Should I submit my application before taking dat?

[BlueHat]

Hello,
I will be applying to dental school next year but I haven't taken the dat yet. If I submit my application before I take it will schools not look at my application? Have any of you done this before? Please let me know thanks !

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[dans105]

They won't look at it before you take the dat, correct, but that doesn't mean you can't apply before taking it. Get everything else done while you wait to take the dat, and when the dat scores come in you're done.

 

[doc toothache]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=937517
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=942453

 

[DoublexJack]

They won't look at it before you take the dat, correct, but that doesn't mean you can't apply before taking it. Get everything else done while you wait to take the dat, and when the dat scores come in you're done.

so once i finish taking the DAT, how long does it take for my DAT scores to get to the schools i've applied for?

 

[UCSFx2017]

so once i finish taking the DAT, how long does it take for my DAT scores to get to the schools i've applied for?

About a month.

 

[RU1992]

Sometimes less than a month. I took mine on the 3rd of July and schools received it about 10 days after. I recommend you only select one school when you submit your application (before you take your DAT) and pay the fee for that school. That way AADSAS can begin verifying your GPA and your application. Once you take your DAT and have your score in hand, you can then add more schools based on your DAT scores and how well you see your scores matching with the schools you want to apply to. Rather than paying for all the schools and being competitive/not competitive for them after you get your DAT score. Your list of schools may change significantly after you take your DAT. Just my advice, that's what I did this application cycle and it worked out very well for me.

 

[deleted430485]

Sometimes less than a month. I took mine on the 3rd of July and schools received it about 10 days after. I recommend you only select one school when you submit your application (before you take your DAT) and pay the fee for that school. That way AADSAS can begin verifying your GPA and your application. Once you take your DAT and have your score in hand, you can then add more schools based on your DAT scores and how well you see your scores matching with the schools you want to apply to. Rather than paying for all the schools and being competitive/not competitive for them after you get your DAT score. Your list of schools may change significantly after you take your DAT. Just my advice, that's what I did this application cycle and it worked out very well for me.

I agree with the above. But you should submit your app before taking the DAT only if you're confident that you'll do well on it.. though it's hard to predict 🙁 I have a friend who took the DAT over the summer thinking she was going to apply this cycle, but did poorly on DAT (overall 16AA) and ended up not applying even though the app was filled out and ready to submit.

 

[DoublexJack]

I agree with the above. But you should submit your app before taking the DAT only if you're confident that you'll do well on it.. though it's hard to predict 🙁 I have a friend who took the DAT over the summer thinking she was going to apply this cycle, but did poorly on DAT (overall 16AA) and ended up not applying even though the app was filled out and ready to submit.

if you submitted your application, could you withdraw from it?

 

[azimmer]

A lot of my friends applied before taking their DATs this cycle (most got accepted as well). The reason why they applied w/o their DAT on file is because AADSAS and TMDSAS take FOREVER to verify transcripts (especially if you have course work from multiple universities). If you have everything submitted and verified then all the schools will be waiting for is your DAT, and some schools even let you fax your unofficial scores the day you take it to expedite the process.

 

[deleted430485]

if you submitted your application, could you withdraw from it?

Yes you can withdraw by writing a letter AADSAS but you won't get a refund

 

[finchy86]

If I did it over again I would apply to 1 school at the beginning of June and then take the DAT (I took it in July) then choose where to apply based on my scores.

Instead I applied to 20 schools at the beginning of June and then took the DAT and found out that I applied to way too many schools so I could have saved some money. So apply in June to 1 school. Take the DAT. Then choose where all you'd like to apply based on scores. Good luck!

 

[BlueHat]

A lot of my friends applied before taking their DATs this cycle (most got accepted as well). The reason why they applied w/o their DAT on file is because AADSAS and TMDSAS take FOREVER to verify transcripts (especially if you have course work from multiple universities). If you have everything submitted and verified then all the schools will be waiting for is your DAT, and some schools even let you fax your unofficial scores the day you take it to expedite the process.

did your friends apply to only one school before taking the DAT? just another quick question. when everything is verified and all thats left is the DAT score, will I have to call schools and remind them to look at the application again? is it a possibility that they might have forgot it? just curious