What else can I do?

[purduephigam]

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Hi All,

I'm new here; I already posted my "new member" thread, but thought it necessary to paint some background info and get some pointers from you all. Anyways, this is my second go of it. I applied to ten schools last year and was rejected from all. I am now re-applying with an improving GPA, a B.S. from Purdue, and now am planning on attaining my master's while reapplying each year to dental schools.

Now it's kind of intimidating seeing all your numbers on here, and made me almost not want to post anything since I'm not even in the same ballpark as most of you. I have a 3.15 bcp and a 3.22 overall GPA. I took the DAT last year and got 17s across the board except for PAT (20) and RC (20).

My first question to you all is, what should I do to better prepare for the DAT? I took the kaplan prep course and am using their materials online, but am still not sure how much that will help. Luckily I found Topscore last year and used that as my main source to study from. I've been trying to study as much as possible before going back to Topscore so that I can see if I've improved or not. Right now though, it just seems that I need to just do all the tests and go over and over them to familiarize myself with the consistency of questions and what concepts I need to know, or know better.

Secondly, it's depressing telling people I was rejected last year when in today's society if you're not accepted into anything your first time, you're not considered the cream of the crop. I, however, am a very very hard worker. After shadowing several dentists for over 70 hourse over the past two and a half years, this is something I really want to do. I really hope schools look highly upon the fact I am continuing my education and am trying to raise my GPA and desparately trying to get at least a 19 on the DAT. I'm not sure what else I can do besides keep reapplying since I have the impression I am not a competitive candidate. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks guys

 

[biocmp]

You sound like you have a solid foundation. kaplan, and DAT achiever, Topscore all come recommended. Also, some people find examkrackers, DAT destroyer, and others helpful. Schaum's outline of biology etc also carry a following on here. Basically, learn your sciences inside out. Get to the point where you can think of any single process of the cell and know exactly what happens and who/what does it.

Know the reactions in organic chemistry in your mind. If someone mentions diels-alder, or sn1, e1, what comes to mind? Most of the people on here with the phenomenal scores will tell you that practice is key. Get every practice test and all the practice questions you can and do them until your brain hurts, then do them 5 more times. Good luck.

 

[purduephigam]

anyone else?

 

[KOM]

Rather than rote memorization, understand the concepts. This will do wonders. Sure...memorization helps, but if you really understand conceptually what's happening than you'll do well. For myself, ExamKrackers was a wonderful learning tool. Secondly, every section matters...for example, I scored 23 in bio, a 23 in gchem, 21 in RC, but the dang QR kept me at a 20 AA. Try to balance everything out and give careful attention to every section.

 

[jkh1886]

For every science section, I had a condensed source and a through source:

Bio:
Buy a college bio outline text. Know as much of that as you can, while being careful to not learn trivial material. Supplement with a Campbell's textbook as needed on the topics you're weak in. The trick is that you must be a smart studier. You MUST be able to pick and choose which concepts seem important, and filter out the rest. Too many people on here seem to be focusing on inessential details.

Chem:
Kaplan's blue book seems to be sufficient for me. However, I also had the AP chem book from Barron's on an as-needed basis for more detailed concepts.

Orgo:
I used Kaplan bluebook here also. But I'd read through my college orgo textbook just to get a through understanding of what's going on...understanding the electronics, the mechanisms, etc. You may want to go ahead and shell out $250 for DAT destroyer. Dr. J seemed to have surveyed his students to see what the actual concepts tested are. Thus, you may be getting free answers to questions.


PAT's about just practicing and formulating various strategies that fit you best. Strangely, Barron's book (althou full of errors) helped me fine tune my skills best. Through those questions, I learned what skills the DAT tests its students.

RC - worked on timing only. how do I get the most right in the limited time? do I map? do I refer back to the passage? do I risk trying to answer straight from memory?

QR - I didn't care about this section. I was on the math team in HS.

 

[KIMOANGELO]

Hi All,

I'm new here; I already posted my "new member" thread, but thought it necessary to paint some background info and get some pointers from you all. Anyways, this is my second go of it. I applied to ten schools last year and was rejected from all. I am now re-applying with an improving GPA, a B.S. from Purdue, and now am planning on attaining my master's while reapplying each year to dental schools.

Now it's kind of intimidating seeing all your numbers on here, and made me almost not want to post anything since I'm not even in the same ballpark as most of you. I have a 3.15 bcp and a 3.22 overall GPA. I took the DAT last year and got 17s across the board except for PAT (20) and RC (20).

My first question to you all is, what should I do to better prepare for the DAT? I took the kaplan prep course and am using their materials online, but am still not sure how much that will help. Luckily I found Topscore last year and used that as my main source to study from. I've been trying to study as much as possible before going back to Topscore so that I can see if I've improved or not. Right now though, it just seems that I need to just do all the tests and go over and over them to familiarize myself with the consistency of questions and what concepts I need to know, or know better.

Secondly, it's depressing telling people I was rejected last year when in today's society if you're not accepted into anything your first time, you're not considered the cream of the crop. I, however, am a very very hard worker. After shadowing several dentists for over 70 hourse over the past two and a half years, this is something I really want to do. I really hope schools look highly upon the fact I am continuing my education and am trying to raise my GPA and desparately trying to get at least a 19 on the DAT. I'm not sure what else I can do besides keep reapplying since I have the impression I am not a competitive candidate. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks guys

try the examkrackers books. retake dat.
do some community service in a dental clinic that services the underserved area.
keep your head up and reapplying.
if you are determine, there will be a spot for you.
good luck! my friend. 👍

 

[Empty pockets]

Hi All,

I'm new here; I already posted my "new member" thread, but thought it necessary to paint some background info and get some pointers from you all. Anyways, this is my second go of it. I applied to ten schools last year and was rejected from all. I am now re-applying with an improving GPA, a B.S. from Purdue, and now am planning on attaining my master's while reapplying each year to dental schools.

Now it's kind of intimidating seeing all your numbers on here, and made me almost not want to post anything since I'm not even in the same ballpark as most of you. I have a 3.15 bcp and a 3.22 overall GPA. I took the DAT last year and got 17s across the board except for PAT (20) and RC (20).

My first question to you all is, what should I do to better prepare for the DAT? I took the kaplan prep course and am using their materials online, but am still not sure how much that will help. Luckily I found Topscore last year and used that as my main source to study from. I've been trying to study as much as possible before going back to Topscore so that I can see if I've improved or not. Right now though, it just seems that I need to just do all the tests and go over and over them to familiarize myself with the consistency of questions and what concepts I need to know, or know better.

Secondly, it's depressing telling people I was rejected last year when in today's society if you're not accepted into anything your first time, you're not considered the cream of the crop. I, however, am a very very hard worker. After shadowing several dentists for over 70 hourse over the past two and a half years, this is something I really want to do. I really hope schools look highly upon the fact I am continuing my education and am trying to raise my GPA and desparately trying to get at least a 19 on the DAT. I'm not sure what else I can do besides keep reapplying since I have the impression I am not a competitive candidate. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks guys

dont get too depressed man. most people in this website are not so truthful with their stats. these guys who post high 20's never are willing to scan their scores so we can see them with our own eyes.

also, get higher DAT. Most schools I applied to would have rejected me if I had less than a 18 in any area. That seems to be the cutoff for out of state colleges.

Also, redo your personal essay.

Change it until it becomes a tear jerker. That is going to be necessary.

Also, you need to shadow an ALUMNIST dentist with connections to a college.

Shadowing a dentist who doesnt contribute money to the school or have a connection at all when your stats is low is IN MY OPINION A BIG ASS WASTE OF TIME.


Shadow someone with some power. Do your research and get in this time.

Also, TOPSCORE IS CRAP, worthless.

 

[purduephigam]

is TOPSCORE really crap? I used it last year and thought it was very helpful.

what do most people suggest to use? i dont know of any other practice test cd -roms.

 

[apaul]

dont get too depressed man. most people in this website are not so truthful with their stats. these guys who post high 20's never are willing to scan their scores so we can see them with our own eyes.



Also, TOPSCORE IS CRAP, worthless.

Topscore is not crap, its great for getting timing down and pointing out what subjects you need to study, and if anybody wants to see a scan of my DAT scores, be my guest

 

[armorshell]

dont get too depressed man. most people in this website are not so truthful with their stats. these guys who post high 20's never are willing to scan their scores so we can see them with our own eyes.

just because you couldn't score that high doesn't mean it's impossible 😉

edit: topscore is awesome, everyone should use it 😉

 

[armorshell]

Topscore is not crap, its great for getting timing down and pointing out what subjects you need to study, and if anybody wants to see a scan of my DAT scores, be my guest

you don't need to post a scan b/c some troll wants you to!

He's probably just a WVUdental dupe account