Mithridates said:
... and it's good for specializing. I've met so many people on interviews that say 'I'm gonna do ortho or oral surgery.' All these specialty programs have a serious research component, and those with experience will have a huge advantage in applications. In particular, having experience pre-dental school will show specialty adcoms that you've been interested for a while - that you didn't start doing research in dental school because you knew that's what they wanted.
Somewhat true. Speaking from my own experience, my ortho application was backed by plenty of genuine research commitment in undergrad (2 years in a lab at a nearby cancer hospital, 1 HHMI summer at Harvard) followed by 2 summers of research in dental school. I had plenty of abstracts & presentations on my CV, and 1 publication as well. I think my research background helped me get 2 interviews, however, both of these programs were really looking to see if any students would commit to doing the dual Ortho & PhD route. I don't know if I could handle doing both right now, so I honestly told them that. Also, my conscience will not let me lie & say "Sure, If you accept me here, I'll do both!" when I secretly know that I won't do the PhD - but that's just me & my ethical standpoint. I know there are students out there that have no ethical problems saying one thing and doing another to get what they want.
Anyhow, I did not get into ortho this past year. My numbers (rank/board) are reasonably competitive for ortho, I have lots of other serious activities besides research - I was not a mediocre candidate. I had classmates (at least 3) who had only 1 summer of research experience that got into ortho - do you think they did research b/c they really wanted the experience or because "programs want to see you did something" - you decide. I can think of many previously successful ortho applicants from my school with the minimal 1 summer "write it on my resume" research. My OMS bound classmates had possibly even less research on their CVs. Research will not make or break your specialty or even dental school application, If you have strong numbers, your application will most likely be considered regardless of the research being on there or not.
Briansle: Research experience can be good, but if you think your DAT is going to suffer, I would postpone the research. Especially if you are applying for this cycle. I don't think research is very critical for dental school applications, since there isn't any serious research requirment at any dental school in order to graduate. Good DAT scores will get your application noticed. A mediocre DAT with a summer of "serious" research will put your application in the middle of the pile.
Having been through the specialty application process with my research background, I've decided that it must be hard for adcoms to decide whose research is "serious" vs. "just did it to put on my resume." Anyone can hang out in a lab without engaging in serious research. Some people have the ability to transform "hanging out in lab" into something on their resume that reads the equivalent of curing cancer. How is the adcom going to know if it was serious or not from 3 lines on a resume? It isn't until you call the student to interview when you might be able to figure out if they really did something or sat around and counted ceiling tiles. Get the point? They're not going to make the decision to interview you based on the "serious" summer research; it's your DAT that's going to get you that interview invite.
