Muskan Patel

Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA

Abstract Title:

Are DAT Scores and Undergraduate GPA Still the Best Predictors of Success in a Pre-Dental Master’s Program? An Independent Analysis of the MS in Oral Health Sciences Program at Boston University

Biography:

Muskan Patel is a Master of Public Health candidate in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Boston University (2024–2026, GPA 3.9) and a Gold Medalist in Endodontics from her Bachelor of Dental Surgery at Gujarat University, India. She practiced as an Associate Dentist and Intern Dental Practitioner in Ahmedabad, India, performing restorative, endodontic, and prosthodontic procedures across high-volume clinical settings. Her current research at Boston University examines academic predictors of success in oral health sciences and the relationship between socioeconomic status, age, and oral health-related quality of life. She has authored peer-reviewed publications in endodontics and is a CPR/BLS-certified provider.

Research Interests:

Introduction: Admission to dental school is highly competitive, and pre-dental master’s programs such as the MS in Oral Health Sciences (OHS) at Boston University have emerged as important pipeline pathways, particularly for students from underrepresented backgrounds. Identifying which applicants are most likely to succeed in these programs is critical to both student outcomes and program effectiveness. A prior study by Davies et al. (2020) examined predictors of OHS success in four cohorts enrolled between 2012 and 2016 (N = 129), identifying DAT scores and undergraduate Physiology coursework as key predictors while finding undergraduate GPA to be non-significant. However, the generalizability of these findings to more recent cohorts had not been evaluated. Purpose: This study aimed to independently validate the findings of Davies et al. (2020) using a newer and larger dataset from five OHS cohorts enrolled between 2017 and 2021, to determine whether previously identified predictors remain consistent over time, and to identify any additional predictors of OHS academic performance not reported in the original study. Methods: Data were collected for 183 students enrolled in the OHS program between 2017 and 2021. Variables included undergraduate GPA (UGPA), all eight DAT sub-scores, grades in prerequisite science courses, gender, state of residency, and prior dental school application history. OHS GPA served as the primary outcome measure. Independent samples t-tests were used to compare OHS GPA between students who did and did not take each prerequisite course. One-way ANOVA was used to compare OHS GPA across UGPA quartiles using the same cutoffs as Davies et al. (2020) to enable direct comparison. Pearson correlation was used to assess relationships between continuous variables and OHS GPA. Year-by-year subgroup analyses were conducted to assess the consistency of findings across cohorts. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: Six of eight DAT sub-scores were significantly correlated with OHS GPA, including Total Science (r = 0.309, p < 0.001), Academic Average (r = 0.279, p < 0.001), Biology (r = 0.270, p < 0.001), General Chemistry (r = 0.257, p < 0.001), Organic Chemistry (r = 0.238, p = 0.002), and Reading Comprehension (r = 0.154, p = 0.048). Undergraduate GPA was a significant predictor of OHS GPA by both ANOVA (p = 0.002) and Pearson correlation (r = 0.297, p < 0.001), with students in the highest UGPA quartile averaging an OHS GPA of 3.60 compared to 3.38 for those in the lowest quartile. The grade earned in undergraduate Biology was also significantly associated with OHS GPA (r = 0.214, p = 0.005). Gender, state of residency, and prior dental school application history were not significant predictors. Contrary to Davies et al. (2020), undergraduate Physiology coursework was not a significant predictor across the full dataset (p = 0.267). Year-by-year analysis revealed that Physiology was significant only in the 2017 cohort and was non-significant in all four subsequent years, with the direction of effect reversing in 2018 and 2019. Conclusion: This independent analysis of 2017-2021 OHS cohorts confirms that DAT science scores are consistent and reliable predictors of OHS academic success, with Total Science, Academic Average, Biology, General Chemistry, and Organic Chemistry sub-scores all reaching significance. Undergraduate GPA emerged as a significant predictor in the current dataset, directly contradicting the conclusion of Davies et al. (2020) and suggesting this factor warrants inclusion in admissions evaluation. The recommendation to prioritize undergraduate Physiology coursework was not supported by more recent cohort data, as the effect was limited to a single cohort and did not persist over time. These findings suggest that admissions criteria for pre-dental master’s programs should be periodically re-evaluated using updated cohort data, and that reliance on coursework-based criteria may be less informative than direct measures of academic performance such as GPA and standardized test scores. Reference: Davies TA, Miller MB, Moore VA, Kaye EA. Predicting professional school performance with a unique lens: are there other cognitive predictors? BMC Medical Education. 2020;20:14.