i just got back from volunteering at the dental department at my local hospital. One of the residents there had told me that the schools, more specifically NYU look at reading, PAT, and the biology sections as utmost important. Is that true?
rumor or a fact? ( regarding stats on DAT)
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I asked an admissions counselor at NYU about the PAT because I did very well on that section. She told me that they don't really care about it. From my understanding, most schools don't put that much weight on PAT. It's viewed as pass/fail. As long as you don't bomb it, you're ok.
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unpublished studies have indicated that Reading Comprehension scores are the most predictive indicators as to how well a student will perform in dental school. As such, it is widely considered the most important score on the DAT.
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The ADA's validity study does not show a strong correlation between RC and 1st/2nd year gpa which is not surprising considering that the RC on the DAT is a complete joke given that you don't even really have to read the passages carefully to get a 20ish score....
I think the "RC is most important because it correlates strongly with dental school performance" line is just a load of BS that schools cook up to weed out ESL kids.
I think the "RC is most important because it correlates strongly with dental school performance" line is just a load of BS that schools cook up to weed out ESL kids.
Its funny I only got a 18 in RC (I am just a slow reader) But 22TS so clearly I must no how to read to some level. I am worried about my RC but I think like people have said its a load of BS to think its the most important.
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I don't think the DAT is suppose to be an indicator of how well one will do, but a standardized exam to level the courses taught at all these undergrad universities. Honestly, how can a basic science test indicate how well one will understand the mechanics of dentistry? If you do well in school you will do well on the DAT and most likely do well in dental school (on the academics, maybe not when it comes to holding the drill).
If they wanted the DAT to be a tool to measure future success, why not toss in some critical thinking for the RC and the natural sciences instead of search destroy and puking up a months worth of memorizing...
Just my $0.02
If they wanted the DAT to be a tool to measure future success, why not toss in some critical thinking for the RC and the natural sciences instead of search destroy and puking up a months worth of memorizing...
Just my $0.02
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Right, I don't think it is very intuitive either (RC being the most important). Given that most schools are all about numbers, at the end of the day, your AA is king. Afterall, schools don't report RC. So, if you get a sub par RC score but your AA is high, I'm sure it won't be a big deal.
On the other hand, correlation studies do indicate that biology is important which makes a bit more sense....
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I would agree with you if we spoke about SATs, however there have been a lot of studies done to validate that the DAT is actually a pretty good indicator of success in dental school. I was shocked to hear that the ADA would actually pay for studies to prove this (because in reality they dont have to prove anything to anyone.)
The reason why the DAT might be a good exam is because at the heart of any complex procedure, you have the basics. If you cannot accurately under the basics, how would you be inclined to understand the complex material? Again im not defending whether or not the DAT is a good indicator or not, but in reality it might be.
Remember someone who scores in the 95% percentile is pretty damn smart vs. the 50% percentile. The question boils down to how much smarter someone is when they're in the 65% to 80% percentile (is there a big gap or a little gap?)
Either way all we can do is hope to get into dental school and leave the DAT days behind us. Im sick of having no life AND not being in d-school yet LOL I will gladly suffer when I can have no life AND be a d-student
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the same studies you're looking at have RC as a HIGHER priority than Bio. I believe schools considered RC as 27% important and Bio as 26% important (of the total application.) But I think those 2 sections were overshadowed by Interviews which were MORE important than those 2 scores.
So in reality good bio + good RC = interviews, but Interviews > RC > Bio.
And while AA matters, if you look on predents, you see a few guys with 3.0 GPAs and 30 RC that got into places like Columbia. Granted its a long shot, but I'd rather get a 27 in RC than a 21 in G Chem.
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I would agree with you if we spoke about SATs, however there have been a lot of studies done to validate that the DAT is actually a pretty good indicator of success in dental school. I was shocked to hear that the ADA would actually pay for studies to prove this (because in reality they dont have to prove anything to anyone.)
The reason why the DAT might be a good exam is because at the heart of any complex procedure, you have the basics. If you cannot accurately under the basics, how would you be inclined to understand the complex material? Again im not defending whether or not the DAT is a good indicator or not, but in reality it might be.
Remember someone who scores in the 95% percentile is pretty damn smart vs. the 50% percentile. The question boils down to how much smarter someone is when they're in the 65% to 80% percentile (is there a big gap or a little gap?)
Either way all we can do is hope to get into dental school and leave the DAT days behind us. Im sick of having no life AND not being in d-school yet LOL I will gladly suffer when I can have no life AND be a d-student
Touché and I totally agree with your last statement!
