What's a good DAT score?

[zackscoot]

I just took my MCAT and i'm trying to study for my DAT's. I'm just wondering if someone can tell me what's a good DAT score?

After about 2 weeks of review, I just took my first Topscore practice test:

Bio: 22
Chem: 25
Orgo: 21
Math: 22
Reading 21
overall: 22

PAT: 18

Are these good enough scores and if they are, what are my chances of improving them???

Any input would be of GREAT help. Also anyone know what i should use to review math?

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[levyusupov]

are you crazy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, with these scores you have a seat saved for you in DS.

just to be 100% safe, improve your PAT.

but if you wanna really improve, get the DAT destroyer, it will help to focus on the main topics

topscore is not a good indicator, get the achiever.

generally, TS= 21-22; AA=21-22, safe seat in dental school.

good luck

 

[isuclones85]

holy hell tell me how u study

 

[alltheway]

Keep studying because eventhough you did so well on topscore there is no telling how you will do on the exam. You will never go wrong preparing for it 100%. Good luck

 

[Dasha]

Very nice scores
Good luck!

 

[zackscoot]

holy hell tell me how u study

Well i studied for the MCAT over half a year... The DAT is just a simplified version of the MCAT i think. But i don't know because my overall and science GPA is about a 3.2 from UPENN, I'm trying to use the DAT to compensate for that... Any idea how good my DAT score has to be in order for me to get into a pretty good school like Columbia or UPenn with my GPA like this?

 

[Nasem]

I know its not the main topic of discussion... but if you have already taken the MCAT .... why are you working on your DAT....

What do you want to become ?

 

[zackscoot]

I know its not the main topic of discussion... but if you have already taken the MCAT .... why are you working on your DAT....

What do you want to become ?

Dental school is my second career choice and my first career choice isMed school. If i can't get into med, i'll go into dental.

 

[john9192]

Dental school is my backup to Med school. If i can't get into med, i'll go into dental.

uh oh..he said the word "BACKUP".

I don't think this is a good place to mention that d-school is your backup because it will make pre-dents look like they are all losers (doing dentistry because we cannot make it to med school). There are many people in this forum who are capable of getting into med school, but doing dentistry simply because they like dentistry better. Also, dental school is nowhere easier to get into than med school..

 

[Streetwolf]

And what makes you think dental is easier than med?

 

[zackscoot]

And what makes you think dental is easier than med?

I never said dental is easier... i simply meant that dental school will be my second choice in term of career choices and medical is my first. If i can't have my first choice, i'll be gladly to move onto my second choice. It doesn't mean that dental is easier it just means that it's second on the list for me.

 

[laundry]

Dental school is my backup to Med school. If i can't get into med, i'll go into dental.

Oh man...if only I didn't need to conserve energy for DAT studying. I'm sorry man, but if you have a "back up" for anything, you don't deserve to get in. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but having a back up means you really DONT care what you do as long as u get the "doctor badge" and all the perks. If you were really passionate about Medicine, you'd just study hard for med school and reapplied. Damn...people like you make the whole medical care system f*ed up in this country. Go in because you are passionate about service and understanding of the science of the human body, not because you want to be a Dr. Somebody.

 

[zackscoot]

Oh man...if only I didn't need to conserve energy for DAT studying. I'm sorry man, but if you have a "back up" for anything, you don't deserve to get in. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but having a back up means you really DONT care what you do as long as u get the "doctor badge" and all the perks. If you were really passionate about Medicine, you'd just study hard for med school and reapplied. Damn...people like you make the whole medical care system f*ed up in this country. Go in because you are passionate about service and understanding of the science of the human body, not because you want to be a Dr. Somebody.

I'm not sure what you meant. But i am passionate about medicine. I do love to be able to help someone when they are sick. You said that i should just reapply if i don't get in. You have to look at it from my perspective. If i don't get into med school on my first try, then i need to show GREAT amount of improvement in order to get into the same school again. So if i apply this year and didn't get in. That means, i need to spend the next year improving my grades etc. And wait a third year for the whole application process to kick in. which means that if i don't get in the first time, i have to wait 2 more years before i can have a second shot at it. It's not something that i'm willing to do over and over no matter how much passion i have for medicine. You have to learn when to fold when u know it's futile. Secondly, if i have a dentist that HATE his job but is brilliant at what he does. I have no problem with that. I believe that while i do have interest in dentistry and not as much as for medicine, it shouldn't make a difference to my patients as long as i can do a kick as job fixing their problem. For example, if someone comes in with tooth problem and suffers horribly. A dentist goes in and fixed the problem perfectly, do u really think the patient gives a damn about whether this dentist likes his job or not or whether he is passionate about what he does? my answer is: HELL NO. You don't pick dentist because they are passionate about what they do, you pick dentist because of the quality of work they do!!! I rather have a dentist who HATES his job but brilliant at it than someone who LOVES his job and does a ****TY quality of work.

AND I don't see dentistry as a "backup" (it was a poor choice of word when i wrote it i admit that). what i meant was it was my second career choice. If i have no shot of my first career choice, then why can't move onto my second career choice? i'm sure there are people in the world that have Dental as their first choice and med school as their second choice. You said, "If you were really passionate about Medicine, you'd just study hard for med school and reapplied". Think of it this way, If you can't get into med school no matter how hard you try, you would keep on trying for the rest of your life until you are 45? I mean be realistic, if you reapply twice or even three times and still havent got in, what is your chance of get in on your 4th 5th 6th try? why should I have to stick to it till it's too late? why CAN't i change my career path?

 

[laundry]

Secondly, if i have a dentist that HATE his job but is brilliant at what he does. I have no problem with that. I believe that while i do have interest in dentistry and not as much as for medicine, it shouldn't make a difference to my patients as long as i can do a kick as job fixing their problem.

Say that on your interview if you trully believe this is OK. I'd love to see their reaction.
Would you go to a surgeon that hates his job? You can't be good at something and hate it. Again...this is why this system is messed up. Don't go into a field if you're not passionate about it!

 

[zoom12]

.

 

[zackscoot]

Say that on your interview if you trully believe this is OK. I'd love to see their reaction.
Would you go to a surgeon that hates his job? You can't be good at something and hate it. Again...this is why this system is messed up. Don't go into a field if you're not passionate about it!

You are putting word into my mouth, i never said i wasn't passionate about dentistry. The way you are saying it is, you can only be passionate about one career and you can't have a second passion. I just don't see why not? what make you think that someone can't have two passions where he is more passionate about one than the other? You are making me sound like i don't like dentistry or something or if i'm not passionate about it. If i'm not passionate about dentistry then why would i bother with DAT's? i could've tried to become a nurse or any other millions profession out there in the world. I picked dentistry because it interest me. Because it allows me to have patient contact and patient care. At the same time, i want to be able to do surgeries (if not medical, then dental). I PICKED DENTISTRY AS MY SECOND CAREER CHOICE BECAUSE IT HAS THE ELEMENTS THAT I HAVE STRONG INTEREST IN.

 

[zackscoot]

Rumor has it that Upenn looks more favorably upon a high GPA than DAT (their avg from last year was just short of a 3.7 I think off the top of my head?). As for Columbia the rumor is that they look more favorably upon a high DAT (their academic avg from last year was 22ish I think, so I wouldn't be surprised if the avg was about 23ish or even 24 this year). Harvard had an avg of 24.4 as a side note. The unfortunate part is that applying to med at the same time will put you at even more of a disadvantage since most schools want to see that you are dedicated to strictly dentistry. Also, the dental application requires that you list any other professional schools you have applied, or are applying, to.
As for your DAT, I'm guessing that you probably rocked the MCAT since your DAT looks to be competitive enough for most schools. Just as a heads up though, my friend took both MCAT and DAT and she felt the real MCAT was easier than the real DAT. However, it seems to me that you're concerned about your GPA hindering you from a med school. Sadly, that's a misunderstanding since dental schools typically only have a slightly lower GPA avg (as mentioned above w/ UPenn as one example).

I fully understand your willingness to be involved in a health profession even if it isn't your first choice. I'm betting pharmacy might interest you as well. But either way, I'd focus on either med or dental. You'll be competitive in either, but the act of sending in an app to both will most likely also harm your chances for both medicine and dentistry.

Good luck with your studies!

thank you for your response. Yea i'm not sending my dental application this year. I'm applying to medical school this year. If i don't get in, i'll most likely apply to dental next year... so that should solve the problem i hope. I have already spend a whole year taking upper level biology classes (which by the way, helped immensely on bio section). I just don't see myself taking anymore classes and jump through anymore hoops. I want to get started on a career already

Also respond to what you said about GPA's... Almost all med school requires a 3.5 GPA or higher. But i do see that alot (not highly competitive but still good) dental schools have GPA requirement around 3.3 which means that my GPA is not horribly low and that i do have a chance of getting into somewhere if my DAT scores are good enough. But for med school, my GPA might be a little low and i think my chance will be diminished greatly compare to a dental school.

 

[phraud]

Like Levy said, if you improve your PAT score and get around the same AA on your real DATs, you're set.

Just to shed some light on the hostility, some premeds/med students (not all though) on this board can be such douches when they rant on about predents/dental students being "people that couldn't get into med school." So when people talk about dental school being their second choice to med school, it offends those that hold dentistry as their main passion because it kinda makes those premeds right.

I thought zackscoot was humble in stating dentistry being his second choice. I'm sure EVERYONE has a "backup" plan in case they don't get into whatever profession they want. Would you look down on someone who was a head chef at a 5 star restaurant, and told you that he/she originally wanted to be a dentist and didn't get in? Medicine and dentistry are very similar, so it actually makes sense for premeds to make dentistry their second choice if they're passionate about professional health in general.

People that hate their jobs can be good at it. My dad is in family practice. He's sick of his job, and is counting the days until he retires. He went into medicine mainly for the money and lifestyle it brought. He's cocky, stubborn, and kind of a jerk (I really do love him though). Aside from all that though, he's actually a pretty damn good doctor.

Yeah, it sucks that there are some people who are passionate about dental school and don't get in, while there are some people who really don't care that much about it and do get in. Well people, that's just life, you're gonna have to deal with it. Schools don't have a Passion-meter (maybe those Scientology e-meters would work?) that shows an applicant's passion towards dentistry. And even so, it's no indication that they can even get through the academics of dentistry. Schools base their decision on stats, not faith. There is a significant correlation to a student's success in dental school based on DATs and GPA.

Hmm, I kinda forgot where I was going with this. Dammit! Anyway, I don't post often on SDN, but I just wanted to leave my input. I take my DATs is 2 weeks, so I'll post my experience on here when that's done. Good luck with applying everyone!

Oh yeah, the movie "Knocked Up" was one of the best comedies I've seen in a long time. GO SEE IT!

I just took my MCAT and i'm trying to study for my DAT's. I'm just wondering if someone can tell me what's a good DAT score?

After about 2 weeks of review, I just took my first Topscore practice test:

Bio: 22
Chem: 25
Orgo: 21
Math: 22
Reading 21
overall: 22

PAT: 18

Are these good enough scores and if they are, what are my chances of improving them???

Any input would be of GREAT help. Also anyone know what i should use to review math?

 

[dentaldentist]

Great scores. If you get that on the real test you will get in somewhere for dental school, but your low GPA will really hurt your chances at many of the top dental schools. To have a shot at the top schools with a 3.2 GPA I would say you would need a 24 or 25 overall score at least to have a shot. Going to a good undergrad like UPenn should help your application as well as any good extracurriculars you may have. I believe the average GPA for dental schools is slightly over a 3.5 with DAT score about 19 or so.

Its not a big deal to have dentistry as a second choice, just make sure you understand what you are getting into. I think many people have interests in more than one potential career. The key think to do, if you have not already done so, is to go out and do some shadowing work with some dentists to make sure you really are interested. In some ways dentistry is similar to medicine and in some ways it is very different. Plus most schools require you to have a certain minimum amount of shadowing or working in dental officies before applying - 40 or more hours of shadowing should be good. Schools look down a bit at med applicants who are applying to dentistry because they couldn't get into medical school who have little or no experience in the field. Demonstrate your interest by working in a dental clinic or just shadowing with your general dentist and you should be fine.

You may also want to consider getting a copy of the Official Guide to Dental Schools from the American Dental Education Association. It gives you details on each school including each school's requirements and their entrance statistics. That book should help you to figure out what you need to score to get into your top choice schools. Good luck.

Official Guide to Dental Schools 2007

 

[isuclones85]

Yeah, it sucks that there are some people who are passionate about dental school and don't get in, while there are some people who really don't care that much about it and do get in. Well people, that's just life, you're gonna have to deal with it.

well said

 

[JMC07]

The difference between an MD and a DMD is that we work less and make more money

 

[D D S 2 B]

The difference between an MD and a DMD is that we work less and make more money

Very Nicely said...And it's very true...

 

[HeatingHomer]

I just took my MCAT and i'm trying to study for my DAT's.

This is your problem right here. Obviously you would rather be a MD and are just using dentistry as a fall back. I don't think that is such a great idea. A career in dentistry is only for those who really want to be dentists. Otherwise you'll just hate your job. When they say that dentists have the highest rate of suicide, they were probably referring to the ones that didn't really want to be dentists to begin with.

Just try your hardest and become an MD.

 

[busupshot83]

There's nothing wrong with having a backup. My dentist wanted to become a physician, but got rejected from medical school. He applied to dental school as a back up, and got accepted. Now he's a practicing dentist, and very happy with his career.

Whether you agree or not, thousands of students applying to graduate school have back up plans... that's reality.

 

[zackscoot]

There's nothing wrong with having a backup. My dentist wanted to become a physician, but got rejected from medical school. He applied to dental school as a back up, and got accepted. Now he's a practicing dentist, and very happy with his career.

Whether you agree or not, thousands of students applying to graduate school have back up plans... that's reality.

Yes and thank you for backing me up on this. I just don't get why people have to stick to one career and not having a backup plan. I think it's a smarter move to have something to fall back on if your first choice doesn't go through. Seriously, if i cant get into medical school, do people really thing that i should spend the rest of my life trying to get in??? HONESTLY?

Or if someone can't get into dental school even if they are passionate about it, do they really want to spend 10 years of their life jumping through hoops trying to get in???

 

[bkim]

Yes and thank you for backing me up on this. I just don't get why people have to stick to one career and not having a backup plan. I think it's a smarter move to have something to fall back on if your first choice doesn't go through. Seriously, if i cant get into medical school, do people really thing that i should spend the rest of my life trying to get in??? HONESTLY?

Or if someone can't get into dental school even if they are passionate about it, do they really want to spend 10 years of their life jumping through hoops trying to get in???

I think that your second choice plan fully makes sense.
However, bear in mind that this is a pre-dent board, and people may not like to see that someone is thinking of applying to dental school just in case med school doesn't work out. Wiser move would have been just to hide it =)
I guess that your only fault was being too honest.

 

[zackscoot]

Doesn't dental students have backups? what if you can't get into dentals school????

I just think that it's just annoying and immature for people to criticize me when i'm thinking ahead, while thousands of predental students this on site probably have a "backup" plan as well for in case they don't get into dental school.

 

[john9192]

Doesn't dental students have backups? what if you can't get into dentals school????

I just think that it's just annoying and immature for people to criticize me when i'm thinking ahead, while thousands of predental students this on site probably have a "backup" plan as well for in case they don't get into dental school.

I think if you REALLY want to become a dentist, you pretty much have no back up. if you dont get in, apply next year with improving your application.

 

[zackscoot]

I think if you REALLY want to become a dentist, you pretty much have no back up. if you dont get in, apply next year with improving your application.

What you are saying to me doesn't make any sense... I REALLY want to become doctor and yet i still think of dental as a backup career (it deosn't mean that i don't trully want to go to med school if i have the chance). People who doesnt have backups are the ones that spend years and years trying to get into a school and in the end just waste tons of time before they realize they need to change their career...

 

[fayew]

zacksoot, I can understand that you want you want an alternative to being a MD if you don't get in. Just keep in mind however, that dentistry is becoming more and more competitive by the year. The acceptance rate for dental schools is much lower nationally than the acceptance rate for medical schools, and they are decreasing with the huge rise in applicants. Averages are also on the rise for GPA and DAT scores. However, if you score well on the DAT, that shouldn't be too big of a problem. I studied with Topscore as well, and I thought that Topscore differed from the test considerably. It was still very helpful, but the test IS a little different.
My advice is, pour your heart out into the med school application. Talk about your passion for it during interviews. I'm sure they can tell if you are interested. And we need more doctors that ARE interested in what they do. I can't remember the last time I went to a doctor and liked them! You sound like you're almost giving up and expecting to be rejected. There are always the outliers in a class - aim to be one!

Good luck! I hope everything goes well for you

 

[radiocures]

wow, a lot of hate for someone admitting teeth aren't his first love. tim duncan's first choice was swimming, but when a storm destroyed the olympic pool he used, he fell back on basketball...worked out ok...

 

[daryoush85]

yeah this same thing happened to me med then dent. I think a lot of reasons why ppl go into med is that it is just so damn glamorized and there is this conception MD=God. So you dont really know about all of your choices that are out there for you. Like with dent. the upsides are you make just as much money, work half as hard, do less residency, dont take shiit from some hospital, have hot ass dental chicks (unlike lesbian med chicks...i dated one), and you are not going to die from a heart attack for all the stress you go through.

 

[rollredroll]

this is actually pretty funny. i'd suggest to the gentleman that he get dental and medical degrees and go into oral surgery.