take predents.com with a grain of salt

[sehrmoon]

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hi guys so i was checkin out the famous predents.com. basically to see how it goes...well i dont think we shud go just by that website for the stats.. i mean its an awesome source, dont get me wrong, but its not giving us the big picture....my issue here: so NYU, temple and all these other dental schools had over 4500 applicants last year...out of which a small number were accepted. Predents.com, the average number of ppl listed there as "applied" is around 250-300/school.... for NYU, boston etc. For howard, meharry, there is such a small number...in reality, we all know there are WAYYY more ppl applying than its listed on there.. Obviously not everyone has the time to make an account and post on there..so the website basically provides a verrrrry slight overview of what d-school stats are like.
MY POINT: lol which kinda got lost: dont give up... remember ppl posting there are the over-achievers..or those who are proud of their stats.,... dont give up guys.

 

[SoCalDent]

hi guys so i was checkin out the famous predents.com. basically to see how it goes...well i dont think we shud go just by that website for the stats.. i mean its an awesome source, dont get me wrong, but its not giving us the big picture....my issue here: so NYU, temple and all these other dental schools had over 4500 applicants last year...out of which a small number were accepted. Predents.com, the average number of ppl listed there as "applied" is around 250-300/school.... for NYU, boston etc. For howard, meharry, there is such a small number...in reality, we all know there are WAYYY more ppl applying than its listed on there.. Obviously not everyone has the time to make an account and post on there..so the website basically provides a verrrrry slight overview of what d-school stats are like.
MY POINT: lol which kinda got lost: dont give up... remember ppl posting there are the over-achievers..or those who are proud of their stats.,... dont give up guys.

I'm pretty sure that Predents doesn't claim to have all the applicants stats on the website.

 

[lollipop999]

i agree.... i think that most people that have there act together know about SDN/ predents and stuff... its kinda hard to get a really good DAT score without it.. My Kaplan class i took with about 9 others kids who had no idea about anything and mostly had no chance of getting above a 17 on the DAT b.c all they studied was kaplan and barely even knew that.

SO.... if u mix in all the super smart kids with the grade inflations lies..... then predents is going to look really intimidating..... DONT get me wrong.... this year has likea billion applicants breaking records at every school..

My advisor told me that Buffalo this year might have a 1,000 extra applicants to review... I MEAN WOWOWOWOWO... 1,500 to 2,500..... I dont even want to think about the dental classes in the next couple years... i just wanna sneak into anywhere right now and be happy....

 

[dackmonkey]

i agree.... i think that most people that have there act together know about SDN/ predents and stuff... its kinda hard to get a really good DAT score without it.. My Kaplan class i took with about 9 others kids who had no idea about anything and mostly had no chance of getting above a 17 on the DAT b.c all they studied was kaplan and barely even knew that.

SO.... if u mix in all the super smart kids with the grade inflations lies..... then predents is going to look really intimidating..... DONT get me wrong.... this year has likea billion applicants breaking records at every school..

My advisor told me that Buffalo this year might have a 1,000 extra applicants to review... I MEAN WOWOWOWOWO... 1,500 to 2,500..... I dont even want to think about the dental classes in the next couple years... i just wanna sneak into anywhere right now and be happy....

i got 23/20/20 on the DAT in February of 2006 and never even heard of SDN or predents until April of this year. just because you've never heard of SDN or predents doesn't really mean anything.

 

[Shunwei]

i agree.... i think that most people that have there act together know about SDN/ predents and stuff... its kinda hard to get a really good DAT score without it.. My Kaplan class i took with about 9 others kids who had no idea about anything and mostly had no chance of getting above a 17 on the DAT b.c all they studied was kaplan and barely even knew that.

SO.... if u mix in all the super smart kids with the grade inflations lies..... then predents is going to look really intimidating..... DONT get me wrong.... this year has likea billion applicants breaking records at every school..

My advisor told me that Buffalo this year might have a 1,000 extra applicants to review... I MEAN WOWOWOWOWO... 1,500 to 2,500..... I dont even want to think about the dental classes in the next couple years... i just wanna sneak into anywhere right now and be happy....

Actually, if anything, the DAT scores this year looks definitely lower than last year's, so if you think this year looks intimidating you should look at the 2007 entering class.

 

[lollipop999]

A 21 AA this year is like 91st percentile while a 21AA last year was a 96th percentile....... so doesn't that mean the grades are getting more dilute and a 21 really isn't that great anymore... correct me if I'm wrong

 

[j0sh_a_wa]

Another thing you have to take into consideration is that this is the Internet anybody can post anything they want. predents.com nor sdn verifies the information that is being posted so people (heaven forbid) can lie when they record their stats.😀

 

[Shunwei]

A 21 AA this year is like 91st percentile while a 21AA last year was a 96th percentile....... so doesn't that mean the grades are getting more dilute and a 21 really isn't that great anymore... correct me if I'm wrong

There was a thread about this a few weeks back about just how ADA figures percentiles for tests they administer every year, particularly those in January. My personal guess is that they use the previous year's stats to gauge your scores' percentiles. A simple look at the DAT scores last year will also show that there were a lot more 23+ than this year. Now, if starting next year a 21 AA gets back to 96th this will support the idea.

 

[lollipop999]

There was a thread about this a few weeks back about just how ADA figures percentiles for tests they administer every year, particularly those in January. My personal guess is that they use the previous year's stats to gauge your scores' percentiles. A simple look at the DAT scores last year will also show that there were a lot more 23+ than this year. Now, if starting next year a 21 AA gets back to 96th this will support the idea.

This makes sense, i guess we will have to see what happens. So your saying that my scores are actually better than I think they are?

 

[Shunwei]

This makes sense, i guess we will have to see what happens. So your saying that my scores are actually better than I think they are?

I think so, we will just have to find out next January when the new year's percentiles are shown. 🙂

 

[barami0113]

I highly doubt that ADA people will just use one year's stat to determine the scale.

 

[Resonance]

A 21 AA this year is like 91st percentile while a 21AA last year was a 96th percentile....... so doesn't that mean the grades are getting more dilute and a 21 really isn't that great anymore... correct me if I'm wrong

I took the DAT August '06 AA: 21 (92.2 percentile). While I don't think a twenty one is as wonderful as it used to be, I think it indicates that more committed people are entering the race. One good thing is that applications so far this year are only up by between 80 and 240.

 

[PDizzle]

What?? My website is inaccurate??


OK, I'll shut it down.......... 🙂


J/K

Well, if you were in the cycle a few years back you would remember why I made the website: to effeciently display applicants "stats" through the course of the cycle. It was meant to replace the "Official interview" threads and the, "Who got into Penn, and what r your stats??" threads. That's all.

But you are right, you shouldn't take the numbers there as the "end all" or even make any major decisions based on it for that matter. Just like SDN, peeps can lie about their stats and whats probably more important is that the people who are fanatical about get'n into D-School know about SDN/Predents and are also more likely to have higher scores. Lastly, people are more likely to enter their scores if they are happy with them. I.E. high scores.

I agree...take my website with a SALT LICK!!!!


Good luck to all of you and I'll see you UCSF peeps next year!

 

[sehrmoon]

Nooooo, pdizzle i think u r awesome for making the website for predents.com. You obviously took a lot of time doing it, updating it and maintaining it so true commitment there. Please dont get offended by my comments which were made because i m on the edge of going insane in the cycle already.. its sooooo depressing. It seems that I need a miracle now to get into dental school.


I am really glad u r in dental school and tryin to help folks out here! so u r doing an amazing job👍.


Hope you are lovin dental school!!!!