When to apply for dental school? Help please!

[wontonamera]

Hey guys, so I wanted to share my stats and some info about me and get some feedback on when it would be best for me to apply to dental school.

I am currently a senior at my university and will be graduating in May 2018 with a Bachelor's in Psychology and a minor in Biology. I had originally applied last cycle that opened June 2017, but out of 18 schools, I've received 7 rejections and am not expecting to hear back from the remaining 11 schools.

I took the DAT August 2017 and my scores were AA: 19, TS: 19, Bio: 19, Gen Chem: 19, Organic Chem: 21, Reading: 20, QR: 14, PAT: 14
I applied with an overall GPA of 3.4 and science GPA of 3.2. From then to now, my GPA has remained the same. As for extra-curricular activities: I have plenty of shadowing hours, I have work experience at a dental practice, I am a member of the pre-dental organization at my school, I do research at a brain imaging lab, and I have volunteer work involving AIDS patients.

My plan was to retake the DAT again after graduation and study from May-July and take it in the beginning of August. I will be aiming much higher this time. Also I believe that being a psychology major and my lack of upper division science courses as opposed to bio majors might have something to do with it, I am planning on taking courses as a post-bacc student at my university in Fall 2018 and Spring 2019; classes like anatomy, immunology, histology to help beef up my application and prepare me for D1.

This being said, I would like advice and suggestions on when it would be best for me to apply? Considering I improve my DAT scores, I wanted to apply this upcoming June 2018 cycle and use the gap year for taking post-bacc courses. Yet I'm sensing I might have to wait until I finish my post bacc courses and apply June 2019, but I don't want to wait another two years.

Not to mention I'm a Florida resident and my top choice for in state school would be UF. If anyone who knows and could shed some light on what exactly UF is looking for in their applicants, it would be a great help!

Thanks in advance!!!

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[MLC45]

The 14 in QR and PAT is most likely what did you in. Most schools require at least a 15 in all subjects, some schools are 17. So make sure all scores meet the basic requirements or you’re just wasting your money applying.

As for when to apply, I wouldn’t wait till August. Once you’re out of school you’re going to start forgetting everything you just learned, (even trying to cram for the DAT). Also (from experience) giving yourself 3-4 months gives you the opportunity to get burned out. I wouldn’t try to do more than 2 months of intense studying. Also once you take the DAT it takes about 3-4 weeks for the scores to get posted. If you take it in August, scores won’t reach the school til September and several schools are already interviewing by then. I would try taking it the first part of July at the latest.

Good luck! People get in all the time with an AA or TS of 19, Higher is better, but 19 is acceptable.