Dental What are my chances for dental school?

[TheBoneDoctah]

Hi,
I took my DAT and my scores were :

PAT 20 QR 15 RC 15 Bio 19 GC 22 OC 18 TS 19 AA 18

I have a foreign bachelor degree in engineering with 2.4 GPA. Except the biochemistry, I took the prerequisite classes at community college . Now, I have 3.9GPA for the prerequisite classes. Do you think I have chance or I should retake the exam.
I feel anxious when I think I have to redo the test. Thanks

I am not very familiar with DAT scores, but upon looking up some info on them, it SEEMS that your scores are good except for your QR/RC which are low.

I think your bigger issue will be your GPA. I know you got. 3.9 in your prereqs, but what is your overall GPA now?

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[Mr.Smile12]

OMG Its about 3.0 or less. I haven't thought this way.I thought since my Bachelor's degree is from overseas country. They will only focus on the prerequisite classes. Its mean that I need to take more classes to balance it.

Let's step back a bit and take a more holistic view.

1) Assuming you are applying to US schools, have you read up on the application process and met with admissions officers? I say this because most schools want you to be on track for a US bachelor's degree. Furthermore, your non-US coursework needs to have an equivalency transcript and will not factor in the application GPA.

2) how many hours of experience do you have in dentistry in the US? Community service hours?

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

1- Yes I checked the requirement and there are a good number of dental schools who doesn't require a bachelor's degree from US institute. The per-health advisor guided me through this process . I already evaluate my degree with the WES (an authorized office who evaluate the foreign degrees) and they gave me 2.4 GPA.
2- About 300 hours of shadowing and 200 of dental clinical experiment. But I have very strong lab experiment, I work at biology and chemistry lab since 2017, and I have over 2000 hours of work.
So what are my options, what do you suggest ?

Any non-clinical volunteer work?

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Yes, I have about 500 hours of volunteering as medical interpreter for the US army at hospital back home.

Non-clinical as in working at a soup kitchen, helping people less fortunate...etc?

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

hmmm, yes I have, but I didn't keep records of these. I used to volunteer at food banks and some community office .

Okay, try and get this info and figure out how many hours you had at these as you will need them.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

I will thanks, does it have impact since as you mention my GPA is low ?

I’m just saying it’s needed if you are going to eventually apply for dental school.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Your WES GPA is not going to factor into your application GPA. That should help. I'd start asking questions to admissions officers before applying.

 

[artist2022]

Apart from the things mentioned about your GPA, I would look into retaking the DAT because an 18AA is low and you have two sections under 18. 18 is not very competitive for US applicants, and even less competitive for international students (assuming you are applying as an international). Get the lower scores up to at least 18 and your overall at least 20 to have a shot at some of the international-friendly private schools...

In regard to GPA, community college courses are generally not looked upon too favorably so I would try and take some upper division recommended science courses at a 4yr university near you (like Physiology, Immunology, Virology, etc.)