Re-applicant Here!!

[IndianLake]

So today I found out that I won't be getting into the two schools I was waitlisted at. I was talking to one of the advisors at the state school to see what I need to improve on to apply again this cycle. She said things like GPA, some extracurricular activities, etc. But when I asked about my DAT, she said that I should probably not re-take it because my scores are strong. My scores are: AA - 20, TS - 20, PAT - 18, RC - 19, QR - 17. Now I don't think these scores are strong and I was planning on re-taking the DAT this summer. My plan was to keep studying for it and maybe schedule my DAT for early July. I will still apply to schools right away once the application opens up in about a week. Then my plan was to email all of the schools I will be applying to and tell them that I will be re-taking the DAT soon, so they don't base any decisions on these old scores. So my question....does anyone think that I should re-take the DAT? And if I do, should I then email all of the schools and let them know that I will be re-taking it soon? I am hoping to get a better score this time because I now know what and how exactly to study. Also people that have taken the DAT twice, did you do better the second time?

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[Pro-Dentite19]

From what I understood during my application cycle was that most schools look for the 20/20 on the DAT. If you think you can get a 22+ you should probably do it but if you only improve marginally it would be a waste of money IMO.

 

[JLT223]

Why would you retake the DAT when she said it was fine and then not focus on the GPA/ECs.....? Am I missing something?

 

[IndianLake]

From what I understood during my application cycle was that most schools look for the 20/20 on the DAT. If you think you can get a 22+ you should probably do it but if you only improve marginally it would be a waste of money IMO.

Yes as of now I am not 100% sure if I can increase my DAT by that many points because I have just started to study. All I know is that I now have a better idea of how to study for the DAT.

Why would you retake the DAT when she said it was fine and then not focus on the GPA/ECs.....? Am I missing something?

I am still confused because this one advisor from this one school has told me this. I will be applying to other schools this cycle, but I am not sure if they all feel the same way about my scores. If 20 on the DAT is known to be pretty good to all schools, then I might not re-take it.

I am also a little worried because she said to work on my GPA and I have worked on it this past year. When I had applied last summer, my GPA was about a 3.38. Now my GPA is a 3.485. I had a horrible freshman year because of personal problems and I had ended up with a 2.9 after my first year. My GPA has been in an upward trend since then but when I was talking to the advisor, it sounded like my current GPA was still not good enough.

 

[Likkriue]

A 3.485 gpa and a 20 DAT puts you at the average for most schools. I think if you apply broadly you should be fine.

 

[schmoob]

Don't retake. Focus on EC'S, shadowing, LoR's, and your PS.
You'll get it this time

 

[IndianLake]

A 3.485 gpa and a 20 DAT puts you at the average for most schools. I think if you apply broadly you should be fine.

ok! I'm just still really worried because of my low GPA, but hopefully it works out for the best!

Don't retake. Focus on EC'S, shadowing, LoR's, and your PS.
You'll get it this time

Will do! I have been focusing on my EC's, shadowing, LORs and PS ever since I got the waitlist notice in December last year, so hopefully it should make my application look much stronger! And I hope I get in this time.... I was so devastated when I got rejected yesterday.

 

[JLT223]

I'm just still really worried because of my low GPA,

Your GPA is near the average of accepted applicants. It is not low by any means.

 

[IndianLake]

Your GPA is near the average of accepted applicants. It is not low by any means.

I thought my GPA was average as well, but I guess I am just freaking out about it because the advisor told me it was below average.

 

[dyesht]

So today I found out that I won't be getting into the two schools I was waitlisted at. I was talking to one of the advisors at the state school to see what I need to improve on to apply again this cycle. She said things like GPA, some extracurricular activities, etc. But when I asked about my DAT, she said that I should probably not re-take it because my scores are strong. My scores are: AA - 20, TS - 20, PAT - 18, RC - 19, QR - 17. Now I don't think these scores are strong and I was planning on re-taking the DAT this summer. My plan was to keep studying for it and maybe schedule my DAT for early July. I will still apply to schools right away once the application opens up in about a week. Then my plan was to email all of the schools I will be applying to and tell them that I will be re-taking the DAT soon, so they don't base any decisions on these old scores. So my question....does anyone think that I should re-take the DAT? And if I do, should I then email all of the schools and let them know that I will be re-taking it soon? I am hoping to get a better score this time because I now know what and how exactly to study. Also people that have taken the DAT twice, did you do better the second time?

I'm thinking the advisor had it backwards. Your GPA is fine, but you could retake the DAT to improve your chances. The AA and TS are fine, but all scores are considered (depending on the school), and the 17 in RC and 18 on the PAT are minor red flags that you could improve on. Maybe the schools you applied to heavily favor those specific tests and want to see higher scores? I retook the DAT with significantly better scores. It was also a positive thing that was talked about in my interviews too. I would lean on retaking if I was in your position.

Side note: DON'T listen to people telling you to just reapply and do absolutely nothing to improve your application. You HAVE to do something in the gap year. There are literally spots in the application asking what you did lol.

 

[Carbohydrates]

Your GPA is near the average of accepted applicants. It is not low by any means.

I'm pretty sure you have been repeating these so many times the last few days in every post

"Why you need to retake?"
"Your GPA is fine"
"Your GPA is not low"
"Your DAT score is fine"

 

[IndianLake]

I'm thinking the advisor had it backwards. Your GPA is fine, but you could retake the DAT to improve your chances. The AA and TS are fine, but all scores are considered (depending on the school), and the 17 in RC and 18 on the PAT are minor red flags that you could improve on. Maybe the schools you applied to heavily favor those specific tests and want to see higher scores? I retook the DAT with significantly better scores. It was also a positive thing that was talked about in my interviews too. I would lean on retaking if I was in your position.

Side note: DON'T listen to people telling you to just reapply and do absolutely nothing to improve your application. You HAVE to do something in the gap year. There are literally spots in the application asking what you did lol.

Hmm that could be it. But she did say that it was the GPA that was low and not the DAT. She did say that I could re-take the DAT if I wanted too, but that it was my GPA that I should be more worried about. And yea I am applying this cycle again, but this past year I have been improving on my application like shadowing and volunteering more, becoming a TA for an anatomy class, etc. Once I found out that I was waitlisted in December of last year, I decided to start improving on my application right then because I didn't want to take any chances. Mostly everyone here has told me not to re-take the DAT because they think it's fine and I personally don't want to re-take it either because it takes a lot of time to prepare for. But I'm still a little worried about it lol

 

[schmoob]

ok! I'm just still really worried because of my low GPA, but hopefully it works out for the best!

Will do! I have been focusing on my EC's, shadowing, LORs and PS ever since I got the waitlist notice in December last year, so hopefully it should make my application look much stronger! And I hope I get in this time.... I was so devastated when I got rejected yesterday.

Awesome, great job! Keep up the good work.
BTW the like was not for the rejection, it was for the positivity. You'll get it this time!

 

[dyesht]

Hmm that could be it. But she did say that it was the GPA that was low and not the DAT. She did say that I could re-take the DAT if I wanted too, but that it was my GPA that I should be more worried about. And yea I am applying this cycle again, but this past year I have been improving on my application like shadowing and volunteering more, becoming a TA for an anatomy class, etc. Once I found out that I was waitlisted in December of last year, I decided to start improving on my application right then because I didn't want to take any chances. Mostly everyone here has told me not to re-take the DAT because they think it's fine and I personally don't want to re-take it either because it takes a lot of time to prepare for. But I'm still a little worried about it lol

Yea it's ultimately up to you. I had a much lower GPA than yours, but my DAT retake was much higher than your score and I got in. So it really depends on the school and if you were told by an advisor to improve your GPA only then focus on that over the DAT.

 

[IndianLake]

Yea it's ultimately up to you. I had a much lower GPA than yours, but my DAT retake was much higher than your score and I got in. So it really depends on the school and if you were told by an advisor to improve your GPA only then focus on that over the DAT.

Did you have to re-apply as well? Is that why you re-took the DAT?