What are my chances? Should I retake DAT?

[J_believer]

Hi! I'm a non-traditional pre-dental student applying for this cycle. English is my second language and I got 16 on RC. I'm terrified because of my RC score..

These are my stats
DAT AA21 TS20 PAT21 QR27 RC16 Bio19 GC21 OC20
bachelor's in chemistry GPA 2.96
master's in chemistry GPA 3.76
post-bacc GPA 4.00
dental shadowing 190+
volunteer 300+
three journal papers published as first author and second author
one patent
4+ conference presentations including oral presentation

I applied to UNLV, Western U, and Midwestern-IL. (I'm a Nevada resident)
I feel like I'm wasting my money if I apply to too many schools since I scored so low in RC. I took my DAT on July 18th (first attempt) and thinking if I should retake it around October 18th. Should I retake it? I'm not sure if I can get any chance of getting an interview if I apply to more schools after October 18th...

Any advice would help. Thank you so much and good luck to all of you!

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[S_Diamond_DDS]

Yes, I suggest a retake. It wouldn’t be a waste of time to apply to more schools this cycle, however you’d have to tell them you’re doing a retake to improve your scores, so they know not to autoreject you because of your RC (for the schools that have score cutoffs). Keep in mind, you don’t have to be the best reader to score well in this section, just need to develop a strategy that works for you. Here are some threads that will help you to see strategies for this section, look through the entire threads:

Helpful Strategy for RC Section for Slow Readers

I am a slow reader too. The RC section for us should be more of a strategy game then simply reading the passage. My personal strategy was that I only read the first 2/3rds of the passage, then read the questions, answer the ones I knew, then search and destroy the rest. I realized reading only...

forums.studentdoctor.net

Reading Comprehension strategy? How to understand articles better

My DAT is in 10 days but I'm very worried about RC. I've done all 15 practice tests in bootcamp, and I just got qvault's reading comprehension tests. I've been pretty much using just the search and destroy method, but many times if the article is too difficult to understand, I have trouble...

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[J_believer]

Yes, I suggest a retake. It wouldn’t be a waste of time to apply to more schools this cycle, however you’d have to tell them you’re doing a retake to improve your scores, so they know not to autoreject you because of your RC (for the schools that have score cutoffs). Keep in mind, you don’t have to be the best reader to score well in this section, just need to develop a strategy that works for you. Here are some threads that will help you to see strategies for this section, look through the entire threads:

Helpful Strategy for RC Section for Slow Readers

I am a slow reader too. The RC section for us should be more of a strategy game then simply reading the passage. My personal strategy was that I only read the first 2/3rds of the passage, then read the questions, answer the ones I knew, then search and destroy the rest. I realized reading only...

forums.studentdoctor.net

Reading Comprehension strategy? How to understand articles better

My DAT is in 10 days but I'm very worried about RC. I've done all 15 practice tests in bootcamp, and I just got qvault's reading comprehension tests. I've been pretty much using just the search and destroy method, but many times if the article is too difficult to understand, I have trouble...

forums.studentdoctor.net

Thank you so much for your advice!!!! I'll try those strategies and hopefully can do better next time! Thank you again!!!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hi! I'm a non-traditional pre-dental student applying for this cycle. English is my second language and I got 16 on RC. I'm terrified because of my RC score..

These are my stats
DAT AA21 TS20 PAT21 QR27 RC16 Bio19 GC21 OC20
bachelor's in chemistry GPA 2.96
master's in chemistry GPA 3.76
post-bacc GPA 4.00
dental shadowing 190+
volunteer 300+
three journal papers published as first author and second author
one patent
4+ conference presentations including oral presentation

I applied to UNLV, Western U, and Midwestern-IL. (I'm a Nevada resident)
I feel like I'm wasting my money if I apply to too many schools since I scored so low in RC. I took my DAT on July 18th (first attempt) and thinking if I should retake it around October 18th. Should I retake it? I'm not sure if I can get any chance of getting an interview if I apply to more schools after October 18th...

Any advice would help. Thank you so much and good luck to all of you!

I actually don't suggest an immediate retake. You need to know if the schools on your list will rule you out. The rest of your DAT subscribes look good. Have you networked with the schools before you begin your application?

 

[J_believer]

I actually don't suggest an immediate retake. You need to know if the schools on your list will rule you out. The rest of your DAT subscribes look good. Have you networked with the schools before you begin your application?

I actually had limitations on applying to majority of the schools from the start since my BS was from a foreign country and many of the schools required "90 credits from US schools". My MS and post-bacc are from US school but they only sum up to 50 credits at the moment. I did talk to schools that I can apply to and many of the schools suggested me to retake the DAT because of my RC score. Many of them told me that they will hold my application until I retake it and process it after the retake. I wasn't sure if it would be better to apply first, tell them that I will be retaking the DAT so they can put a hold on my application, and then update my score. To me, putting a hold on my application till I retake the DAT and newly applying in October felt like the exact same things.. Do you think it would be better to tell my DAT scores including my RC score and see if I will be ruled out? Thank you so much for your advice.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

The feedback from your schools is appropriately insightful so I amend my advice to follow their consensus. Take the DAT and study to be sure all your scores including RC are above par (20+ across the board).