When did you take DAT?

[mikejhp]

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I recently decided to go to dental school, and I was wondering if you guys can give me some advices.

I'm currently a junior at UF, majoring in electrical engineering. However, since I have to take org. chem,biochem, etc, I'll be graduating in 2007. So, I was planning to take organic chem I & II this summer(2005), and take DAT a year after that(2006).

Also do you think taking both organic chem I&II over the summer is not a good idea?

Does most pre-den students shadow dentists? or volunteer at the hospital?

My GPA is around 3.5. What do you think I should get on DAT in order get the acceptance letter from dental school?

I know i'm asking alot of questions here. It would be great if you guys can help me. THANKS

ps. I'm also getting oral surgery this december at UF hospital. Would that help me getting into UF dental school later on. haha 😀 😀 😀

 

[Tzips]

I recently decided to go to dental school, and I was wondering if you guys can give me some advices.

I'm currently a junior at UF, majoring in electrical engineering. However, since I have to take org. chem,biochem, etc, I'll be graduating in 2007. So, I was planning to take organic chem I & II this summer(2005), and take DAT a year after that(2006).

Also do you think taking both organic chem I&II over the summer is not a good idea?

Does most pre-den students shadow dentists? or volunteer at the hospital?

My GPA is around 3.5. What do you think I should get on DAT in order get the acceptance letter from dental school?

I know i'm asking alot of questions here. It would be great if you guys can help me. THANKS

ok. starting from the top: you should probably take the DAT in spring, rather than summer, 2006 so you can submit your scores to AADSAS as early as possible.

orgo - that sounds squishy and rather difficult. do you know anyone who's done it in your school? my advise would be to stretch it a bit more, unless you're sure you can handle it.

i volunteered at a clinic, many others shadowed dentists... it doesn't really matter as long as you can show the dental schools that you've researched to field and know what you're getting yourself into.

that's a really good, solid gpa; you should aim for a good DAT as well - 18, 19, 20. but you know what they say - aim for the stars, you may not hit them but at least you'll not shoot your foot off! so why not aim for a 30? 😀

 

[DMD_hopeful]

I recently decided to go to dental school, and I was wondering if you guys can give me some advices.

I'm currently a junior at UF, majoring in electrical engineering. However, since I have to take org. chem,biochem, etc, I'll be graduating in 2007. So, I was planning to take organic chem I & II this summer(2005), and take DAT a year after that(2006).

Also do you think taking both organic chem I&II over the summer is not a good idea?

Does most pre-den students shadow dentists? or volunteer at the hospital?

My GPA is around 3.5. What do you think I should get on DAT in order get the acceptance letter from dental school?

I know i'm asking alot of questions here. It would be great if you guys can help me. THANKS

Congratulations on a great decision!

The pre-health advisor as my school always said that it was a bad idea to take the pre-reqs during the summer – unless you had no other choice. The schools know that the summer classes are shorter in length and therefore do not cover the same amount of info. Besides, I imagine taking Org I & II in two 1-month periods has got to be crazy, probably chapter a day. This was his opinion though. Lets see what other SDN’s say about it..

Definitely get some dental experience! The more the better – whatever you can handle. Though I don’t think most schools explicitly say you need experience, they expect it. I was always asked about my dental experience at my interviews (I worked for 4 months as a dental assistant). So go out and get some shadowing experience. See if you can shadow different types of dentists as well, ie. General, Orthodontist, Oral Surgeon, etc. It’ll give you more of a feel for dentistry as a whole.

As for the DAT.. You GPA looks good to me.. Your DAT score depends on the school you are looking to attend. For instance, Harvard or your local state school. My advice is to shoot for the stars.. Study yourself silly and get the highest score you can, that way you get to pick where you want to go to school.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Biogirl361]

Also do you think taking both organic chem I&II over the summer is not a good idea?

Does most pre-den students shadow dentists? or volunteer at the hospital?

My GPA is around 3.5. What do you think I should get on DAT in order get the acceptance letter from dental school?

I know i'm asking alot of questions here. It would be great if you guys can help me. THANKS

ps. I'm also getting oral surgery this december at UF hospital. Would that help me getting into UF dental school later on. haha 😀 😀 😀

as long as you aren't working too much, it's fine to take both orgo 1 and 2 over the summer. i know a lot of people did it and i myself took orgo 1 over the summer. i dropped orgo 2 however because i was working a ton and both class and work was too much.

i think most of us shadowed dentists and/or worked in dental office rather than at the hospital. the hospital is more for pre-med. although it wouldn't hurt you to work there, it isn't neccesary and you must also shadow dentists at least a few times before applying.

usually a good guideline for the dat is 19 and above on all sections (the higher the better of course). a 3.5 is a perfectly average gpa for dental school applicants, you will def get some interviews as long as you don't completely bomb the dat and you apply to a reasonable number of schools (5+).

having oral surgery this summer would be great to talk about in your personal statement (assuming it is something other than wizzies, which nearly everyone has done).

 

[DrTacoElf]

I took the dat on june 28th but applied to aadsas way earlier.

 

[dexadental]

I also go to UF and my friend took organic 1 and 2 last summer during A and B. She got A's in both but said she had to study ALOT. I know what ALOT is too, I'm taking my final in organic 1 on Tuesday...and getting an A in that class, thanks to studying...ALOT...be prepared..to study ALOT. Good luck. By the way, try to get Scriven.

 

[ufblondi]

I go to UF...took Org 1 and 2 this past summer. All I have to say is, don't take Dolbier. Very large curve in his class, but his tests are very difficult. Try to take Enholm for Org 2...I got a 30% on the final and still ended up with a B, hahaha. It is very doable. I took 12 credits in the summer plus worked. I figured, I'd rather take the class for 5 days a week for 6 weeks and then go straight into org 2 a week later rather then go 3 days a week for (how long is our semester here? 14 weeks?) and then have a large gap between when you take org 1 and 2. Several people that I know who took org 1 in Spring and now org 2 this fall are struggling because of the large break inbetween. Just my two cents! Oh, and don't listen to our pre-health advisor here...according to him my A/B grades are just "mediocore" and I won't get in anywhere.

 

[Sprgrover]

The only pre-reqs that I took over the summer were physics I and II. Why? Because I wouldn't be tested on it and I really wanted to get them over with asap. I wouldn't recommend taking organic over the summer 1) because there is a lot of work involved and 2) you will be tested over it quite a while after you have taken it. Organic can be conquered, but the majority of people that do so take their time and nurture their understanding of its concepts and principles.

As far as shadowing, it is a good idea to get some of that in. I shadowed and volunteered as a dental assistant at a non-profit dental clinic. Beyond my application, I found it to be very valuable in the way of helping me understand the profession, what will be required of me, and so on.

A 3.5 gpa is good. I would say that matching DAT scores 19+ should be sufficient for you matriculate into dental school. Best of luck!

 

[v&andy_yankee]

mike, i's suggest taking the DATs as soon as you're done with your prereq classes. so if you're finishing up ochem over the summer, take it during the fall (after you've freshened yourself up on the other courses--bio, chem, etc). trust me, as soon as your classes are done, you will start forgetting--so you want to take the DATs in the window of time right after the class has concluded. taking it 1 year later will make it a lot harder for yourself (trying to remember everything).

anyway, the DAT scores can be used for up to 3 years (i think, someone back me up on this), so it's ok if you have it 1 year earlier than expected. better to have it 1 year early and a higher score, than to take it a year later and have a lower score.

 

[Sprgrover]

...anyway, the DAT scores can be used for up to 3 years (i think, someone back me up on this...

Yes, they are usually good at most schools for three years.

 

[edkNARF]

I took Orgo I and II over the summer. This was never mentioned on one of my interviews. I also got a 21 on the OC section of the DAT. You need to remember that your DAT justifies your GPA, and your GPA justifies your DAT.