Some advice would be appreciated! 8)

[socr1216]

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Hello all!

First off I just want to thank everyone taking the time to read this post, I love this website as it is an amazing tool to bounce ideas off of and help people wanting to go into similar fields.

Now...I am currently a graduate student getting a MS in biology (4.0 so far...lets hope it continues...). In my undergraduate, i got a BS in biology as well. I applied for admissions to about 7 schools (3 instate - texas, and 4 out of stat) for the class of 2014, but was not offered an interview. My UG gpa was about a 3.4 and my DAT score was an AA-19 (RC killed me at 17...). I was pretty bummed about that but decided to apply since i've dreamed of becoming a dentist since the 8th grade (lame i know...)


I did not apply for the C/O 2015 as i didnt feel my resume had changed all that much. but since then, I have a semester's worth of research under my belt (last semester of undergraduate) where I was co-authored in a published paper. I have completed one semester of my masters program and plan on finishing this program as I am now applying for C/O 2016 this upcoming summer. I realize that most dental schools would like to see potential students finish a masters degree, if thats the case, and my admissions into dental school would occur the semester after finishing the masters.

As of now, I am only taking three classes this upcoming semester and putting all my eggs in one basket...studying for the DAT, which i plan on taking mid-June. Family and friends have been pushing the KAPLAN one-on-one tutoring which I am not a real big fan of, but I see little options at this point. I took the course two years back and felt it was a waste of time but hopefully this will be better, and more personalized.

All of this is just a rough outline of what my plans are and what I would like to do, so please let me know if you think the date of the DAT should be earlier/later...(i plan on submitting my app early june and then having my scores mailed mid-july accounting for the ~1month delay).

Any advice on whether or not to take the kaplan one on one, or if there are better tutors out there, when to take DAT, what materials to study, how to better my RC score, or just comments in general about my "situation" would be MUCH APPRECIATED!!

Thanks again guys! (sorry for the lengthy post 😳 )

 

[dentalWorks]

The Kaplan class was what.... $1000 right? The one-on-one tutor will cost you multiple times that. I personally wouldn't do it.

The tutor is NOT going to shove the material in your head, he is going to be like a teacher assigning you stuff and having you go home and do the "homework"... bring it back to him on the next session and discuss anything you need.

IMHO, I think this is a waste of time. Why hire someone to tell you when/what to study when you can do it by yourself?

My only recommendation is, take the DAT by May, that way when you apply, EVERYTHING goes out to the schools after AADSAS verifies all your grades. That 1 month delay period "might" hurt you. Another thing, please do apply to more than 7 schools and pick your schools wisely.

 

[moosefox]

Seems like you should have gotten in somewhere with your undergrad scores, they're just around the average. Did you not have a lot of extracurricular activities or dental experience? Either way, it sounds like you're on the right track now. I would totally recommend a tutor, but maybe not a Kaplan tutor because they are so freaking expensive and they're not really experts in the sciences. If you've already taken Kaplan then you already know their test-taking strategies. Any other tutor can teach you the rest. Get a tutor for the chemistry and math sections. RC you will have to improve yourself. It's kind of tough to learn how to do well in that section in just a few months if you've never really been a reader. You just have to practice it a lot and learn which strategy suits you best. Most people have the best luck with search and destroy while some others do a loose interpretation of Kaplan's mapping strategy. Practice what works for you and practice it a LOT. You've done research so I'm sure you know how to read and comprehend what you're reading, you just need to do it fast enough for the DAT.

A really good book to buy is the DAT Destroyer. Learn why each answer is right and why the others are wrong, go through all of it at least once, and pay close attention to the biology section. Get Cliff's AP Bio but also supplement with a biology textbook. You have to cram a lot of stuff in your head for the bio section, there's just no way around it. For gen-chem and o-chem I would recommend Chad's videos, DAT Destroyer, and Kaplan's online section tests. For math I only used Kaplan and the DAT Destroyer and got a pretty decent score, but to do really well you should probably buy Math Destroyer. For PAT I used Crack Dat Pat. It's a tiny bit harder than the real thing but mostly very representative of what you'll score on the actual test.

That's all the advice I can give, really. The only other thing I can say is look carefully through your application and make sure there are no red flags. Maybe there's something weird in your personal statement or perhaps a bad letter of recommendation. Don't let the same mistake get you twice. Oh, and you should probably beef up your extra curriculars with more volunteer time or something. Even a couple of hours a week adds up and gives you something different to talk about.

Good luck!!! 🙂

 

[socr1216]

@dentalWorks..

I agree with you, the Kaplan course cost me some 1200$ and I didn't like the way the material was taught. I'm sure they will be pushing the same methods with one-on-one so i'll look for other private tutors in the area. As for the date, again its not set, and I wanted to have a couple of weeks where I could spend the whole day concentrating on DAT work instead of having to worry about my current Masters courses...but again your right, I want to take it as early as possible!


@moosefox...

I was in a service fraternity through college and partook in hundreds of volunteer hours so that wasn't the case, and as for dental experience, I have been working for a pedi-dentist for over 6 years (on and off) assisting so I feel like I am strong in that aspect. Maybe shadowing at a few other places couldn't hurt...?

Last time i took the DAT, I borrowed a friends DAT destroyer and answered some of the questions, but didn't really go over why other answers were wrong and used it more as supplemental practice material, but I will purchase this book soon and go thru it completely, at least once or twice.

My PS and LORs seemed strong, but I didnt do the optional essay, which I will make sure to do this time!


...but thank you guys for the responses and any other help would be appreciated as well!!

 

[doc toothache]

If you are close to a college why not hire a TA in the area you need some serious help?

 

[mcchuster]

That is really strange. Something not connecting here. You have what i would say almost a perfect resume. You said you been doing shadowing for 6 years? That's a lot. You also got research. With your resume, a 19 on DAT should not have hurt you at all. Did you run your personal statement over with your prehealth advisor? I mean there's no way you couldn't have gotten into any school unless you are applying to only schools like Havard, Maryland, the top notch schools.

@dentalWorks..

I agree with you, the Kaplan course cost me some 1200$ and I didn't like the way the material was taught. I'm sure they will be pushing the same methods with one-on-one so i'll look for other private tutors in the area. As for the date, again its not set, and I wanted to have a couple of weeks where I could spend the whole day concentrating on DAT work instead of having to worry about my current Masters courses...but again your right, I want to take it as early as possible!


@moosefox...

I was in a service fraternity through college and partook in hundreds of volunteer hours so that wasn't the case, and as for dental experience, I have been working for a pedi-dentist for over 6 years (on and off) assisting so I feel like I am strong in that aspect. Maybe shadowing at a few other places couldn't hurt...?

Last time i took the DAT, I borrowed a friends DAT destroyer and answered some of the questions, but didn't really go over why other answers were wrong and used it more as supplemental practice material, but I will purchase this book soon and go thru it completely, at least once or twice.

My PS and LORs seemed strong, but I didnt do the optional essay, which I will make sure to do this time!


...but thank you guys for the responses and any other help would be appreciated as well!!

 

[mcchuster]

also, i agree with everybody that The Kaplan course is a waste of time. Just use the books you got from the course and study. Do the DAT as you have planned (good good source. I was doubting it a bit but then it reallly helped me during the exam). Buy those practice exams online and do them. It's all about repetitions 😀 Just keep doing it. Good luck.

 

[socr1216]

@mcchuster

I was also puzzled and I had gone over my PS multiple times with multiple people. The research and being published was after I applied so that was not on the resume then. I applied to the three instate schools in TX and a few private schools OOS whose GPA/DAT scores weren't thru the roof. But i've come to accept that it wasn't in the books the first time around. I'm giving it my all this time around so lets hope! haha

do you know if we can buy JUST the online material from kaplan?? that would be quite a bit cheaper and seeing as though it would serve as another source of practice, that would help out alot.

 

[mcchuster]

I have no idea if you can just buy the online materials.. I would think that they would do this on purpose so that you have to take the course in order to get the online materials. There is an online course however but that will still waste your money.
I also meant to say DAT destroyer not just DAT. WHen i first looked at the price, I was like that's too darn expensive, so i went around and tried to buy it off somebody else. Cheaper.

@mcchuster

I was also puzzled and I had gone over my PS multiple times with multiple people. The research and being published was after I applied so that was not on the resume then. I applied to the three instate schools in TX and a few private schools OOS whose GPA/DAT scores weren't thru the roof. But i've come to accept that it wasn't in the books the first time around. I'm giving it my all this time around so lets hope! haha

do you know if we can buy JUST the online material from kaplan?? that would be quite a bit cheaper and seeing as though it would serve as another source of practice, that would help out alot.

 

[jk5177]

That is really strange. Something not connecting here. You have what i would say almost a perfect resume. You said you been doing shadowing for 6 years? That's a lot. You also got research. With your resume, a 19 on DAT should not have hurt you at all.

It's your DAT that hurt you!
Study it and do well, you have a 4.0 ms bio gpa, how couldn't you get at least a 20 on the DAT. My 2 cents, really focus on DAT and do well; it's a straight forward test, no tricks.