Kaplan before (which is also good, but doesn't compare to the real thing).

 

[MareNostrummm]

My friend took the mcat twice and the dat once. Really smart guy but didn't score higher then the 67th percentile on the mcat but took the DAT and got in the 95th percentile and got into dental school but ymmv

lol what... is the MCAT really that much harder?

 

[stickgirl390]

lol what... is the MCAT really that much harder?

Many people consider the MCAT to be the most difficult exam that the general public can take.

 

[Robracer89]

lol what... is the MCAT really that much harder?

I can't really say which is harder and which isn't because I personally don't have experience with the DAT. My friend had spent much of his life in a country where English isn't the dominant language and he had a difficult time understanding the gist of the passages on the mcat but the DAT is all straightforward multiple choice and their reading comprehension section is easier then the CARS Ssectuin on the mcat.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

lol what... is the MCAT really that much harder?

Yep! Many people I know that took both have the same sort of disparity in scores.

OP, so do you want to be a doctor or a dentist? Because if you want to be a doctor then this shouldn't even be a question

 

[Cranjis McBasketball]

lol what... is the MCAT really that much harder?

I hvent taken the mcat yet, but just studying for it is a lot more difficult. The DAT doesnt have physics, or biochem, or social sciences. Its split into bio, gen chem, ochem, math, reading, and PAT. It was straight forward and there werent passages. Mcat is definitely harder

 

[Atom612]

Took the MCAT three times. Scored 508 first attempt, 502 second attempt (really sick during exam but decided not to void exam), and 513 on third attempt. Just be sure to use the AAMC official practice tests/section banks; made the biggest improvement for me. Was just sticking to Kaplan before (which is also good, but doesn't compare to the real thing).

Was your first score unbalanced? Why the retake?

 

[CLB_MD]

Was your first score unbalanced? Why the retake?

I felt like I could have done better than the 508, but my score was balanced.

 

[Rabbit99]

.

 

[738177]

Took both.
MCAT is infinitely harder. Even if the DAT tested 1000 more topics, MCAT would still be harder just due to the nature of the test/questions.

But as the others have said, I wouldn't pick a profession based on test scores. Take your time with the MCAT and take a MCAT course if required.

 

[NotYou20]

but I was wondering if it's a good idea to base what profession we go with depending on test scores alone

its a terrible idea. If you want to be a doctor bust ass for the mcat. If you can't get your score up to something competitive that's the time to look at other careers. Check out the mcat forum to find a better way to study for the mcat