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*** The "What Are My Chances?" and "Should I retake my DAT?" Thread POST HERE FIRST


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Given the multitude/litany of "What are my chances" and "Should I retake the DAT?" threads popping up, let's clean things up a bit. Please only post these types of posts in this thread. If you post a new topic your post will either be moved or deleted.

Thanks.

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37 minutes ago, Lollipop said:

Hi guys. If you are a u of a student, what do you think of the new grading system of this winter sem? All our courses will be credit or non-credit and no letter grade. How do you think this will impact dental admissions to u of a and other dental school? 

To my knowledge, U of A does not include pass/fail courses in OGPA calculation, so this is an interesting situation. Maybe the current academic year will be excluded from OGPA? Or maybe only the fall semester grades will contribute. Hoping that no one is negatively effected by this! I am an MRU student and currently we have not altered our grading system. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Currently have a cgpa of 3.34, and sgpa of 3.2. I was planning on applying to dental schools primarly in the United States, and was wondering the chances of me being accepted. Still waiting on canadian feb DAT results. Are there any other places you would reccomend according to my stats

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Hey all, 

I'm a second year student at U of S, and I'm planning to apply to next year. With the following stats, do you think I've got a shot with U of T do you think I'll have a shot at U of T or UBC? Or should I retake the DAT to increase my chances? I'm really bummed because I haven't done much extracurriculars, volunteering, or shadowing of dentists over the years, and I was planning to get some hours during this summer. :(

Dat: 

AA: 21 

RC: 19 

Bio: 23 

Chem: 21 

MDT: 5 (lol) 

GPA 3.98 (92%) 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Hi everyone, I’m planning to apply to dentistry at UWO in the upcoming cycle. However, I’m completely unsure of my chances and would appreciate any advice on how to improve my application.

My concerns: I am mostly worried about my average/below average GPA (based on UWO admission stats) especially since I am a undergrad and not planning to complete a masters. I also do not have many long term commitments, nor research publications or anything super impressive in my ECs

I would like some advice on next steps. Should I:

1. Focus on prepping for the DAT ONLY and leave ECs as it is

2. Focus on improving my ECs, ie be the founder of an organization, more higher position leadership roles BUT reducing my DAT prep time as a result.

( I have summer courses and ongoing volunteering that already take up a big chunk of my time :()

 

GPA: 87.75% (not sure what this converts to in GPA, would love some help!)

DAT: will be written in Nov

ECs: dental related research (but pretty short term), various executive roles in university clubs + president of pre-dental society, youth recreation head in my city, long term volunteering with heart & stroke, foreign language teacher for children (but short term), Vice President of a Covid relief organization (managing >100 volunteers), volunteer at senior homes, mentorship program.

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Keep up the EC’s (see if there’s a couple you can stick with throughout the year and manage studying. I was on a society and played sports and volunteered on campus as well as completed a 4th year research project. I also wrote the DAT in November. Aim to get a score in the average range posted by Western. While a high 20 is really good, it’s evident that a score in the 18-21 range is also good enough to get in. You need to show that you can study as well as participate in EC’s I.e. contributing to being a well-rounded person. Your GPA is also fine, as people have gotten in with an average around yours. Schulich (Med and Dent) look for well-rounded people (the med school also put out a statement about wanting to see success in all areas, not just one) so make sure you are showing them that you are, and you should have a decent shot! 

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7 hours ago, Dent2021Godhelpme said:

Hi everyone, I’m planning to apply to dentistry at UWO in the upcoming cycle. However, I’m completely unsure of my chances and would appreciate any advice on how to improve my application.

My concerns: I am mostly worried about my average/below average GPA (based on UWO admission stats) especially since I am a undergrad and not planning to complete a masters. I also do not have many long term commitments, nor research publications or anything super impressive in my ECs

I would like some advice on next steps. Should I:

1. Focus on prepping for the DAT ONLY and leave ECs as it is

2. Focus on improving my ECs, ie be the founder of an organization, more higher position leadership roles BUT reducing my DAT prep time as a result.

( I have summer courses and ongoing volunteering that already take up a big chunk of my time :()

 

GPA: 87.75% (not sure what this converts to in GPA, would love some help!)

DAT: will be written in Nov

ECs: dental related research (but pretty short term), various executive roles in university clubs + president of pre-dental society, youth recreation head in my city, long term volunteering with heart & stroke, foreign language teacher for children (but short term), Vice President of a Covid relief organization (managing >100 volunteers), volunteer at senior homes, mentorship program.

Your GPA is fine. If you are writing the DAT for first time do your best to make sure your RC is above the minimum (18). To do decent on the DAT (20+), 2-3 months is all you need it is not a hard test you just have to know as much as you can and practice.

My advice to you is that you should focus on yourself and don't worry about other people's stats or extracurriculars. I know people with high gpa/DATs that didn't even get to interview stage. The most important thing is meeting the minimum requirements and writing a good personal statement / answering the sketch questions well. If you want to get into UWO, start prepping for interviews; the interviews is 100% the most important component when you are at this stage and even when you think you are decent at interviewing, there will be people better than you. Gain those interview skills ASAP. 

There is also a bit of luck / subjectivity getting into UWO. 

Pm me if you want more info/advice. 

 

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I will give you advice that has worked with others who applied several times! Treat the MMI as “a practice run”, and the person to whom you respond as an inquisitive, intelligent 12 year old who is seeking your e plantation to certain questions. If you can do this, the anxiety and pressure is removed and you simply do the MMI and will excel! I have been advising students of this forum for over 10 years. Every applicant who followed this advice succeeded. :P Reapply in Canada and follow my advice!

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On 7/15/2020 at 1:48 PM, justanotherdude said:

So I’ve applied for dentistry for the past 2 years and I’ve gotten an interview both times. I only have like a 3.87 GPA, but my dat is pretty good, 76/90 for uofa, but it seems like I just couldn’t do well on the MMI. I know uofa is changing their admission requirements in 2022 and they will not look at the soap craving portion anymore and I need to do another online test along with personal experience and writing an essay on the spot. I got like 30 on my MMIs, and I thought I was ready for it but guess not. I just don’t really know how to improve my score for MMI, and I’m scared if I don’t get in by next year, it will be even harder to get in. Should I just go to Australia for dentistry even though it’s SUPER EXPENSIVE, like double the cost and idk how long it will take for me to pay off all of the debt?

Im OOP for UBC and im not sure if I should even apply for it because my GPA is not that great, and i dont have strong references.

 

are you graduating next year? or did you already graduate?

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On 7/8/2020 at 12:36 PM, tooth said:

Keep up the EC’s (see if there’s a couple you can stick with throughout the year and manage studying. I was on a society and played sports and volunteered on campus as well as completed a 4th year research project. I also wrote the DAT in November. Aim to get a score in the average range posted by Western. While a high 20 is really good, it’s evident that a score in the 18-21 range is also good enough to get in. You need to show that you can study as well as participate in EC’s I.e. contributing to being a well-rounded person. Your GPA is also fine, as people have gotten in with an average around yours. Schulich (Med and Dent) look for well-rounded people (the med school also put out a statement about wanting to see success in all areas, not just one) so make sure you are showing them that you are, and you should have a decent shot! 

Thank you so much for the advice! You're absolutely right about the importance of being well-rounded. Since I can't do much about my GPA, I'll definitely put more effort into improving my ECs! Would you also be able to provide some suggestions on what materials I can use for the DAT? I started off using DATBootcamp but switched to using DATCrusher earlier this month since Bootcamp seems to have a LOT more material thats not necessarily covered by the cDAT (based on what others were saying). Do you think using DATCrusher by itself is enough to do well or should I use other supplementary materials? Thanks!

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On 7/8/2020 at 2:55 PM, TheDiabeticDentist said:

Your GPA is fine. If you are writing the DAT for first time do your best to make sure your RC is above the minimum (18). To do decent on the DAT (20+), 2-3 months is all you need it is not a hard test you just have to know as much as you can and practice.

My advice to you is that you should focus on yourself and don't worry about other people's stats or extracurriculars. I know people with high gpa/DATs that didn't even get to interview stage. The most important thing is meeting the minimum requirements and writing a good personal statement / answering the sketch questions well. If you want to get into UWO, start prepping for interviews; the interviews is 100% the most important component when you are at this stage and even when you think you are decent at interviewing, there will be people better than you. Gain those interview skills ASAP. 

There is also a bit of luck / subjectivity getting into UWO. 

Pm me if you want more info/advice. 

 

Wow thank you so much for the advice! I will PM you :) 

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8 hours ago, Dent2021Godhelpme said:

Thank you so much for the advice! You're absolutely right about the importance of being well-rounded. Since I can't do much about my GPA, I'll definitely put more effort into improving my ECs! Would you also be able to provide some suggestions on what materials I can use for the DAT? I started off using DATBootcamp but switched to using DATCrusher earlier this month since Bootcamp seems to have a LOT more material thats not necessarily covered by the cDAT (based on what others were saying). Do you think using DATCrusher by itself is enough to do well or should I use other supplementary materials? Thanks!

I used only the Kaplan book and supplemented the chemistry with Olmstead’s chemistry book for first years. If you did well in first year chem and bio you’ll have an excellent foundation to do well on the DAT! I would recommend maybe getting a program for the PAT section (I used the Kaplan book as well for strategies on how to do it, but could have used more practise with actual problems). I would recommend using American resources as well as canadian for the RC section, as it seems like the RC is going in the direction of being more like the American RC in terms of questions they ask (I prepped with American material and it ended up being my highest score). I only wrote the DAT once so maybe someone else could attest to that lol. I’ve heard really good things about DATCrusher though! Also make sure you get the manual from the CDA that has the practise DAT in it, and don’t do the questions until you feel good about how much you’ve studied hahaha

Feel free to send me a message if you have any other questions!! 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...

So, I did not get a interview invite this year for UBC (home school and province). I am also planning on taking the DAT this year in Nov. I was wondering do I have a chance at other schools in Canada or the US with my stats.

CDAT: 20AA (23 Chem, 20 Bio, 17RC) 21 PAT Retake?

GPA: Worst year dropped = 86.7%

Degree: Biology degree completed from UBC

EC: I thought my pre-reqs were pretty good, including things like plumbing work, shadowing dentists (120 hours), volunteering for almost 1500+ hours, multiple executive club positions at school, soccer outside of school, working at nike, admin work at UBC and at a soccer club outside of school, and cultural dance. I also thought my reference letters were pretty solid as well. 

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

gpa: 80-82% depending on how they calculate it, strong upward trend if it matters at all 

didn't take the DAT yet but my MCAT score is 512 (~85th percentile). i figure i'll need a very high DAT score to even have a slight chance. how would a 512 MCAT roughly translate into DAT percentiles?

used to be a premed so my ec's are pretty stacked but none of them are dental-related. do they factor in ec's at all?

thanks for your help!!

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