dgundy9 Posted December 18, 2007 Report Share Posted December 18, 2007 Hey All, Just got my marks and I am looking for some feedback. I am applying to the university of Alberta and I am in my fourth year. My applicable DAT scores are as follows. PAT 21 Reading 20 Carving 17 My cumulative GPA is 3.95 and my prerequisite GPA is 3.94. I still have 2 prerequisites to go next semester though. Anyway, some feedback would be great. I know that passing the soap has at least given me a chance. Does anyone know if these stats are competitive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yakobu Posted December 18, 2007 Report Share Posted December 18, 2007 I'm looking into the U of A too. Are you in Edmonton? If so, when did you get your DAT scores? As for your marks, I know someone in first year and he said that you'd need to break 20 to be competitive, especially for carving. That being said, however, your GPA is impressive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gongster Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 Hey dgundy9, Your GPA looks pretty good and you are in pretty good shape. The carving mark could be better tho. As for my year, most of my classmates got mid to high 20s coming into the program, but there are exceptions of course. Have you considered rewriting your DAT in february? It probably won't hurt to give that another go in case you dun get in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgundy9 Posted December 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 Hey Gongster, Yeah, I've talked to a few of my friends in the program and they tell me that it would probably be a good idea to take the DAT again in February. It is a hard decision because I have a really tough semester coming up and I won't be able to commit too much time to DAT preparation. I would hate to bring the soap mark up a few points but sacrifice some of the GPA in the process. The GPA is worth more than the DAT from what I can tell. I did check the U of A's stats and I am average on the PAT and the Reading. Yes, the soap is low, but I do feel like the above average GPA will probably compensate. I'd rather have a high GPA and a lower soap than the opposite. Having said that, I will continue to weigh out my options. I actually don't even half to take a full load this next semester, but I would really like to graduate in May. Oh, decisions.....decisions..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apical meristems Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 Hey dgundy9, Your GPA is pretty good. I definitely think that you'll have a chance. There are people in my class who just passed the carving, but balanced the scale with a 4.0 GPA. Then again, it all depends on the applicant pool. Good luck, ap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yakobu Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 Well, my results came back today. Here they are: RC - 22 PAT - 24 Carving - 26 SNS is irrelevant for admission to the U of A so I didn't even study for it, but I surprised myself by passing both Chem and Bio. Now I can relax! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgundy9 Posted December 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 Nice Work Yakobu, I'd definitely say you can relax with those DAT scores. Was that your first time? Great job! Having such high DAT marks definitley takes some strain off of the GPA end of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yakobu Posted December 20, 2007 Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 Thanks. That was my first time writing the DAT and apparently all that preparation paid off in the end. Now I just need to keep my GPA >3.9 and hopefully the faculty will notice me. Merry Christmas everyone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgundy9 Posted December 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 Hey Yakobu, I heard that the U of A scales down your cumulative to the nearest tenth of a GPA point; so a 3.88 and a 3.83 would both be a 3.8 when it comes to evaluating the cumulative GPA. Have you heard otherwise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yakobu Posted December 20, 2007 Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 That's the first I've heard of that, but now you've got me interested. Have you called the registrar's office or the faculty of medicine to verify that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgundy9 Posted December 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 Yakobu, I have not tried to contact the admissions office in Edmonton. I just heard about it from a 3rd year in the program. If you look at the statistics on the home page, the range for cumulative GPA is 3.6 - 4.00, which indicates that rounding is a possibility. The range for prerequisites was 3.63 -4.00. I think it would be a shame if they rounded your CGPA down because there is a big difference between a 3.89 and a 3.80 if you know what I mean. I don't know why they would, but that's what I have been told. I don't think that I will try and contact admissions about it because whoever answers the phone up there always seems to be in a hurry to end the phone call. I've phoned there twice for different reasons and neither time was a good experience. From your stats though, I would not be concerned. You would be fine with 3.80s given that killer DAT score. Just keep working hard and you'll have a spot there for sure. You will probably get early acceptance. You've paid your dues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr.drill Posted December 20, 2007 Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 Um ... why does it matter if they round your GPA? Are you going to phone them and beg them not to complaining that it's not fair? Are you not going to apply to U of A because they round it? Are you going to slack in school and only go for a 3.80 because its not worth the extra effort for that 0.09 since they round it? Who cares. Just apply and see if you get in. People around here worry about the strangest things. Why obsess over tiny little details that you can't control and in the end don't matter? Do the best that you can in regards to your GPA and DAT and apply to every school that you can. Thats it. The rest is out of your hands. I graduated from U of A dent a few years ago. Getting into dentistry is a very simple process. Do your best, apply, and wait for acceptance letters. Thats it. Pulling out your hair in regards to this little stuff is pointless. You're going to burn out in the office as a dentist if you freak out over the millions of little details that are out of your control. Relax. Get the best grades you can, apply everywhere, and then you've done all you can. Chill out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgundy9 Posted December 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2007 Thanks Dr. Phil....I mean Dr. Drill, Seriously though, you are right. There is no sense freaking out. It's probably more excitement than anything else. I am just excited to finally be applying and waiting for the DAT scores has stirred up some excitement as well. Obviously there is a lot of competition to get into the U of A, so I have tried to get a bit of an idea where I stand. I am not sitting here pulling my hair out. How was the U of A anyway? Any advice for those of us thinking about going there? It's nice that there are some practising dentists out there who still find the time to visit predent forums and offer advice to us undergrads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr.drill Posted December 21, 2007 Report Share Posted December 21, 2007 Thanks Dr. Phil....I mean Dr. Drill, Seriously though, you are right. There is no sense freaking out. It's probably more excitement than anything else. I am just excited to finally be applying and waiting for the DAT scores has stirred up some excitement as well. Obviously there is a lot of competition to get into the U of A, so I have tried to get a bit of an idea where I stand. I am not sitting here pulling my hair out. How was the U of A anyway? Any advice for those of us thinking about going there? It's nice that there are some practising dentists out there who still find the time to visit predent forums and offer advice to us undergrads. In ways U of A is ahead of other schools. They have just overhauled their implant program and want every graduate to have placed and restored 3 implants by the time they leave (every step of the surgery all done by the student). Most other schools just send you out to assist the surgeries. U of A's has a stronger denture component than other schools. You decide if thats good or bad. You'll probably do a few partials every once in a while in private practice. I don't do completes, but I know general dentists that do. U of A has a strong endo component. They teach warm vertical compaction (U of T teaches lateral). They don't teach rotary, but do you really need to be instructed on rotary? Up to you. The problem with me telling you what U of A is like, is that dental schools are not static. The program, instructors, and resources change every year. The class that graduated the year after me may have had a completely different experience. My advice is to apply to every single school you can. Once you get your acceptance letter, visit each school and compare their programs. The problem with talking to old duffers like me is that the program has changed since I left. The risk of talking to current student is that everyone thinks their dental school is the best in the country simply so it makes them look good to go there. They may say "I chose U of T because I looked at their programs and they were clearly superior to all other schools in the country", when the real story is that they only got accepted to U of T because they got a 4 on the carving and all other schools threw their application in the garbage. Just be able to filter out the bull (there is plenty of that around here). Best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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