Should I Take the DAT in August?

[DrBigTooth]

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[ab117]

There's no reason to do a gap year unless you want to. There's nothing wrong with it if you do want to, but if you don't, why aren't you already getting ready to apply? Most people apply after junior year and then interview throughout senior year to start dental school right after graduating. If you're out of class and everything right now, it could be realistic to apply now (assuming you've shadowed and everything), then cram like crazy for about a month and score a 20+ in early July and still have application complete relatively early.

 

[ab117]

You could potentially try to marathon shadowing for few weeks to get at least 100 hours, apply end of June/beginning of July, then marathon studying for the DAT and have your score submitted in August, but this would require seriously motivating yourself and 100% for sure getting all of this done ASAP and studying HARD to be as sure as possible that you get at least a 20 on your DAT, higher if your GPA is lower than about a 3.5. Don't tell yourself you can't afford it, because if you don't apply until next year, you would have made at least $100,000 (possibly significantly more) as a dentist for 1 year more of your life than you would have, plus you'll end with less debt because tuition increases every year.

Consider getting a credit card to pay for the DAT and applying now, many cards will you give you 12 months no interest.

Again though, I'm not trying to convince you to not take a gap year if you actually want to, just giving you a rough road map if you want to actually try to apply this year. Money isn't everything and losing that year of income in the grand scheme of things isn't a huge deal if you have good experiences, spend time with friends/family, etc. Saving up $30,000 by working some crappy job for example for the next year I would say isn't worth it though, cause you'd make way more than that if you worked as a dentist a year longer.

 

[ab117]

100 hours is the rule of thumb. Ask Buffalo if that’s a hard requirement, at most schools even if they say it’s required, if your stats are good it won’t rule you out. Having a 3.7 is a big point in your favor. If I remember correctly, you can put planned hours into AADSAS too, but if you put them in, you’d better complete them, someone here on the forums had their acceptance rescinded recently for that.

You should be applying by now, which is why I’m saying you should get AADSAS submitted ASAP with a scheduled date for your DAT. It’s entirely realistic for you to get in as long as you score well, but you need to get started immediately. This is your full time job for the summer if you want to get in this year.

 

[wwdentist]

I think it would be incredibly unwise to submit an application with most or all of your shadowing listed as planned. I highly doubt any schools would be okay with that. Also, it will be hard to write a personal statement and/or supplemental essays without actually shadowing. Should you get a good DAT score, you’ll still be applying quite late if your score isn’t verified/uploaded until late August. I’ve heard that schools do not like to see shadowing hours crammed in right before applying.

Rather than thinking about loss of future income, I’d think about it this way. Applying this cycle will most likely severely limit your school options and you could end up not getting in anywhere, or only getting into expensive schools. Going to a school other than your state school could easily cost you more than $100k over 4 years.

My advice is to take a gap year (for sure). It will give you a lot of time to demonstrate a continued interest in the field of dentistry, and you will be much better prepared to apply the next cycle. Applying early with more experiences (and a good DAT score) will give you the best chance of getting into the schools you want to attend. There are a ton of ways to use your gap year, and you would have a lot of time to figure out what you want to do so that you can make it meaningful and hopefully make a decent amount of money.

 

[ab117]

I think it would be incredibly unwise to submit an application with most or all of your shadowing listed as planned. I highly doubt any schools would be okay with that. Also, it will be hard to write a personal statement and/or supplemental essays without actually shadowing. Should you get a good DAT score, you’ll still be applying quite late if your score isn’t verified/uploaded until late August. I’ve heard that schools do not like to see shadowing hours crammed in right before applying.

Rather than thinking about loss of future income, I’d think about it this way. Applying this cycle will most likely severely limit your school options and you could end up not getting in anywhere, or only getting into expensive schools. Going to a school other than your state school could easily cost you more than $100k over 4 years.

My advice is to take a gap year (for sure). It will give you a lot of time to demonstrate a continued interest in the field of dentistry, and you will be much better prepared to apply the next cycle. Applying early with more experiences (and a good DAT score) will give you the best chance of getting into the schools you want to attend. There are a ton of ways to use your gap year, and you would have a lot of time to figure out what you want to do so that you can make it meaningful and hopefully make a decent amount of money.

You're right to make sure OP considers the pros of a gap year, but I respectfully disagree with most of this. It's as close to known as it can be that schools value DAT scores very highly, because having high class stats makes them look good. I advised him to shadow ~100hrs before submitting AADSAS, not to submit now with most hours planned. Having all the shadowing shortly before applying might be risky for an average or below average applicant, but a 3.7 is significantly above average for most schools. With a 22+ DAT I doubt most schools would filter him out for shadowing hours. 150 volunteer hours counts for something too.

Shadowing through June and applying in July would barely be late, even with the DAT pending until August. I believe @artist2022 (correct me if I'm wrong) has said she applied in August last year, but I'm sure her 25AA completely negated that, and that's not at all unusual. I don't think it's at all accurate to say it would severely limit school options. Even then, you don't miss out on your measly new grad income, the opportunity cost is actually your late-career income level which is significantly higher and a strong argument in favor of trying to get in a year sooner. Going to a more expensive school might seem to go against standard cheapest-school advice, but outside of extremes (MWU, NYU) that advice is most valid within a single cycle, not across cycles, and chances are an end-career income would be more in the 200-300k range or more, and that's the year that gets cut off your career, so it's not crazy compared to going to a cheaper school but graduating a year later. He's basically gambling (which every dental applicant is doing) ~$3000 on a not-insignificant chance of getting in this year. If he applies and gets in, he's financially ahead. If he doesn't he's out a relatively insignificant amount of money and in the same place he would be if he took a gap year. Unless he's already in a lucrative career/field, the amount of money he'd make during a gap year is also likely insignificant compared to the opportunity cost.

That being said, he still should aim for cheaper schools, and this all hinges on a solid DAT score.

 

[artist2022]

I did apply in August, at the end, and I took my DAT at the beginning of August. The biggest difference between OP and I, though, is that I had two years worth of shadowing at the time of submission (along with tons of volunteering, employment, etc).

Personally, if I was in your shoes, I would take the gap year. You don't want to cram 100 hours of shadowing in one month, because dental schools look for quality and commitment, not only quantity. Plus, how do you know you want to be a dentist if you haven't shadowed? (and schools will especially wonder about this if you do all your shadowing September, as you said in post #7).

I know lots of people that applied in August, but two that come best to mind are one person that had a 21AA and one that had a 23AA - they are both at private schools because they didn't get into a public school. Had they applied earlier, I'm sure they would've gotten into a public school, IS or OOS. Taking your DAT in August is late, because it probably won't be "officialized" until Sept. And have you started working on your PS, or have asked for LORs? All of those take time too.

Also, getting a high DAT score is harder than it looks. A 20 won't cut it if you're applying in August, and a 22 is also iffy, if you don't want to end up in an expensive private school.

Good luck though!

 

[ab117]

I did apply in August, at the end, and I took my DAT at the beginning of August. The biggest difference between OP and I, though, is that I had two years worth of shadowing at the time of submission (along with tons of volunteering, employment, etc).

Personally, if I was in your shoes, I would take the gap year. You don't want to cram 100 hours of shadowing in one month, because dental schools look for quality and commitment, not only quantity. Plus, how do you know you want to be a dentist if you haven't shadowed? (and schools will especially wonder about this if you do all your shadowing September, as you said in post #7).

I know lots of people that applied in August, but two that come best to mind are one person that had a 21AA and one that had a 23AA - they are both at private schools because they didn't get into a public school. Had they applied earlier, I'm sure they would've gotten into a public school, IS or OOS. Taking your DAT in August is late, because it probably won't be "officialized" until Sept. And have you started working on your PS, or have asked for LORs? All of those take time too.

Also, getting a high DAT score is harder than it looks. A 20 won't cut it if you're applying in August, and a 22 is also iffy, if you don't want to end up in an expensive private school.

Good luck though!

Fair enough. I'm really not trying to tell OP to do it 100%, just trying to indicate that it's realistically possible, if less likely. I definitely know scoring high on the DAT is more easily said than done haha. I just know if it were me, I would absolutely be doing everything I could to get in this year rather than next. I'd hate if he were to think it's impossible and then regret losing a year.