Took the DAT... to retake or not to retake... that is the question????

[boomchakalak]

Hello all, I'm new to this forum, I really wish that I had found this site much earlier! There is a lot of helpful information on here!

Anyway... I just took the DAT and scored:

Perceptual Ability - 16
Quantitative Reasoning - 17
Reading Comprehension - 21
Biology - 20
General Chemistry - 20
Organic Chemistry - 25
Total Science - 21
Academic Average - 21

I scored very well in my sciences and academics, however, I scored a bit low on the PAT... I'm completing a bachelors degree in Chemistry next May and have a science GPA of 3.45 and an overall GPA of 3.37. What do you all think of my prospects of getting an admissions letter? Should I consider retaking the DAT?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[PooyaH]

I think it really depends on each school. I know, personally, that some of them don't really care about PAT. But some do! I would do some homework and find out which schools you're applying to care about PAT and which ones don't. Each school is different.

You're other scores are solid though. You're GPA might be a bit on the border line.

 

[boomchakalak]

I think it really depends on each school. I know, personally, that some of them don't really care about PAT. But some do! I would do some homework and find out which schools you're applying to care about PAT and which ones don't. Each school is different.

You're other scores are solid though. You're GPA might be a bit on the border line.

I'm looking at the following schools:

the two in Arizona
Washington
Oregon
Colorado
Creighton
Howard
Marquette
Western University of Health Sciences
Loma Linda
Oklahoma

My GPA is borderline for most of the schools that I'm applying to, however, for the past 3 years my gpa has been around 3.8. I had a few low ball grades my freshman year that's dragging my GPA. I also retook those courses and did much better the second time around. Does anyone know if the admission committee's take progression into account?

 

[PooyaH]

I believe every (or at least majority of) dschools look at the trend of your grades. So if you show an improving trend, then it will definitely look good on your application. I can only speak for the two dschools in AZ. Midwestern doesn't really care about PAT. They're really big on RC and your RC score is pretty good. ASDOH, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. They don't care about RC but they care about PAT.

p.s. are you sure it's midwestern Cali and not Western Cali?!

 

[Double Bonded]

Perceptual Ability - 16
Quantitative Reasoning - 17
Reading Comprehension - 21
Biology - 20
General Chemistry - 20
Organic Chemistry - 25
Total Science - 21
Academic Average - 21

Your sciences are good but from my understanding, a lot of schools have some type of cutoff (unofficial or official) for all sections at 17. QR is the least important section but a 16 on the PAT is not just a bit low but very much low. What was your percentile?

 

[herkulease]

from the school surveys, 34 of them said PAT score is Very important to them.

of those 34, only Buffalo, Loma Linda, Washington, Louisville, Virginia said that TS was not as important as PAT.

the other 29, TS and AA are also Very Important as is PAT.

How much you should put into the survey I'm not sure. Tufts for instance lists AA, TS, PAT are all very important but their minimum is 16AA/TS and 17 PAT in the guide book.

Its best that you call up the schools your interested and see if they don't list the info on their website or something.

 

[boomchakalak]

I believe every (or at least majority of) dschools look at the trend of your grades. So if you show an improving trend, then it will definitely look good on your application. I can only speak for the two dschools in AZ. Midwestern doesn't really care about PAT. They're really big on RC and your RC score is pretty good. ASDOH, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. They don't care about RC but they care about PAT.

p.s. are you sure it's midwestern Cali and not Western Cali?!

Oh yes, I made that correction!

That's good news to hear! The two Arizona schools are my first pick. Another thing I should mention is that I'm a certified Native American Eskimo... I've heard mixed responses to how this affects my application. Some say I can get into any school I want and others have said that it makes little to no difference. Anyone know?

 

[PooyaH]

Oh yes, I made that correction!

That's good news to hear! The two Arizona schools are my first pick. Another thing I should mention is that I'm a certified Native American Eskimo... I've heard mixed responses to how this affects my application. Some say I can get into any school I want and others have said that it makes little to no difference. Anyone know?

I have no clue on that one. I think, as herkulease said, it's best if you contact the schools and ask them directly. No one can really give you a better answer than the schools you're applying too.

 

[boomchakalak]

Your sciences are good but from my understanding, a lot of schools have some type of cutoff (unofficial or official) for all sections at 17. QR is the least important section but a 16 on the PAT is not just a bit low but very much low. What was your percentile?

My percentile was 27.0 %tile for the PAT. I've looked at the range of PAT scores and most of the schools had the lower range be 16 or below. I'm not too worried about the quantitative reasoning because it is not heavily weighted. It's more the PAT score that is concerning me. I scored very high on the organic chemistry section, 96.8 %tile. Perhaps they will overlook the PAT since I did so well on the science section. That is my hopes anyways.

 

[boomchakalak]

from the school surveys, 34 of them said PAT score is Very important to them.

of those 34, only Buffalo, Loma Linda, Washington, Louisville, Virginia said that TS was not as important as PAT.

the other 29, TS and AA are also Very Important as is PAT.

How much you should put into the survey I'm not sure. Tufts for instance lists AA, TS, PAT are all very important but their minimum is 16AA/TS and 17 PAT in the guide book.

Its best that you call up the schools your interested and see if they don't list the info on their website or something.

That's good to know, perhaps I will drop Loma Linda and Washington from my application and replace them with ones who don't emphasize the PAT as much.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Double Bonded]

My percentile was 27.0 %tile for the PAT. I've looked at the range of PAT scores and most of the schools had the lower range be 16 or below. I'm not too worried about the quantitative reasoning because it is not heavily weighted. It's more the PAT score that is concerning me. I scored very high on the organic chemistry section, 96.8 %tile. Perhaps they will overlook the PAT since I did so well on the science section. That is my hopes anyways.

The two Arizona schools are my first pick. Another thing I should mention is that I'm a certified Native American Eskimo... I've heard mixed responses to how this affects my application. Some say I can get into any school I want and others have said that it makes little to no difference. Anyone know?

You're fine. This plus your AA and science scores will outweigh one bad PAT score.

 

[boomchakalak]

Someone told me that in some instances that if the PAT score is low, at the interview they will give you a set of PAT questions to see if you have progressed. Anyone know if this is true? If so, I need to keep studying!

 

[LetsGo2DSchool]

Oh yes, I made that correction!

That's good news to hear! The two Arizona schools are my first pick. Another thing I should mention is that I'm a certified Native American Eskimo... I've heard mixed responses to how this affects my application. Some say I can get into any school I want and others have said that it makes little to no difference. Anyone know?

Is this a joke lol? You should marry a Hawaiian girl. Then your kids will be Hawaiian Eskimo. That would be cool.

 

[boomchakalak]

Is this a joke lol? You should marry a Hawaiian girl. Then your kids will be Hawaiian Eskimo. That would be cool.

Native Americans are Eskimo's and vice versa... But while we are at it.

I'm 1/4 Native American Eskimo, 1/2 Irianian, 1/4 German. To top it off, my wife is 1/2 African American, 1/2 German.

Oh yes, so lets do the math on the kids:

1/8 Native American Eskimo, 1/4 Iranian, 3/8 German, 1/4 African American

 

[PooyaH]

Native Americans are Eskimo's and vice versa... But while we are at it.

I'm 1/4 Native American Eskimo, 1/2 Irianian, 1/4 German. To top it off, my wife is 1/2 African American, 1/2 German.

You're an Esmanian!

 

[LetsGo2DSchool]

Native Americans are Eskimo's and vice versa... But while we are at it.

I'm 1/4 Native American Eskimo, 1/2 Irianian, 1/4 German. To top it off, my wife is 1/2 African American, 1/2 German.

Are you sure you want to go to dental school? I think the U.N. may be your calling lol.

 

[boomchakalak]

You're an Esmanian!

LOL That's good, I'm going to have to remember that one!

 

[boomchakalak]

Are you sure you want to go to dental school? I think the U.N. may be your calling lol.

I'll certainly consider it as a back up plan.

 

[amajid08]

I know somebody that had a 15 PAT and 21 AA and he said he got interviews wherever he applied, which included NYU. However, this was a few years ago.

 

[boomchakalak]

I know somebody that had a 15 PAT and 21 AA and he said he got interviews wherever he applied, which included NYU. However, this was a few years ago.

That's nice to know, perhaps things haven't changed much since then??? I hope so!

All I studied was the DAT book by kaplan... The practice PAT in that book was much easier than the real test. Although, I found the rest of the sections quite helpful. My main philosophy going into this exam was that I've taken all of the pre-requisite courses so I should know the material already. I studied no more than 1.5 weeks and felt pretty confident going into the exam. However, the PAT section caught me off guard!

 

[FROGGBUSTER]

I studied no more than 1.5 weeks and felt pretty confident going into the exam. However, the PAT section caught me off guard!

Dude, I think you should study for a couple months and then retake. I'm sure you would blow the thing out of the water.

 

[boomchakalak]

Dude, I think you should study for a couple months and then retake. I'm sure you would blow the thing out of the water.

You think so? I'd really hate to go through the DAT process again. lol

I did do a couple of things during my last semester prior to taking the test that helped me out. I offered to be a grader for general chemistry for one of my professors and she let me(I got paid for it too!). Being a grader really solidified gen chem for me because you really have to understand the material to be a grader obviously. For organic chemistry, I had just gotten done with taking the year long course and scored in the 95 percentile on the standardized final exam because I studied for 3 days straight 13-14 hours a day for that test.

I felt awesome after finishing the science section and even had 15 minutes to spare. Then I took the PAT section and really felt bummed out after that lol. Taking the DAT is truly a roller coaster ride!

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

Dude you studied for like 10 days and got a 21.
People usually study for weeks for that score.
Most study for weeks and still don't get that score.

You should definitely retake if you're that confident in your sciences.

A 16 in PAT is extremely weak and you'll miss a lot of cutoffs.
Get Crack the DAT PAT (10 tests) and practice on those. They are similar in difficulty as the actual PAT. It should take you around 10 days to do the tests.

Boost up the PAT score (18+) and you'll be golden.

 

[dentalWorks]

call some schools your interested in and ask for their opinion about the PAT....

 

[NguyenDDS]

It all depends on which schools you're aiming for. Midwestern, for instance, has a PAT cut-off of 17 but prefer 18+. And USN (Roseman) has a PAT cut-off of 17 but prefer 18+. But some schools don't have individual section cut-offs and just want your AA or TS to be above a certain number.

I would contact the schools directly and ask them about it. Good luck!

 

[boomchakalak]

It all depends on which schools you're aiming for. Midwestern, for instance, has a PAT cut-off of 17 but prefer 18+. And USN (Roseman) has a PAT cut-off of 17 but prefer 18+. But some schools don't have individual section cut-offs and just want your AA or TS to be above a certain number.

I would contact the schools directly and ask them about it. Good luck!

I just contacted Midwestern because that is one of my top places that I would like to attend, and the adviser said that there is no PAT cut-off. They look for well rounded individuals and understand the fact that tests sometimes don't reflect the actual ability of an individual. I also spoke to them about progression of grades and they look at that as well. If you are consistently improving your GPA then they consider that. I got a couple of D's my freshman year thats bringing my GPA down but have maintained 3.8GPA since then. So, all in all good news so far!

 

[NguyenDDS]

I just contacted Midwestern because that is one of my top places that I would like to attend, and the adviser said that there is no PAT cut-off. They look for well rounded individuals and understand the fact that tests sometimes don't reflect the actual ability of an individual. I also spoke to them about progression of grades and they look at that as well. If you are consistently improving your GPA then they consider that. I got a couple of D's my freshman year thats bringing my GPA down but have maintained 3.8GPA since then. So, all in all good news so far!

That's good new! I always thought they had a PAT cutoff because of this paragraph on their website... "Submit competitive scores on the Dental Aptitude Test (DAT). Scores in the area of 18 or higher will be expected for the Academic Average, Reading Comprehension, and Perceptual Ability sections. The DAT test must have been taken no more than 3 years prior to application."

I guess I misunderstood. Sorry. Here we go, this link may help you... some of the schools state their cutoffs in the statistics section. This file is from 2010, I believe.