Applied July 12 GPA/Science GPA: 4.0 Masters GPA (so far): 4.0 1st DAT AA18 QR17 RC22 BIO17 GC17 OC15 PA16 TS16 2nd DAT AA20 QR19 RC20 BIO21 GC19 OC19 PA21 TS20

Shadowing: 115 hrs (Have ~30 more hours planned) Volunteering: 245 hrs EC: play a college sport is my main (5000 hrs) but I have a couple others with significant involvement too

Currently getting my masters because I had to retake my dat and wanted to take my 5th year due to covid. I plan to get my RDA and work in an office starting in December. Additionally I am gonna volunteer at a dental clinic in my area and plan to serve ~200 hrs since my masters is online this fall. Only applied to the four Texas schools because I don’t see myself going anywhere else but I’m scared it’s too risky with how competitive admissions is becoming.

Confused 18 year old here. I'm scheduled to start university as a history major next month but I've recently become interested in the field of dentistry - random, I know. I have a friend who graduated high school early to start medical school early after debating between dental and medical school, and another friend who'll be on a pre-med track throughout her undergraduate years. With that being said, how did you all decide you wanted to go to dental school? I'm a bit (very) confused about what it is I want, and any comments/anecdotes would be helpful. Thank you!

basically the title, any advice to current students applying, things you wish you knew prior, things youd do differently..etc!

Hey guys, I recently took the dat, didn’t study enough and planning on doing a retake soon. The exam wasn’t so bad, I just needed more preparation. Should I still apply this cycle (instate Texas), 500+ hours of shadowing. 300+ volunteering and 3.4 sgpa and 3.6 overall gpa. I hear that some people get accepted with a low DAT, I would really appreciate any help or feedback!

Hey everyone, just wondering, for people who have applied to the University of Nebraska, how long did it take for them to send you a supplemental application? Thank you!!

I was off by one digit, how do I fix this?

I have all biology courses done with lab as well as inorganic chemistry and labs, and the first half of organic chemistry with lab. I don’t have ochem 2 with lab, or physics with labs. How many schools will take courses without labs? The reason being is I would probably take those courses online and I think it would be difficult to get those labs done. I’m trying to find schools that don’t need it and my two in state programs actually don’t require the labs but a lot of the OOS programs require labs. Just wanted some opinions from you guys, thanks (:

I’m considering applying to some schools in Texas (specifically UT Health Houston and maybe another idk yet). But I don’t wanna waste money on it if I have no shot. Currently have 3.98 Cumulative and Science GPA and, took the DAT today; 22AA 23PAT all 20+ with a 19 in QR (lol). Solid experiences, letters, etc. around 100 shadowing hours and 160+ volunteering. I’m also a white male (idk how that might affect me but I don’t imagine it helps my odds) from a rural area. Realistically would I be wasting my time with Texas schools?

What Are My Chances?

Age: 21

Applying Cycle: 2024 -2025

Marticulate: 2025

Overall GPA: 3.47 according to adea

Science GPA: 3.27 according to adea

DAT score (include AA and all sections): 1st attempt (18AA, 17TS, 18PAT, 17QR, 21RC, 20BIO, 16GC, 15OC) | 2nd attempt (16AA, 15TS, 17PAT, 17QR, 18RC, 18BIO, 16GC, 13OC) | 3rd attempt (18AA, 18TS, 21PAT, 18QR, 20RC, 21BIO, 17GC, 15OC)

State of Residence: New Jersey

Major: Health Administration with minor in Biology

Minority? Over Represent Minority

Shadowing Experience: 340+ hours. 2 General Dentists 50 hours Oral Surgeon

Volunteering Experience: 200+ hours teaching at temple sunday school, 1000+ hours volunteering at local temple, 1200+ hours Volunteer EMT (local rescue squad)

Employment: Lab Technician ~600 hours (IBX), Paid EMT ~1300 hours, Self Employed: Barber & E-commerce, Private School Part-time Science teacher ~200 hours, Accounting Associate ~150 hours, Lab Technician ~400 hours (STAR Labs)

Research: ~200 hours NCBI published (Role: reseach assistant), ~150 hours not published research (Role: research assistant)

Other Extracurriculars: Founder/President of a non-profit organization where we go to India and raise money to buy medical supplies and supply local healthcare organizations, Co-founder/President of a non-profit organization where we send girls to school in India as males get priority over receiving education in India, Member of Pre-dental club at my university, Secretary of a health club at my university (American Medical Student Association), Former first trustee for my local rescue squad, Dental Lab Internship ~250 hours, Event Coordinator (CPR Nonprofit) ~150 hours, Committee Member of a religious group who organizes events for Hindu hymns (1200+ people attend)

Relevant Honors or Awards: Dean's List 6/8 semesters

LOR type and strength: All LOR very strong. 1 general dentist, 1 non-science professor, 2 science professors (one of the science professors also being a religious leader).

Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Only studied for the DAT for around 2 weeks. crammed for 16 hrs/day for 2 weeks for the first two attempts. My third attempt I was getting practice scores in the 20s but not sure what happened. Graduated undergrad with 154 credits.
I know my school list is large but money really isn’t an issue so I much rather apply broadly and enhance my chance of receiving an acceptance.

School list: Lincoln Memorial University Rutgers University University of Nevada, Las Vegas University of Detroit Mercy University of Arizona Midwestern University - Arizona University of Connecticut Roseman University University of Louisville University of New England University of Washington Indiana University Kansas City University
Creighton University Tufts University Boston University Temple University University of Pittsburgh Midwestern University - Illinois California Northstate University Western University of Health Sciences New York University Touro College of Dental Medicine (NY) Touro University (NM) Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine Nova Southeastern University
Utah Case Ohio South Carolina (James Edwards) Minnesota

did anyone receive interview invites yet (for ppl who applied early june) and when should i start to panic or expect interviews

I'm a third-year dentistry student from Sudan. Due to the ongoing war, my university has been closed for almost a year, and there's no clear indication of when it will reopen. I'm looking for productive ways to spend my free time that will benefit my future career as a dentist. Any suggestions?

Is there a bright side to this? Anything positive to gain from this situation. Feeling a little hopeless right now.

Hi guys, I am taking my DAT July 22nd and applying this cycle. If all goes well I’ll be applying as soon as my scores are official. I just started as a dental receptionist at an FQHC, and was wondering if you guys think this would be a great experience to lean on? I know it is only a receptionist position, but I am responsible for dental codes, billing, scheduling, and working closely with the dentists (and have now memorized all of the different procedures at our site). I have had a great experience so far, and definitely want to come back to work for one after dental school. Thanks in advance!

Hi, I have applied to a few schools and need help whether I should apply to more.

My stats: DAT: 22 AA, 21 PAT, no section under 17 GPA & sGPA: 3.98 80 DA, 180 shadow, 300 other lab job, 500 volunteer, 1400 research with leadership and grants

I have applied to 10 so far: UCSF UCLA USC UOP WESTERN U CNU UNLV Rutgers (ties) OHSU AT Still

I prioritize staying in CA and strong research schools. Any suggestions on if I should apply more, and other good fit schools? Really appreciated!!!

I’m out of options for asking professors for LORs. I currently have one bio professor that I had to beg and looking to as my gen chem professor. I’m a non traditional student and it’s been about 5 years since I took her class. Like the title says I got a C in her class. I messed around during the first half and was close to failing but w some grinding I ended up literally acing the last few exams and ended up with a C.

It’s a long shot but should I ask her?

I just wanted to make a quick post to see what people think about my stats and doing a masters program. I have a 3.35 GPA and a 3.2 GPA science gpa. I was part of a predental club which did multiple volunteering opportunities. I was on the eboard for a club I helped create. I don’t have that many shadowing hours, but I recently got a job as a dental assistant. I’m currently studying for the dat and I’m going to take it at the end of August. I have applied to a masters program. But I don’t know if it’s worth it, it’s abt 30k for a year, but it does come with an interview if you get a 3.7 GPA at the end of the program. I really need help deciding whether it’s worth going there or should I just gain more experience to enhance my résumé. Let me know what y’all think.

Has anyone received secondaries from LECOM or MUSC when applying on 7/3 or after? Does anyone know why they aren’t out yet?

I'm an average student, 3.5 gpa 19 DAT, but I have a masters degree hoping to set apart. I am using a few resources to look at schools out of state, but the OOS acceptance rates differ. I know a few reject all OOS (texas schools, ecu, ect...) - I'm using the excel spreadsheet from student DN to map out schools like colorado, utah, ect. Just wondering what everyone else is doing to figure out what OOS schools to prioritize? I also noticed a handful that required extra classes that I'm missing, so I might have to knock them out in the summer prior I suppose?

FINALLY conquered the DAT! I wasn’t going to post a breakdown since it seems like a 27 is a dime a dozen on here haha, but I had a lot of people reach out wanting a breakdown, so here it is.

Background: 3.87 GPA, double major in Neuroscience and Spanish (minor in Gerontology)

• DAT Score (27AA) -

PAT: 21

QR: 27

RC: 24

Bio: 30

GC: 26

OC: 30

TS: 30

AA: 27

Main materials: Bootcamp and booster. I started out with booster and then all my friends using bootcamp got great scores so I decided an extra $500 in the grand scheme of things wasn’t that bad and bit the bullet. You don’t need both, but it definitely made things easier. The best thing I liked about having both was the abundance of practice tests, but it is slightly overkill unless you are someone who likes having a lot of practice material to work through (like me :)

https://preview.redd.it/de2bxkerhdcd1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=23528a216f421cd13dcf89d315cd058db265a91d

https://preview.redd.it/upsi7lerhdcd1.png?width=2004&format=png&auto=webp&s=09cdcb50487455f539889c97272dd57b044ee847

General: I’m a decently smart guy, but I definitely had to work really hard for this score. I started out with a goal of a 27 and knew it was going to take A LOT for me to get there. My study path was not one of those “studied for 4 weeks for 5 hours a day” study plans. I probably put in close to 500-600 hours of studying full time from the end of April to today. So, if anyone is discouraged out there, know you can totally do well, but it does take a lot of work if you’re not one of the rare geniuses that you usually see on reddit/FB.

PAT (21): To be honest, I didn’t study PAT. Like… at all. The only PAT exposure I had were the full-length tests and maybe a half hour of videos I spot watched in the beginning to get a fundamental grasp of how each section worked. In my mind as long as I had an okay PAT I would rather study for a better academic average. My practice test averages were a 19 on both bootcamp and booster. I ended up skipping the PAT section for the last couple full length tests before test day because 90 min is a lot of wasted time when you’re down on crunch time lol.

QR (27): I was really worried about QR, because DATbootcamp is HARD compared to the real thing. Honestly, it’s so freaking different. The practice tests definitely help prepare you well, but don’t get discouraged. I always ran out of time on the practice tests and my highest QR subsection was a 22 (average of 20). I would suggest to know the content very well, but expect to have much more time on the real test. That’s what made the difference for me. When I took the real thing I finished the QR section with about 10 minutes extra because I was used to DATbootcamp difficulty and timing. I was able to redo my flagged question (which I was never able to do on practice tests due to time) and really felt awesome about it as time wound down. While datbootcamp is good for challenging yourself in practice tests, datbooster is miles ahead in their video explanations content learning of the QR section. Their practice tests are also more representative. If you struggle on concepts in the QR section, use datbooster and you will be golden.

Reading (24): Honestly I was a little surprised by my reading section. I had two 10 paragraph sections and another 15 paragraph section. However, they were DENSE. One was on neuroanatomy, which was lucky because I’m a neuroscience major. It did make it hard though, because having outside knowledge can throw you off so it was a little hard to discipline myself to make sure to have evidence from the passage for each question. I just skimmed and used search and destroy. Hard to study for this section in my opinion. You either get lucky or unlucky.

Biology (30): I love biology, but all of my bio classes throughout undergrad have been neuroscience related or simply physiology, so there was a ton of content to learn. I printed out the high yield datbootcamp notes single sided and threw them in a three ring binder. The first time I went through the notes I highlighted key details and wrote important information I didn’t feel confident I would remember on the blank back page (my reason for printing single sided). This made reviewing information so much easier. I am also not inherently good at memorizing, so I would draw out systems and physiological processes on whiteboards to cement them in my memory. I also read all of the datbooster notes and took care to look at what I was unfamiliar with. I also came up with a ton of mnemonics and mind tricks to remember certain things. I also did some of the datbootcamp anki deck, but by the time I got around to them I was already scoring 25-30s on practice tests so it wasn’t really worth my time so I only did the chapters I needed more clarity and solidification. I definitely recommend the anki deck if you have time though.

GC (26): This is pretty straightforward in my opinion. I watched all of Mike’s videos and the little questions interspersed in the videos. His content is golden. After going through all of the videos I switched over to practice questions and did all of the qbanks in datbootcamp and about a third of the questions in datbooster. I kept a notebook full of every question and topic I got wrong and would review it regularly. Make sure to deeply review the fundamentals of every question that you don’t understand. I also downloaded Mikes powerpoints and would go through them regularly to refresh the memory and dial the details into my long term memory.

OC (30): This one was especially earned through sweat and tears haha. I did not do well in Ochem 1 or 2 due to tearing my ACL and needing surgery in both of my knees, so I didn’t have a great foundation to go off of. I hit this section hard and it paid off. If any of you struggle with ochem, know that YOU CAN MASTER IT. If you put in enough time it becomes almost natural and really easy. I started with mikes videos and questions like I did for Gen chem. I also downloaded the powerpoints and reviewed them regularly. The big difference for this section though came from datbooster. I did every single practice question in datbootcamp and datbooster and the sheer volume of questions you are exposed to will end up making you think like a chemist haha. Honestly, after doing all of this the real dat was a literal breeze. I finished with extra time and it almost felt too easy. Once you get the ochem section down you’re able to free up a lot of time for the GC section, which for me takes longer because it’s more calculation based.Other notes and thoughts: I spent most of my time in the science section on the gen chem section. In my opinion, you need to get good at bio and ochem to free up time. If you don’t, you will be rushed with time and that’s the last thing you want. The timing of my actual test ended up being around ~20 min for bio ~40 min for GC ~20 min for OC ~10 min reviewing flagged questions.

Also… DON’T GET DISCOURAGED WITH PRACTICE TESTS. Datbooster and datbootcamp really are harder than the real thing. If you’ve prepped well, you’ll breeze through the questions come test day. Instead of focusing on test scores, focus on understanding and you will be more than ready.I also heavily recommend not getting into practice tests until you know the material well. I recommend splitting the review phase and testing phase 50/50. If you have 3 months to study for the DAT then do an intense review of subjects for the first 1.5 months and then take regular tests for the last 1.5 months while reviewing missed questions and shaky topics. Since I ended up buying datbootcamp I ended up taking a full length test about every other day for the last two weeks leading up to datbootcamp. It really helped my stamina and mind-fatigue. I felt bright and alert throughout the entire test, so it worked. Stay away from taking individual subsection tests, it gives you a false sense of security. That’s not what the dat is like, so it’s not going to simulate test day very well. Simply my humble opinion.

I was getting really discouraged over the last two weeks because I was consistently scoring 24s and 23s, but like I had set a firm goal of 27 so it felt like I wasn’t performing up to what I wanted. It was good to score like that though, because it consistently pushed me to grind even harder. There were many 12-14 hour days spent at the library simply because I knew I could do better if I worked harder. A word of caution though: don’t burn yourself out. I gradually increased my workload and time spent studying over the last three months according to what I was getting used to. I would also recommend taking breaks. I don’t study on Sunday, and having that day every week to reset and relax made a world of difference.

Best of luck to everyone still studying, YOU GOT THIS! I can’t answer everyone, but if you have some questions that weren’t answered in my breakdown feel free to pm me and I can try to help if I have time.Please see my screenshot for datbootcamp practice tests. Unfortunately my datbooster account already expired so it doesn't let me see those scores anymore, but the averages were around ~20 PAT, ~24 for GC, ~24 for OC, ~25 for Bio, ~24 for QR

How big of a deal is it not getting first round interview? Does what it means differ by school? Someone reported getting a CU invitation and I obviously didn’t get one lol but I was wondering if anything pre-December is still considered ideal. I am just simply curious about what I should think going forward in the coming months.

Hi I’m a URM and have a 3.4 GPA 3.3 science GPA I haven’t taken the DAT yet, I have 2000 plus hours of dental experience from assisting and 150 + hours of shadowing along with other experiences like President of the pre dental club and I’m also doing a post bacc are there any schools in particular that you guys think I should add because of my lower stats and what DAT score do you think would make me a somewhat competitive applicant.

Hi everyone, I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice for my school list since I am just about ready to send out my applications. Here are my stats:

CA resident
cGPA- 3.6 sGPA - 3.4 (both with strong upward trends)
DAT: PAT-21 QR-22 RC-21 BIO-27 GC-23 OC-26 TS-25 AA-24
Experiences: 500 hours on a club gymnastics team (competed and held an officer position), 200 hours volunteering as a gymnastics coach and roughly 50 at a food bank, 130 hours shadowing a general dentist, 500 hours paid tutoring at my university and a tutoring center
LORs: 2 science profs (1 decent 1 good), 1 non science (excellent), 1 dentist (pretty good)

I'm honestly completely lost. I tried looking into what schools are OOS friendly and my options seem pretty much nonexistent. I'm applying to all schools in California except for USC. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Hello!

Because I majored in electrical engineering, I could not have time to spend much time for any EC.

What I've done are just shadowing hours(~100hrs) and non-health related virtual voluteering hours (~100hrs)... No leadership position or club activity as well...

But I think I have strong gpa(4.00) and am going to take DAT two weeks later. I am aiming ~24AA.

Will it be fine to apply without ECs?

I already received LORs btw.

Thank you for any advices or replies in advance!

Hey I've been committed to Uconn for the past several months, majoring in nutritional sciences on the track to becoming a dentist, but yesterday morning I got a message stating that I have been taken off the waitlist for UDM's 7 year BS/DDS program and I have until tomorrow night to decide. Is the program worth it? UDM does turn out to be cheaper than UCONN and gives me the guarantee that I will become a dentist, but how rigorous is this program? Do most kids, if not all, in this program end up becoming a successful dentist?

Hi everyone!

I need some advice on my personal statement.

I've been working on my personal statement for about a month now and finally got it done today.

However, I've received mixed feedback about it. I have a cousin in dental school that keeps saying it's written well but that it lacks a connecting theme, etc. the structure of my PS starts with a hook style narrative of what sparked my interest in dentistry, the leads to my shadowing experience and an impactful experience I had with a patient with oral cancer, and how that lead me to start volunteering at a oral dysplasia research lab. I've had some people read it and say it was really good and well written. But others similar to my cousin that mentioned the same concerns she has. Because of this, I even paid for those editing services to look over it and help me fix it up a little. And now that it's finally done, I'm getting some of the same feedback from my cousin and her friend, who are both dental students. WHAT SHOULD I DO???? This PS is delaying me from applying. Everything else is done and uploaded onto AADSAS. It's just this.

They want me to scrap it and start all over, but I just don't have the energy to and also have spent money on getting it edited.

I was apart of 10 different Extra Curriculars through undergraduate. And ngl it’s been hard for me to remember the amount of hours and weeks each one took. How much does it matter and how precise are admission committees when looking at your app?

I just graduated and have attempted to take the DAT to apply for this cycle. I didn't like my score so I want to retake it but there are no dates for me to retake and apply to this cycle. I will have to apply to the 2025-2026 cycle instead of the 2024-2025 cycle. My gpa is 3.373 and I have joined 3 clubs/ had positions. I have shadowed at a dental office for 3 months once a week and i have shadowed at other doctors offices for 3 months that are in different fields. Also, I have completed 2 years of research. For my gap year, I want to retake the DAT asap but what do i do for the rest of the months until i apply in May of 2025? How can i strengthen my application so there isn't any reason for them to not consider me?

Hello! I'm a little confused on what to do. I recently had my reference letter rechecked for a title via interfolio, and they said that my professor put the prefix title Dr. and indicated in the letter that he taught me but did not include his job title as professor. Do I need to ask him to add it or would it be okay if I submit? Please help!

Already submitted the rest of my application, but I was considering adding UPenn to it as a reach program even if I didn’t have the greatest chance of getting in. My DAT AA was higher than their average at a 24 but my gpa was a lot lower than their average at around a 3.6 for both science and cumulative compared to their 3.8 and 3.83 averages. The main reason I was asking was because their 5th percentile averages for gpa were a little lower than my current gpa and I was wondering if I had a shot despite it being comparatively low. I have a fairly strong application outside of my stats and have had a number of leadership positions, as well as having done research and currently work as a DA at an FQHC. Thanks all!!

Just talked to a few predental and they all said they’re applying to 10-12 schools. I feel like I wasted money. Can I ask for a refund and say I misclicked?