wanting opinions on a solid DAT score to make my application more competitive one

[Llama's boy]

Hi everyone! This may come off as a silly question but, because I have my overall GPA and also my science GPA, I was wanting to ask for some opinions. Would obtaining a 20 on the DAT be a decent enough score to make my application an overall competitive one? (I will strive to score above that definitely but I was just wanting to hear from you guys on the score of 20) My Overall GPA is 3.73 and my science GPA is a 3.68. I am basically done with all my prerequisites except Organic chemistry 2 lab and Physics 2 lab. (Will be taking care of those next spring)

Volunteer (dental/non dental): roughly over 200 hours
Worked as an RDA: over 5000 hours (roughly 4 years)
Shadowed (mostly general): 60 hours



Any feed back would be greatly appreciated!

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[artist2022]

A 20 is just about average, so there's that. I would say a 21-22 makes you competitive.

20.3 was the average of students that matriculated during the 2015-2016 cycle (so, the current C/O 2020 people). You can explore stats here: Tableau Public

 

[Llama's boy]

A 20 is just about average, so there's that. I would say a 21-22 makes you competitive.

20.3 was the average of students that matriculated during the 2015-2016 cycle (so, the current C/O 2020 people). You can explore stats here: Tableau Public

Thank you so much for replying! And thank you for the link. Would you say that 2 months is a sufficient amount of time to study for the DAT? I would be taking off of work for that time and will be focusing all my time on studying and eating. Haha

 

[Cthuluhoop]

I studied for 3 months focusing on the DAT exclusively and it worked for me. Depending on how much you study a day and how much you can retain a day it's definitely possible as you can find people studying over the few weeks of winter break and scoring above the 98th percentile. It is very person dependent on what you score you can accomplish in X amount of time

That being said, don't just aim for a 20, aim high and study as hard as you can to get better than that. Nothing is wrong with a 20, but don't set your sights on average. With your GPA you should be able to do pretty well

 

[artist2022]

Thank you so much for replying! And thank you for the link. Would you say that 2 months is a sufficient amount of time to study for the DAT? I would be taking off of work for that time and will be focusing all my time on studying and eating. Haha

Yup I only studied for 8 weeks from June - August and did well. I studied from like 8/9am til 2am most nights, but that's all in my breakdown. Other breakdowns can be found here: Compilation - DAT Breakdown Collection! 2017-Present

 

[Llama's boy]

I studied for 3 months focusing on the DAT exclusively and it worked for me. Depending on how much you study a day and how much you can retain a day it's definitely possible as you can find people studying over the few weeks of winter break and scoring above the 98th percentile. It is very person dependent on what you score you can accomplish in X amount of time

That being said, don't just aim for a 20, aim high and study as hard as you can to get better than that. Nothing is wrong with a 20, but don't set your sights on average. With your GPA you should be able to do pretty well

Thank you so much for your reply as well! Yes, I will definitely try my best to aim higher than that!

 

[Llama's boy]

Yup I only studied for 8 weeks from June - August and did well. I studied from like 8/9am til 2am most nights, but that's all in my breakdown. Other breakdowns can be found here: Compilation - DAT Breakdown Collection! 2017-Present

Wow! yeah same plan! Also, did you apply that same cycle after you took the DAT in August? Like you were just waiting to take the DAT and then your application would be completed and sent in to be looked at? I am only asking because I plan on taking it around 2nd week of July 2019 with my application already submitted and would just be waiting for the score to come in.

 

[artist2022]

Wow! yeah same plan! Also, did you apply that same cycle after you took the DAT in August? Like you were just waiting to take the DAT and then your application would be completed and sent in to be looked at? I am only asking because I plan on taking it around 2nd week of July 2019 with my application already submitted and would just be waiting for the score to come in.

I did apply that same cycle, but no, not before I had my scores. I took my test at the beginning of August, made/did my app throughout August, and then submitted at the end of August.

I had a high GPA and I wanted to make sure I had a high DAT score to match so that it wouldn't look like my undergrad inflated their grades. So, I didn't apply until I took my test and had my scores in hand

 

[IdleKoala]

Yeah, you obviously will want the highest scores you can get to give yourself the most competitive chance possible. And if I am being honest, with my 22AA, I felt very average at my interviews, maybe it was just my luck, but it seemed as if most people at my interviews had higher scores than me. That being said, I was VERY blessed to get the score I did, and more goes into an application than just scores. So study hard and give it your best effort! Also, I would recommend getting a few more shadowing hours if possible, unless your dental volunteering hours can count as shadowing. Best of luck!

 

[Llama's boy]

Good job on that score! And thank you for your reply! I will do my best

Yeah, you obviously will want the highest scores you can get to give yourself the most competitive chance possible. And if I am being honest, with my 22AA, I felt very average at my interviews, maybe it was just my luck, but it seemed as if most people at my interviews had higher scores than me. That being said, I was VERY blessed to get the score I did, and more goes into an application than just scores. So study hard and give it your best effort! Also, I would recommend getting a few more shadowing hours if possible, unless your dental volunteering hours can count as shadowing. Best of luck!

 

[Llama's boy]

I did apply that same cycle, but no, not before I had my scores. I took my test at the beginning of August, made/did my app throughout August, and then submitted at the end of August.

I had a high GPA and I wanted to make sure I had a high DAT score to match so that it wouldn't look like my undergrad inflated their grades. So, I didn't apply until I took my test and had my scores in hand

Hi again thank you for replying a few days ago! I just had another question when you have free time to respond. Assuming I get at least a 21 or higher on the DAT, how does my school list look? I am a TX resident.

Texas A&M Baylor
UT Houston
UT SA
Lecom
Midwest AZ
UNLV
Temple
WesternU

I was wanting to add 2 more schools to make my list 10 schools overall, any suggestions would be really helpful! thank you

 

[artist2022]

Hi again thank you for replying a few days ago! I just had another question when you have free time to respond. Assuming I get at least a 21 or higher on the DAT, how does my school list look? I am a TX resident.

Texas A&M Baylor
UT Houston
UT SA
Lecom
Midwest AZ
UNLV
Temple
WesternU

I was wanting to add 2 more schools to make my list 10 schools overall, any suggestions would be really helpful! thank you

I think it looks fine, but I'd maybe add those two schools later on when you have your scores. You can apply to these 8 in June and then add a few more in July when you have your unofficial scores.

 

[Llama's boy]

Thank you haha, would adding Marquette and England to my list be good? Or should I just do the first 8 like you suggested

I think it looks fine, but I'd maybe add those two schools later on when you have your scores. You can apply to these 8 in June and then add a few more in July when you have your unofficial scores.

 

[artist2022]

Thank you haha, would adding Marquette and England to my list be good? Or should I just do the first 8 like you suggested

You can but let's say you score really well on your DAT, you might wish that you had added a couple more public schools or Ivys on your list instead of those two.

 

[Llama's boy]

So this might be a silly question haha but how do you know if it's a private school or public school? What do you look for? The tuition? Sorry for the question but I wanted to be sure haha

You can but let's say you score really well on your DAT, you might wish that you had added a couple more public schools or Ivys on your list instead of those two.

 

[artist2022]

So this might be a silly question haha but how do you know if it's a private school or public school? What do you look for? The tuition? Sorry for the question but I wanted to be sure haha

Yeah you look to see if tuition differs between in state residents and out of state residents. For example, UCLA is significantly cheaper for its residents than it is for non-residents (~24k per year difference if I recall correctly, but idk since I'm a CA resident). @Lab_lover made an amazing spreadsheet yesterday though, comparing IS to OOS tuition for schools, and the ones that don't have IS/OOS listed are the privates (like USC, NYU, UNE and Marquette that you just mentioned).

 

[Llama's boy]

Thank you so much! You've been so helpful

Yeah you look to see if tuition differs between in state residents and out of state residents. For example, UCLA is significantly cheaper for its residents than it is for non-residents (~24k per year difference if I recall correctly, but idk since I'm a CA resident). @Lab_lover made an amazing spreadsheet yesterday though, comparing IS to OOS tuition for schools, and the ones that don't have IS/OOS listed are the privates (like USC, NYU, UNE and Marquette that you just mentioned).