Worries after the DAT...Comments?

[MichaelG2K]

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So I took the DAT today, and my scores weren't as great as I hoped.
My Cum GPA is 3.71, and my Science GPA is 3.65 about.

PA: 21
QR: 15
RC: 19
Bio: 16
Gen Chem: 16
O Chem: 18
AA: 17

A warning to anyone taking the DAT soon. They FORCED me to use dry erase note boards and markers instead of pencil and paper as requested by the ADA. I bombed quantitive reasoning partially because I am pressed for time when I do math problems in the first place, but I also spent a great deal of time erasing my freaking notes with my hand.

Anyway, I was wondering if they look at this break down and weight anything more heavily (IE PA as opposed to QR) as more important.

Do you think I have any chances of getting in to the schools I applied to?
Thanks for any comments.

 

[vhh007]

I'm sorry to say but you might want to rethink about taking the DAT again, I know it sucks having to study for it but I don't think even with your high GPA you will be a competitive applicant. I'd say you should hit 18 in almost every section. Sorry to hear about the dry erase board, I lucked out and took it with paper and pen. I can totally see how that slowed you down when doing the calculations. Best of luck

 

[denticus]

Yes "they" do weigh the individual scores differently, at least for the most part. I have talked to adcoms and have heard from many on SDN that Biology and Reading Comprehension are viewed by many to be the most important individual scores on the DAT. I would say that both GenChem and OChem would be the next important just because they are "science" based scores and because so many scores apparently don't give a rat's batoot about Quantitative Reasoning and Perceptual Ability. Don't get me wrong though, bad QR and PAT scores still "look bad" just not nearly as much as the other individual scores on the DAT. In other words, I have heard of people who have been accepted into dental school with like 13's and 14's on either their Quant score scores or their PAT scores but I have never heard of anybody getting in with a 13/14 on Bio or RC. I'm sure I am wrong in assuming that they are automatic marks for rejection as there are ALWAYS exceptions. I would just retake if I were you. You have a solid GPA/sGPA so you should be greatful; all you have to worry about now is getting an acceptable score and you're in! Good Luck!

 

[old-school]

I'm not sure about a retake, although I'm sure a few extra points would help. But I also don't think the dental schools are going to ignore 4 years @3.7 all based on one test, that's why GPA counts first. If they think you went to an easy school, that could be an issue. Don't get down though, you have a good GPA!

 

[El Sol]

So I took the DAT today, and my scores weren't as great as I hoped.
My Cum GPA is 3.71, and my Science GPA is 3.65 about.

PA: 21
QR: 15
RC: 19
Bio: 16
Gen Chem: 16
O Chem: 18
AA: 17

A warning to anyone taking the DAT soon. They FORCED me to use dry erase note boards and markers instead of pencil and paper as requested by the ADA. I bombed quantitive reasoning partially because I am pressed for time when I do math problems in the first place, but I also spent a great deal of time erasing my freaking notes with my hand.

Anyway, I was wondering if they look at this break down and weight anything more heavily (IE PA as opposed to QR) as more important.

Do you think I have any chances of getting in to the schools I applied to?
Thanks for any comments.

Can we request to use paper and pencil?

 

[jdoc04]

I think it really depends on where you are applying. Some schools weight the GPA very heavily and will over look a poor DAT performance if your GPA is extremely high. On the other hand some schools have cutoffs for DAT scores no matter where your GPA is standing. I would contact the schools I applied to and go from there.

Good Luck!!

 

[cbr]

x

 

[MichaelG2K]

I appreciate all the comments. I will try to address all the questions and responses as best as I can. I currently attend Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY as a Biomedical Sciences major. As far as the pencil and paper issue, for all I know it depends on the testing center, but they gave me pencil and paper at first, and then replaced it. Their comment was that the ADA issues dry erase sheets and markers. During my break, I asked if they knew why, and they said they didnt know, and I was not the first to comment/complain. I don't understand it, because it is harder to use, and I did not practice with dry erase markers. I always learned to practice how you want to play, so I always used pencil and paper. Additionally, the only way I could get more scratch space when I used up my supplied papers was to get up and leave to ask for more (waste of time), or dry erase them with my hand (waste of time) since I could not even bring tissue paper/kleenex into the testing environment. Is this something worth complaining about? Anyway, I'll hope for the best. Here is the list of schools I applied to, some upper and lower.

Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health
Loma Linda University
Oregon Health and Science U
SUNY Buffalo
UMich
UCSF
University of Maryland, Baltimore
UPenn
University of Washington

It also doesn't help that I am an Alaskan resident, although that could count for a sympathy (no dental or medical or vet schools) vote or a unique applicant vote. I really don't know what to expect. As far as I know, Arizona has the lowest requirements (around a 3.0 for GPA and 17 for DAT, however that translates for me) and location wise it's my first choice. Let me know what you think. Hope I addressed everything.

 

[pakigirl08]

I just took the DAT today and got similar scores like you did:

PAT 19 (I avged 20-22 on this for Topscore/Achiever)
QR 15 🙁 (I avged 20-22 on this for Topscore/Achiever)
RC 16 🙁 (I avged 20-22 on this for Topscore/Achiever)
Bio 17
Gen Chem 15 (No excuse)
O-Chem 15 (No excuse)
Acad Avg 16

Very disheartening so I'm planning to retake. No Q's asked. I'm planning to meet with just the one Dean of the school that's my first choice to talk in depth about WHEN to take it again and if the end of the year will be too late. Am I just making that up, or is it really true? Does anyone know if there is an absolute latest date that you should retake the exam because I'm planning on taking Ochem this fall and want to complete that class before I sit for the DAT again.

GPA Overall 3.54/4.0 Science: 3.57/4.0
Purdue University

Btw - I asked for Pen/Paper and they didn't give me any. Oh well.

 

[pakigirl08]

Just in case: I hope you don't think that I think I performed the same as you. Your score was way much better than mine, overall and in most of the categories, I just don't want you to assume I was comparing our scores....Sorry, I'm just so disappointed in mines, I ran out of time on so many of my sections, even though I never encountered this problem on my practice tests. I'm just trying to gather my wits now and see if have enough intelligence really for a re-take. I have a lot of work to do.

 

[MichaelG2K]

🙂 Don't worry so much. I am only here for information, gathering the opinion of others, and to help in any way that I can. I'm going to wait it out and see this year and hope for the best, but I'll retake next summer and work the following year since I will be graduated. Best of luck to you, and don't get yourself down. Anyone who has the will and determination to take a 4 hour test on a variety of subjects is intelligent in my book.

 

[missy1986]

i completely agree...this test is really not a fair indicator of the type of dentist that anyone will become..they've changed the test so many times...just shows how inadequate the system is...although i'm not in a much better boat than either of you...i'd say def apply and give it a shot...that's what i'm doing...here are my scores:
16 pat
16 qr
17 rc
18 bio
19 gchem
22 ochem
19 ts
18 aa

and like both of you i was doing much better on the practices too...i already sent in my application and am hoping for the best...i dont really care what my test score is as long as it doesn't prevent me from becoming a dentist

 

[pakigirl08]

Thanks for the encouraging words. I've noticed a general trend that people are running out of time, I don't know on how many of their sections they have been saying, but I ran out of time on all sections except the PAT, which is really odd to me and I'm still baffled simply because I had never ran out of time on any of my Achiever/Topscore/Kaplan tests. I also do not understand why people are scoring so far less on QR/RC than they had on their practice tests. Of course, I'm not going to act completely stupid, the inference questions and some of the math problems I spent a little bit more time on, becuase of difficulty, but I don't understand how I could run out of time on the last 15 problems of the test, with only 5 minutes left in QR. I have never done that before.

Anyway, I am retaking, I don't know when and I hope I have learned a lot from this experience and can move on with that knowledge. But, I am extremely disappointed because again, those scores are ridiculously lower than what I had averaged on Topscore/Acheiver/Kaplan. I agree with the general notion that the Kaplan class isn't that helpful but it is Introductory material.

Everyone can't stop raving about Destroyer and I think I will make that investment hoping for a more reasonable average than the pathetic 15s I scored. My God I feel like a failure...Breathe in...Breathe out.

 

[djo33]

Its good to hear everyones comments. I just took the DAT and went from high scores on practice tests and I took around 10, to an 18. I scored a 25 on my practice ochem, 23 on pat 22 reading ect. I felt like I did well on the real test and then I got my scores, not horrible but not what I was expecting.
18 aa
15 qr
17 genchem
19 ochem
19 bio
20 pat
21 rc
I plan to apply next may and so I may retake it. But in 3 months I may do the same or worse! What have you guys heard from your schools of choice as far as retaking?

 

[rdhdds1]

I appreciate all the comments. I will try to address all the questions and responses as best as I can. I currently attend Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY as a Biomedical Sciences major. As far as the pencil and paper issue, for all I know it depends on the testing center, but they gave me pencil and paper at first, and then replaced it. Their comment was that the ADA issues dry erase sheets and markers. During my break, I asked if they knew why, and they said they didnt know, and I was not the first to comment/complain. I don't understand it, because it is harder to use, and I did not practice with dry erase markers. I always learned to practice how you want to play, so I always used pencil and paper. Additionally, the only way I could get more scratch space when I used up my supplied papers was to get up and leave to ask for more (waste of time), or dry erase them with my hand (waste of time) since I could not even bring tissue paper/kleenex into the testing environment. Is this something worth complaining about? Anyway, I'll hope for the best. Here is the list of schools I applied to, some upper and lower.

Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health
Loma Linda University
Oregon Health and Science U
SUNY Buffalo
UMich
UCSF
University of Maryland, Baltimore
UPenn
University of Washington

It also doesn't help that I am an Alaskan resident, although that could count for a sympathy (no dental or medical or vet schools) vote or a unique applicant vote. I really don't know what to expect. As far as I know, Arizona has the lowest requirements (around a 3.0 for GPA and 17 for DAT, however that translates for me) and location wise it's my first choice. Let me know what you think. Hope I addressed everything.

Actually Meherry has the lowest requirments in the nation I believe. Check pre-dents and/or go tho their website for more info.

 

[jigabodo]

Actually Meherry has the lowest requirments in the nation I believe. Check pre-dents and/or go tho their website for more info.

Meharry is even more stringent as a minority school than Howard though. I think Howard has something like 75% of minority students in class and Meharry has like 85%, I could be wrong though.

Anyways, although ur DAT score is not stellar, I think you should still receive some interviews.