Will I get into any dental school with this DAT score?

[krisprospectivestudent]

I took the DAT for the first time in June and got a AA 14, 13 in all sciences, QR 15, 16 in PAT and Comprehension.
I have a 3.7 GPA
300+ hours dental experience
300+ hours volunteering
Strong personal statement.
I am retaking the DAT early September but I haven’t had much time to study. Any thoughts or suggestions?? Any schools you have in mind that take low DAT scores??

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[lwergod]

nope, with your gpa, you would be fine with no less than a 19-20.

 

[artist2022]

Extremely below average (20.4 is the average of those that matriculate into dental school). If you're retaking it in September but don't have enough time to study, I'd suggest not taking it until you do have enough time to focus on the DAT wholeheartedly. Also, I'd hold off on applying this cycle until you have a decent DAT score in hand. You're going to have to input these scores on your application, and some schools may auto-reject you because these scores don't meet their cutoffs, and they may not take a chance on you (i.e., wait for your new scores) because they have so many other applicants.

At this point, your GPA does not match your score at all and in fact makes it seem like there's grade inflation going on at your school- you have a high GPA, but you weren't able to match it with a high DAT score, so this makes it look like it was easy to get A's at your school--> bad!! The DAT is the equalizer and the rigor of your school can be somewhat determined by your score (high DAT with a high GPA- you know your stuff; high DAT with a low GPA- your school was tough in giving A's out, but you know your stuff; low DAT with a high GPA- you weren't able to perform well on the DAT, but you have a high GPA so your school had easy courses/gave tons of A's out).

Basically, hold off on applying and taking the DAT until you are able to dedicate time and effort to it. Not trying to be blunt or a downer, just honest. Maybe refer here to see how recent test takers studied so you can use their tips, tricks, or study schedules for your retake: DAT Breakdown Compilation Thread (future test takers, look here!)

Best of luck!

 

[lwergod]

How did you study last time, that score is extremely low? Also if you're going to retake you need more time to study, and based off of your previous performance you definitely need more time to study.

with that low of a score, I'm betting op didn't study at all.

 

[krisprospectivestudent]

nope, with your gpa, you would be fine with no less than a 19-20.

So you’re saying no as in it’s unlikely for a dental school to accept a 14?

 

[krisprospectivestudent]

How did you study last time, that score is extremely low? Also if you're going to retake you need more time to study, and based off of your previous performance you definitely need more time to study.

I studied using Crack The DAT but if I’m being honest, I didn’t study much the first time

 

[krisprospectivestudent]

Extremely below average (20.4 is the average of those that matriculate into dental school). If you're retaking it in September but don't have enough time to study, I'd suggest not taking it until you do have enough time to focus on the DAT wholeheartedly. Also, I'd hold off on applying this cycle until you have a decent DAT score in hand. You're going to have to input these scores on your application, and some schools may auto-reject you because these scores don't meet their cutoffs, and they may not take a chance on you (i.e., wait for your new scores) because they have so many other applicants.

At this point, your GPA does not match your score at all and in fact makes it seem like there's grade inflation going on at your school- you have a high GPA, but you weren't able to match it with a high DAT score, so this makes it look like it was easy to get A's at your school--> bad!! The DAT is the equalizer and the rigor of your school can be somewhat determined by your score (high DAT with a high GPA- you know your stuff; high DAT with a low GPA- your school was tough in giving A's out, but you know your stuff; low DAT with a high GPA- you weren't able to perform well on the DAT, but you have a high GPA so your school had easy courses/gave tons of A's out).

Basically, hold off on applying and taking the DAT until you are able to dedicate time and effort to it. Not trying to be blunt or a downer, just honest. Maybe refer here to see how recent test takers studied so you can use their tips, tricks, or study schedules for your retake: DAT Breakdown Compilation Thread (future test takers, look here!)

Best of luck!

Thank you for all of this info! So if I have a 14 submitting my application, and if I take the DAT again in September, will that score show up on my application? Also, how many times can you take the DAT?

 

[artist2022]

Thank you for all of this info! So if I have a 14 submitting my application, and if I take the DAT again in September, will that score show up on my application? Also, how many times can you take the DAT?

Well here's a question, when your registered to take your DAT, did you select any schools? If you did, then yes this 14 will show up on your application, along with the retake score you get in September- both will. On the other hand, if you didn't select any schools, then I believe this score will not show up at all, and that only your September score will.
You can take the DAT three times, but have to wait 90 days between each retake. After you third time, you have to wait one year before you can take it again, OR you need a rejection letter from a school to send to the ADA to take it again.

But honestly, you shouldn't take it in September if you don't have enough time to put into it. Also, Destroyer and Bootcamp are probably the top two resources used, so you should look into getting both of them. Save yourself the $450+ and the application fees by only taking the DAT and applying when you are ready and are able to score well on the DAT.

 

[Dilemma33]

Not to sound mean OP, but 14AA/13TS is incredibly bad. I could literally finish the entire test in 5 minutes by choosing random answers and get higher scores than a 14AA.
If you're serious about this profession, I advise you to take everything you're doing seriously. ADCOMs are not dumb or forgiving people and they are most likely going to question your judgment. The fact that you're asking if you have a chance with a 14AA makes me think that you're either trolling or a very very naive student.

Also, even if you retake the DAT, they will see your first score because your DENTPIN will be the same when you retake the DAT for the second time. DAT is not a hard test by any means, and the fact that you're in the bottom 99th percentile is screaming at every admission committee that you are not capable of handling the rigor of dental school. Dental school is not a joke, and you should take your time to do your research, become more mature, and figure out a way to do better on your retake.

 

[DAT Destroyer]

I took the DAT for the first time in June and got a AA 14, 13 in all sciences, QR 15, 16 in PAT and Comprehension.
I have a 3.7 GPA
300+ hours dental experience
300+ hours volunteering
Strong personal statement.
I am retaking the DAT early September but I haven’t had much time to study. Any thoughts or suggestions?? Any schools you have in mind that take low DAT scores??

A retake will be necessary, is 3.7 your science GPA? Why did you score so low? Are you a traditional student?

Nancy

 

[hmmmidk]

If you haven't had any time to study, I suggest you should make time because you'll definitely need it. This seems significantly low relative to your gpa. Do you mind telling us what you used before taking the first test? I am just going to assume that you didn't do any studying for it. I would look through the compilation of successful dat takers and their breakdowns and see what materials they used to study. I myself would recommend minimum of DAT Destroyer and chad videos. To give you a perspective, seeing the videos once and doing all the DAT destroyer once should at least give you the knowledge and educated guessing ability to put you near 18 on dat and takes less than 2 weeks of studying.

 

[DentTreadOnMe]

Not to sound mean OP, but 14AA/13TS is incredibly bad. I could literally finish the entire test in 5 minutes by choosing random answers and get higher scores than a 14AA.
If you're serious about this profession, I advise you to take everything you're doing seriously. ADCOMs are not dumb or forgiving people and they are most likely going to question your judgment. The fact that you're asking if you have a chance with a 14AA makes me think that you're either trolling or a very very naive student.

Also, even if you retake the DAT, they will see your first score because your DENTPIN will be the same when you retake the DAT for the second time. DAT is not a hard test by any means, and the fact that you're in the bottom 99th percentile is screaming at every admission committee that you are not capable of handling the rigor of dental school. Dental school is not a joke, and you should take your time to do your research, become more mature, and figure out a way to do better on your retake.

Wow. Your comments are INCREDIBLY mean and very arrogant. Shame on you.

 

[chiralola]

Wow. Your comments are INCREDIBLY mean and very arrogant. Shame on you.

I have to disagree, they are not calling OP stupid or anything like that, they are just being real. Clearly OP needs to do some serious researching because obviously they will not get anywhere with a 14AA, that’s just real life. A quick 20 minute search and they would have realized that. At least this person is trying to be blunt, not everything has to be so sugar coated to the point where it isn’t even helpful.

 

[Dilemma33]

Wow. Your comments are INCREDIBLY mean and very arrogant. Shame on you.

Hey, the real world out there is cutthroat lol. If you think what I said is “mean and arrogant,” you haven’t experienced how harsh life truly is. Let’s not be naive here, and let him/her accept the truth. 14AA is unacceptable and OP either lacks self-awareness or he/she didn’t bother to put in effort to do the research. And when you have time, go check out pre-med forums on SDN. med school ADCOMS on SDN are even more cutthroat than I am when giving advice to students.

 

[DentTreadOnMe]

I have to disagree, they are not calling OP stupid or anything like that, they are just being real. Clearly OP needs to do some serious researching because obviously they will not get anywhere with a 14AA, that’s just real life. A quick 20 minute search and they would have realized that. At least this person is trying to be blunt, not everything has to be so sugar coated to the point where it isn’t even helpful.

Perhaps I’m misinterpreting Dilemma, but it appears to me that he’s not trying to help OP but put him down intentionally. It’s fine to give him the truth but some tact is needed.

Implying that the DAT is easy and that he could get a 14 by guessing is intentionally trying to put OP down and lift himself up. It’s a difficult test. Pretty mean and arrogant to me.

 

[Dilemma33]

Perhaps I’m misinterpreting Dilemma, but it appears to me that he’s not trying to help OP but put him down intentionally. It’s fine to give him the truth but some tact is needed.

Implying that the DAT is easy and that he could get a 14 by guessing is intentionally trying to put OP down and lift himself up. It’s a difficult test. Pretty mean and arrogant to me.

DAT is not a hard test. If you think it's hard, you should be worried. And I'm sorry but I'm not trying to put OP down and lift myself up lol. I gave him/her my honest opinion, which is the truth in this case.

 

[lwergod]

DAT is not a hard test. If you think it's hard, you should be worried. And I'm sorry but I'm not trying to put OP down and lift myself up lol. I gave him/her my honest opinion, which is the truth in this case.

out of curiosity, what did you get on your DAT?

 

[artist2022]

out of curiosity, what did you get on your DAT?

They applied to dental schools in 2016 and are more recently a reapplicant to med schools so I'm not sure how seriously their opinions should be taken....the DAT is a hard test- if it wasn't, its average would not be ~17-18 but instead much higher.

 

[DentTreadOnMe]

They applied to dental schools in 2016 and are more recently a reapplicant to med schools so I'm not sure how seriously their opinions should be taken....the DAT is a hard test- if it wasn't, its average would not be ~17-18 but instead much higher.

My thoughts exactly. If it wasn’t difficult, why are there hundreds and hundreds of message boards and forums dedicated to strategy and study of the DAT?

 

[chiralola]

If any of you got a 14AA on a practice test, would you go through with taking the exam, or would you push it back until you were prepared?

I think the point that Dilemma33 was trying to make is that clearly OP did not prepare for the DAT. Asking if they can get into any schools with that is an obvious no, and makes OP looks either extremely naive or like they did not do any researching, which is wild because I think most of us have gone through crazy amounts of researching otherwise we wouldnt be on this forum to begin with.

 

[BatedPenguin]

DAT is not a hard test. If you think it's hard, you should be worried. And I'm sorry but I'm not trying to put OP down and lift myself up lol. I gave him/her my honest opinion, which is the truth in this case.

This I'd definitely a stretch. The DAT is not an easy test. If it was there would be way more people pulling higher scores.

 

[PreDent_Eagle]

OP what was your major?

 

[PreDent_Eagle]

DAT is not a hard test. If you think it's hard, you should be worried. And I'm sorry but I'm not trying to put OP down and lift myself up lol. I gave him/her my honest opinion, which is the truth in this case.

The DAT isn’t the hardest test out there, but that doesn’t make it necessarily easy. It covers a lot of material and the sheer randomness of the questions they can throw at you makes it difficult, mainly the bio section. Also, what did you get on the DAT? If you personally didn’t score above a 20 you shouldn’t be calling the DAT easy and low key putting OP down. Btw I scored a 21, before you aske.

 

[DentTreadOnMe]

If any of you got a 14AA on a practice test, would you go through with taking the exam, or would you push it back until you were prepared?

I think the point that Dilemma33 was trying to make is that clearly OP did not prepare for the DAT. Asking if they can get into any schools with that is an obvious no, and makes OP looks either extremely naive or like they did not do any researching, which is wild because I think most of us have gone through crazy amounts of researching otherwise we wouldnt be on this forum to begin with.

You actually CAN get in with a 14 at some of the URM schools. Look at the spread of DAT scores of those schools. I recall seeing someone with a 12 got in once.

For the record, I’m not advocating that OP shouldn’t retake, just think Dilemma could have been more tactful.

 

[Typical Average Student]

Above posts are not being mean at all. If the student is able to put in 300+ hrs of volunteering and 300+ hr of dental experience with that GPA, they can surely put in as much for the DAT. It's harsh, yes, but you can't feed people false hope in this profession.

 

[chiralola]

You actually CAN get in with a 14 at some of the URM schools. Look at the spread of DAT scores of those schools. I recall seeing someone with a 12 got in once.

Cool, but would you go through with taking it if you got a 14AA on your practice test? lol.

 

[chiralola]

Above posts are not being mean at all. If the student is able to put in 300+ hrs of volunteering and 300+ hr of dental experience with that GPA, they can surely put in as much for the DAT. It's harsh, yes, but you can't feed people false hope in this profession.

Some people are too sensitive nowadays imo...

 

[ProspectivePostPreDent]

DAT is not a hard test. If you think it's hard, you should be worried. And I'm sorry but I'm not trying to put OP down and lift myself up lol. I gave him/her my honest opinion, which is the truth in this case.

This lack of perspective reminds me of the dentists and doctors who bitch about how how little they get paid for their work.

Easy to lose perspective living in an academic bubble.

Are there harder tests? Yeah of course. Is it still harder than 99% of tests administered at the University level? Yes of course.

I agree that op (if not trolling) needs a kick in the ass over that level of prep, but dilemma is either doing some trolling of his own or posseses similar breadth of perspective to an annelid.. no wait, too generous a classification because they have a coelom. How about platyhelminthes?

No, that's not a serious insult. Just playing on the silly boundaries of fair testing material for... Ya know.. taking care of the human mouth.

 

[ProspectivePostPreDent]

Oh wait.. my talking about an academic bubble was giving dilemma too much credit, apparently. He couldn't get into DS the first time and he's here to talk about how easy the test is?

And now he's trying for med and awkwardly injecting into every possible conversation the implication that he's taking the mcat? Oh that's just beautiful.

Keep gently reminding everyone in your life that what they're doing is vastly inferior to what you still haven't quite managed to do.

Maybe you can get into a nice DO school with a 497 and a 3.0 science GPA, and then all of us lowly dentists can tremble before your intellectual might.

Behold, brethren: The "real doctor".

 

[lwergod]

Oh wait.. my talking about an academic bubble was giving dilemma too much credit, apparently. He couldn't get into DS the first time and he's here to talk about how easy the test is?

And now he's trying for med and awkwardly injecting into every possible conversation the implication that he's taking the mcat? Oh that's just beautiful.

Keep gently reminding everyone in your life that what they're doing is vastly inferior to what you still haven't quite managed to do.

Maybe you can get into a nice DO school with a 497 and a 3.0 science GPA, and then all of us lowly dentists can tremble before your intellectual might.

Behold, brethren: The "real doctor".

is it really that easy to get into DO?

 

[ProspectivePostPreDent]

is it really that easy to get into DO?

Well, the average sgpa for all DO matriculants (including the stronger schools) is 3.3 (502 MCAT), so yes, a good interviewer could get into a newer school with the stats I mentioned. The more established ones can have very competitive stats, although until this year they also practiced grade forgiveness, meaning anyone could redo their GPA for prereqs, even with Fs.

I'm not disparaging DO. It's just worth reminding some of the high and mighty ones who descend on the dental board that few dds/dmd matriculants lacked the option to go the physician route (though not all would've made MD).

The recent incoming average matriculant GPAs (same courses) usually fall around MD (3.65) > dental (3.55) > DO (3.5 with grade forgiveness). I believe PA is similar to DO in this respect, and then pretty much everything else in the medical world is less competitive than PA.

We'll see what happens with the lack of grade forgiveness going forward, the residency merger, etc.

Point is, dental doesn't need anyone's pity.

 

[AKtoTXstudent]

Extremely below average (20.4 is the average of those that matriculate into dental school). If you're retaking it in September but don't have enough time to study, I'd suggest not taking it until you do have enough time to focus on the DAT wholeheartedly. Also, I'd hold off on applying this cycle until you have a decent DAT score in hand. You're going to have to input these scores on your application, and some schools may auto-reject you because these scores don't meet their cutoffs, and they may not take a chance on you (i.e., wait for your new scores) because they have so many other applicants.

At this point, your GPA does not match your score at all and in fact makes it seem like there's grade inflation going on at your school- you have a high GPA, but you weren't able to match it with a high DAT score, so this makes it look like it was easy to get A's at your school--> bad!! The DAT is the equalizer and the rigor of your school can be somewhat determined by your score (high DAT with a high GPA- you know your stuff; high DAT with a low GPA- your school was tough in giving A's out, but you know your stuff; low DAT with a high GPA- you weren't able to perform well on the DAT, but you have a high GPA so your school had easy courses/gave tons of A's out).

Basically, hold off on applying and taking the DAT until you are able to dedicate time and effort to it. Not trying to be blunt or a downer, just honest. Maybe refer here to see how recent test takers studied so you can use their tips, tricks, or study schedules for your retake: DAT Breakdown Compilation Thread (future test takers, look here!)

Best of luck!

I agree very much with this post. My friend applied with 16AA and was rejected without interview. Sorry OP but a retake and a 19-20 would be a recipe for success. Thankfully you GPA is competitive and you don't have to spend thousands or tens of thousands on expensive masters or post-bac programs.

Retake and crush your DAT. THEN apply and get in!!!