WAMC retake DAT?

[ryanjy]

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Date of Submission: Planning for the 2025–2026 cycle

Overall GPA: 3.67
Science GPA: 3.56
BCP GPA: 3.27 (more on this below)

DAT Score (2nd attempt; received 17 AA & 14 TS 1st time):

• AA 21 - PAT 23 / RC 20 / QR 22 / TS 20 / Bio 20 / GC 21 / OC 20

State of Residence: New York

Undergrad Attended: Macaulay Honors College at CUNY Hunter College (June 2024)
Major: Biological Sciences
Minor: Political Science
Minority: No
Reapplicant?: No
Nontrad?: No

Shadowing Experience: ~1,000 hours as a dental assistant

• Started assisting in high school at an orthodontic office (300 hours)
• Continued assisting at a large clinic from freshman through sophomore year, primarily with general dentists and some exposure to prosthodontics, endodontics, and orthodontics (500 hours)
• Currently working at a nonprofit organization where I assist dental patients with disabilities, which has profoundly influenced my approach to patient care and will be the focus of my personal statement (160 hours and ongoing)

Volunteering Experience: ~200 hours

• ~20 hours of Volunteer work with Food Bank for NYC
• 160 hours at nonprofit organization as treatment coordinator volunteer intern, calling patients to streamline appointments
• Future volunteer work planned with Give Kids A Smile & Special Olympics (~15 hours combined)

Employment:

• Resident Assistant (RA) experience in junior year
• Dental Assistant at three clinics through high school & college to present

Research: None yet, but seeking opportunities to gain research experience before applying

• Should I look for lab research or focus on social science research involving equity (which aligns with my personal statement and experiences)? I know that it's kind of pointless thinking of it even before getting spots for them, but just want to get a second opinion before I proactively look for them.

Relevant Honors or Awards: though they may not be significant -

• Dean's List for 5 semesters
• Rudin Scholars recipient at my college

LOR Type and Strength:

• Receiving a committee letter from my college's pre-health office that combines 6 strong recommendations:
  • 2 from dentists I’ve worked with
  • 3 from science faculty
  • 1 from a non-science faculty member & 1 from my volunteer supervisor

Misc Info/Things Not Stated Elsewhere/Red Flags:

• Low GPA (2.5) in the fall of my sophomore year due to personal challenges, but I have shown an upward trend since then, maintaining a 3.9+ GPA each semester by senior year.
  • Got D in Bio 2 & C+ in Orgo 1, which have brought down my GPA a lot. Got B+ in Orgo 2 and retook Bio 2 and received B+.
• First-generation college student and first-generation immigrant who arrived in the U.S. as an undocumented student (no longer the case)
• Considering whether to retake the DAT or focus on strengthening my application through research, further clinical experience, and interview prep

School List:

1. Columbia
2. UPenn
3. NYU
4. Stony Brook
5. Buffalo
6. Touro
7. Rutgers
8. Temple
9. Boston University
10. Tufts
11. UConn
12. Howard
13. Open to recommendations for other schools in the region

I’d appreciate any feedback on my competitiveness for dental schools I listed above. Should I apply to more schools, and if so, which ones would be a good fit? I’m also debating whether I should retake the DAT or focus on other aspects of my application. Any insights into how I can further improve my application would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

 

[macsak]

Date of Submission: Planning for the 2025–2026 cycle

Overall GPA: 3.67
Science GPA: 3.56
BCP GPA: 3.27 (more on this below)

DAT Score (2nd attempt; received 17 AA & 14 TS 1st time):

• AA: 21
  
  • PAT: 23, RC: 20, QR: 22
• TS: 20
  
  • Bio: 20, GC: 21, OC: 20

State of Residence: New York

Undergrad Attended: Macaulay Honors College at CUNY Hunter College (June 2024)
Major: Biological Sciences
Minor: Political Science
Minority: No
Reapplicant?: No
Nontrad?: No

Shadowing Experience: ~1,000 hours as a dental assistant

• Started assisting in high school at an orthodontic office (300 hours)
• Continued assisting at a large clinic from freshman through sophomore year, primarily with general dentists and some exposure to prosthodontics, endodontics, and orthodontics (500 hours)
• Currently working at a nonprofit organization where I assist dental patients with disabilities, which has profoundly influenced my approach to patient care and will be the focus of my personal statement (160 hours and ongoing)

Volunteering Experience: ~200 hours

• ~20 hours of Volunteer work with Food Bank for NYC
• 160 hours at nonprofit organization as treatment coordinator volunteer intern, calling patients to streamline appointments
• Future volunteer work planned with Give Kids A Smile & Special Olympics (~15 hours combined)

Employment:

• Resident Assistant (RA) experience in junior year
• Dental Assistant at three clinics through high school & college to present

Research: None yet, but actively seeking opportunities to gain research experience before applying

• Should I look for lab research or focus on social science research involving equity (which aligns with my personal statement and experiences)? I know that it's kind of pointless thinking of it even before getting spots for them, but just want to get a second opinion before I proactively look for them.

Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools?: Been to NYU Dental open house, will be attending more as cycle nears.

Relevant Honors or Awards: though they may not be significant -

• Dean's List for 5 semesters
• Rudin Scholars recipient at my college

LOR Type and Strength:

• Receiving a committee letterfrom my college's pre-health office that combines 6 recommendations:
  • 2 from dentists I’ve worked with
  • 3 from science faculty
  • 1 from a non-science faculty member & 1 from my volunteer supervisor

Misc Info/Things Not Stated Elsewhere/Red Flags:

• Low GPA (2.5) in the fall of my sophomore year due to personal challenges, but I have shown an upward trend since then, maintaining a 3.9+ GPA each semester by senior year.
  • Got D in Bio 2 & C+ in Orgo 1, which have brought down my GPA a lot. Got B+ in Orgo 2 and retook Bio 2 and received B+.
• First-generation college student and first-generation immigrant who arrived in the U.S. as an undocumented student (no longer the case)
• Considering whether to retake the DAT or focus on strengthening my application through research, further clinical experience, and interview prep

School List:

1. Columbia (dream school)
2. NYU
3. Stony Brook
4. Buffalo
5. Touro
6. Rutgers
7. Boston University
8. UConn
9. Open to recommendations for other schools in the region

I’d appreciate any feedback on my competitiveness for dental schools I listed above. Should I apply to more schools, and if so, which ones would be a good fit? I’m also debating whether I should retake the DAT or focus on other aspects of my application. Any insights into how I can further improve my application would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

citizenship status?

sorry to say that your stats are well below columbia's averages
not to say you shouldn't apply, but you need to know your realistic chances

and your school list needs to be much longer...

 

[ryanjy]

citizenship status?

sorry to say that your stats are well below columbia's averages
not to say you shouldn't apply, but you need to know your realistic chances

and your school list needs to be much longer...

Only have work permit for now but will be getting permanent residency status soon. Could you also recommend me some other dental schools to apply to?

 

[macsak]

you need to do your own research to expand into the northeast and perhaps even into the midwest
get the ADEA guide/dental school explorer and find schools in your gpa/dat range
the one that stands out to me is why boston and not tufts?

in regards to retake DAT or not, that's a tough one because your stats are right at the nationwide matriculant average (3.55/20.5) and you have 2 reach schools on your list, plus your in-state publics can be competitive too (along with rutgers)
if you want to keep your list short, you are going to have to consider a retake (and also whether or not you can improve your scores)
you don't have to retake if you add a bunch of schools to your list...

Only have work permit for now but will be getting permanent residency status soon. Could you also recommend me some other dental schools to apply to?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I'm going to nitpick on your details.

You have "Dental experience," not "Shadowing experience." I don't know why your listed non-profit experience fits there. It could better fit with non-clinical experience, provided it's not the exact same as your work with the other non-profit. For dental admissions (to me), shadowing isn't critical if you have a lot of assisting, so don't fret over not having "shadowing." It also looks like you double-dip with Employment.

For your other community service work, anything with fewer than 50 hours is negligible to me. Work in your food bank until you get to 100 hours. Your work with GKAS/Special Olympics seems similar to the other description of your dental non-profit work. You have plenty of hours in this category, but increase the variety of your community service as you have with your clinical exposure. That only helps your profile in general.

Find research that interests you, but realize that dental schools don't put a ton of weight on research. You might need it to specialize later, but "real research" begins in your specialty training.

You got a great result with your second DAT attempt, so ride with it. Just have a list of schools that align with your mission.

You have a committee letter process, so you likely have gotten advice from your prehealth advisors. What do they suggest?

When you say patients with disabilities, could you be more specific? Are you talking about the Special Olympics patients? Do you want to do pediatric dentistry? How have your clinics adapted? What do you expect from the dental schools where you are applying? Have you visited schools to talk to students about it? How about your Free Clinic exposure?

 

[bkthmusic]

Hey! I’m at Hunter too. I would say since the committee letter has a lot of requirements, make sure that you qualify based on the DAT and GPA. I would double check with the pre health office. Your DAT scores are good. Your GPA not so much. I would add more schools with lower averages. Also I don’t see any leadership experience.

 

[levma]

Hi hunter student! I wanted to agree with everyone else’s recommendations to add more schools. I would probably add UPitt and research schools that historically take students around ur DAT and GPA+are out of state friendly (also make sure that if you did take AP courses that count as pre-reqs, these schools will accept them). As a current applicant, I highly recommend you take off Columbia. They will not send you an interview with that DAT, they like 26AA+ from what I’m seeing. Save your money for other schools fees.


As for the committee letter side, did the office confirm you are on track to get it? I would really double check with them like bk said since they want you to know all of their requirements and have everything ready before you apply (minimum GPA and DAT to qualify). I would also check that all of your letters are in your pre-health file and the office has access to them, super important. If you have any questions letter wise lmk!