Should I retake it? Or not?

[Solstica]

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[blue_moon01]

congrats on taking your DAT!
If I was you I would send the scores in. Contact the school and ask them if I should retake it and then go from there. DAT is only one factor, your GPA, EC, workload, Dental experiences, personal statement, counts too. ALso Dental school give preferences to people who have a degree already and I assume you do have one because you said you've been out of school for a while.

(Regardless of what the Dental school says, I will still retake the DAT because it's also a factor if you ever decide to specialize later on. )
goodluck!

 

[Gordon9721]

i took it today, very very similar scores. since my gpa is very unattractive (2.7sciences, 3.3 cumulative) i'm retaking. my plan:sending these scores in, buying destroyer, and contacting schools to BS and feel out the situation.

 

[Solstica]

Yup. I already have BS degree.

(Regardless of what the Dental school says, I will still retake the DAT because it's also a factor if you ever decide to specialize later on. )
goodluck!

Really? I didn't know they'd consider old DAT scores for selection to specialization. Do most do this?

 

[Solstica]

i took it today, very very similar scores. since my gpa is very unattractive (2.7sciences, 3.3 cumulative) i'm retaking. my plan:sending these scores in, buying destroyer, and contacting schools to BS and feel out the situation.

that's funny, because that is where my GPA too.

Which passage did you have? My mind was falling asleep on the "Asteroid" passage. Semi awake on "Brain imaging" and did not even get to read what the third one was about...bad time management...grrrr! I call it the "C" passage.

 

[blue_moon01]

Yup. I already have BS degree.



Really? I didn't know they'd consider old DAT scores for selection to specialization. Do most do this?

Oh yes. Your DAT, along with your Boards, dental school GPA and your EC are some of the factors that they considered when you're going for specialization. I'd say 99% of first year dental school applicants don't know about this. I know a lot of orthodontic grad students and they all told me to grind away during first and second year in dental school to be top 2% of the class and to have DAT of 20 or better because if your boards are a little lower than other candidates your stellar DAT will help you out. I don't know if it's a coincidence or not but all the orthograd students that came directly from dental schools have DAT of 20 +. There were other orthograd students too but their DAT don't count as much because they entered the program after working in private practices.

 

[Gordon9721]

my passages were something about magnesium which was really hard and then herbal supplements and cellular communication which were really easy. i'm sure i bombed the magnesium part because i only got a 20 for rc and i'm sure i got the herbal and communication qs correct.

 

[Solstica]

Oh yes. Your DAT, along with your Boards, dental school GPA and your EC are some of the factors that they considered when you're going for specialization. I'd say 99% of first year dental school applicants don't know about this. I know a lot of orthodontic grad students and they all told me to grind away during first and second year in dental school to be top 2% of the class and to have DAT of 20 or better because if your boards are a little lower than other candidates your stellar DAT will help you out. I don't know if it's a coincidence or not but all the orthograd students that came directly from dental schools have DAT of 20 +. There were other orthograd students too but their DAT don't count as much because they entered the program after working in private practices.

Wow, thanks. I'll definitely keep this in mind.

 

[Solstica]

my passages were something about magnesium which was really hard and then herbal supplements and cellular communication which were really easy. i'm sure i bombed the magnesium part because i only got a 20 for rc and i'm sure i got the herbal and communication qs correct.

Did you skip this then come back later to the harder one?

When are you going to request to take the next exam? It looks like the earliest we can take is First week of 2007. There goes the new year weekend...

 

[Gordon9721]

Did you skip this then come back later to the harder one?

When are you going to request to take the next exam? It looks like the earliest we can take is First week of 2007. There goes the new year weekend...

no, i barrelled through the hard one, probably explaining the 20 since i'm sure i aced the other passages, they were extremely easy. i'll probbaly take the next dat sometime in mid january. i know a D3 student right now who took his second dat in february and still got in. but he was on some good committees and what not, he had creds. but there's always hope. hell, a year off wouldn't kill either i guess. it just sucks to think that i'd have to wait to do what i want.