when to take the DAT

[treasure_island]

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ok i kinda got confused,

when a school says that the DAT should be taken by December 31, it means the december of the year before you wanna enter, right?

like if i wanna enter fall 2006, i should take the DAT by fall 2005, right?

what's up with usc then? it's march 1st. i hate it when each school's dates is different.......

 

[Zurich5]

I would suggest taking it in April/May/June of the year you will be applying, others might disagree, but this is plenty of time IMO. So if you are shooting for the fall of 2006, then next year around this time would put you in good shape. Good luck.

 

[DoctorSaab]

I too want to enter Dental School Fall 2006. If I take the DAT this summer (July 2004), is that to my disadvantage in any way?

The reason why I want to take it a bit earlier is because I will have finished all of my pre-reqs that are tested on the DAT. They will all be fresh in my mind, as compared to taking it next year.

 

[blumnday99]

If I want to enter school in the fall of 2005, I should be taking it by July of 2004 at the latest, correct?

Mark

 

[mobius]

sounds right, i am taking mine end of august and hope to be accepted 05 cycle 😱

 

[blumnday99]

End of August isn't too late? I would like to get in as much studying time as I can before, since I think I'll only have one chance to take it for this cycle. If I could wait until August that would definately help me out. I'm applying for CA schools (probably)

 

[ziptree]

I know this thread is a little old...but..you should take your DATs as soon as possible. Although I think if you have a good GPA (>3.65) and anticipate good LORs and think that you can pull off 20+ on your DATs if you take them a little later, then you should do it.

However, this is something that you SHOULDN'T do: I took mine on September 9, 2003 for the AADSAS 2004 cycle...then I slacked off and didn't send in my AADSAS application until December 22. (Note: DON'T DO WHAT I DID)....my first interviews started late January (when all my other friends had sent in both their first and second deposits to secure their places, LOL) and it wasn't until late February that I started receiving acceptance/rejection letters. (Most of the state schools except mine rejected me...suprise suprise. =p )

 

[Calculus1]

I know this thread is a little old...but..you should take your DATs as soon as possible. Although I think if you have a good GPA (>3.65) and anticipate good LORs and think that you can pull off 20+ on your DATs if you take them a little later, then you should do it.

However, this is something that you SHOULDN'T do: I took mine on September 9, 2003 for the AADSAS 2004 cycle...then I slacked off and didn't send in my AADSAS application until December 22. (Note: DON'T DO WHAT I DID)....my first interviews started late January (when all my other friends had sent in both their first and second deposits to secure their places, LOL) and it wasn't until late February that I started receiving acceptance/rejection letters. (Most of the state schools except mine rejected me...suprise suprise. =p )

Good post, you do not want to be apathetic about this. A lot of my friends waited around and I was sending in my deposit before there first interview as well. GET YOUR STUFF IN EARLY. This is coming from someone who ALWAYS waited until the last minute on everything. Applying to dental school was the one time in my life I made it a point to do everything on time or early and it paid off.

 

[jes1ca]

I would take it by the end of July. I waited until the end of August so that I would have lots of time to study in the summer, but all it did was guilt-trip me into feeling bad for not studying and not enjoying my summer. I wasted at least a month procrastinating too. It should not take more than one month of studying an hour or two a day if you've taken all the prerequisites.

Jessica

 

[ziptree]

If you're wanting to sign up for a prep class, do it now. Sign up for the earliest one you can take, take it, spend 3-4 days after the class to review, and then go take your DATs.

Looking back, that would've been the best game plan for me...too bad I was stupid and took one of the latest Kaplan courses I could, so I ended up finishing around the middle of August. Then, I had to spend an extra 2 weeks not doing anything and then finally studying the first week of September. 🙁

 

[HBomb]

When should you take the DAT? Well, _every_single_person_ on this board will tell you to take it as early in the cycle as possible, so you can get your complete application submitted. AADSAS opens May 17, and (I think) you can apply starting 6/1. So take the DAT as soon as possible after the time you feel prepared to get the score you are shooting for. The sooner, the better. The longer you wait, the lower your chances for being accepted. At the same time, you cannot take the DAT until you are prepared for it, so study hard now, so you are prepared to take the DAT earlier rather than later.

Is it too late if you take the DAT in Aug? No, but your chances of being accepted are lower than if you got the same score in June. Is it too late in Oct? No, but your chance are even lower. And Dec? Again, no, but your chance are even lower than low. Get the trend?

Look at the schedule in reverse. It becomes obvious when you need to take the DAT:
Dec 1: 1st day any school can accept you. You want to be part of this batch.
Oct/early Nov: Good months to be interviewed. You're early in the cycle.
Sep 15: Schools grant you interviews for mid Oct.
Aug 15(ish): You complete your secondary app.
Aug 1: Dental schools review all your stuff and send out secondary (if there is one).
July 1: AADSAS sends your stuff out to dental schools.
June 1: submit AADSAS application.

I've padded the schedule a bit, but my point is this: It is very important you have your application complete as close as you can to June 1, if you want to be accepted on Dec 1...at least it will increase your chances greatly. Also, if there's anything incomplete in your application, the earliest the dental school can tell you is in Aug or Sep and it will take a roughly a month to get resolved...like missing LOR. That will push the timeline back even further.

Study hard and good luck always.

 

[ziptree]

That was a great post, HBomb888!

This is what I did:

May/03: Cycle opened
June 22/03: Started AADSAS Application
July/03: Asked for LORs
August/03-November/03: NOTHING.
Late November/03: First LOR was mailed in, started getting transcripts mailed in.
Early December/03: Second LOR was mailed in.
December 22/03: Submitted AADSAS.
December 31/03: AADSAS received last LOR.
January 3/04: Last of transcripts received by AADSAS.
January 6/04: AADSAS mailing.
January/04-Late January/04: Freaking out about not getting in. 🙁 [YOU DON'T WANT TO DO THIS]
Late January/04: First interview invitation letters....also first rejection letters started to roll in.
Feburary/04: Took about 1 entire month off school to interview for schools (all over the country because I applied to so many 🙁 ), then freaked out again about not getting in.
Middle-Late Februrary, March/04: Notified of admissions to, amazingly, my top schools.

^ Stupid. Don't do it. I was lucky to get in so late in the cycle.