Is research necessary for Ortho?

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laxchick181

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I just finished my first semester in dental school, and I have to start thinking about summer plans. I would prefer to abstain from doing research, since it would end up costing me a lot in living expenses for the summer, but I don't want to kill my chances of being accepted to an Ortho program someday. Is it possible to be accepted without dental research experience ( I do have previous, unrelated research experience) if you are well rounded in other ways? I plan on joining clubs, doing community service, travel charity work, and getting involved in the Ortho clinic at my school, and my GPA this semester was a 3.94 (which I will try my best to keep up).

Any thoughts? I know how competitive it is, just hoping I can get away with spending some time with my family (and less money) this summer!

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I would like to know the answer to this question as well. First year dental student trying to figure out if research is necessary this summer.
 
I just finished my first semester in dental school, and I have to start thinking about summer plans. I would prefer to abstain from doing research, since it would end up costing me a lot in living expenses for the summer, but I don't want to kill my chances of being accepted to an Ortho program someday. Is it possible to be accepted without dental research experience ( I do have previous, unrelated research experience) if you are well rounded in other ways? I plan on joining clubs, doing community service, travel charity work, and getting involved in the Ortho clinic at my school, and my GPA this semester was a 3.94 (which I will try my best to keep up).

Any thoughts? I know how competitive it is, just hoping I can get away with spending some time with my family (and less money) this summer!

I worked for an orthodontist for three years and I talked to him for some time about how he got into school. He had four kids in dental school and was quite active in church and in several clubs. He had NO time for research and was still able to get into an ortho program. But, on the flip side, he graduated #1 in his class at UCLA. He told me that it is hard to get into an ortho program without research, but he did it.

I don't know how true that all is, but that's at least the experience of one practicing orthodontist.
 
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I worked for an orthodontist for three years and I talked to him for some time about how he got into school. He had four kids in dental school and was quite active in church and in several clubs. He had NO time for research and was still able to get into an ortho program. But, on the flip side, he graduated #1 in his class at UCLA. He told me that it is hard to get into an ortho program without research, but he did it.

I don't know how true that all is, but that's at least the experience of one practicing orthodontist.

#1 in his class though, lol. And that was some time ago you know. Appreciate the reply though, I would imagine it is of some importance as some schools do really care about research because their residency program I have heard requires more research. I would really appreciate a fourth year doing or just have finished interviewing for Ortho residencies to chime in! Thanks
 
Can you describe the type of research going on at dental schools? Is it outcome based clinical trails or basic science research?

#1 in his class though, lol. And that was some time ago you know. Appreciate the reply though, I would imagine it is of some importance as some schools do really care about research because their residency program I have heard requires more research. I would really appreciate a fourth year doing or just have finished interviewing for Ortho residencies to chime in! Thanks
 
I worked for an orthodontist for three years and I talked to him for some time about how he got into school. He had four kids in dental school and was quite active in church and in several clubs. He had NO time for research and was still able to get into an ortho program. But, on the flip side, he graduated #1 in his class at UCLA. He told me that it is hard to get into an ortho program without research, but he did it.

I don't know how true that all is, but that's at least the experience of one practicing orthodontist.

That had to be some time ago, because UCLA is pass / fail / Honors and I don't believe they rank their students anymore...

I would be very interested in hearing from some recent graduates, as well some students going through the process. OR, more importantly, hearing from DS2's that are thinking about ortho to see what they are hearing if research will be even more crucial since boards are now Pass / Fail...:)
 
I worked for an orthodontist for three years and I talked to him for some time about how he got into school. He had four kids in dental school and was quite active in church and in several clubs. He had NO time for research and was still able to get into an ortho program. But, on the flip side, he graduated #1 in his class at UCLA. He told me that it is hard to get into an ortho program without research, but he did it.

I don't know how true that all is, but that's at least the experience of one practicing orthodontist.
This orthodontist must have graduated after me because when I was a student there, every student had to do research in order to graduate. I am glad that I was required to do research. When I got accepted to an ortho program, I only had to change the research project, that I did in dental school, a little bit….and I completed my MS thesis in less than 3 months.

I think it helps a lot if you do research. It shows the director that you are a hard working student. Despite the busy schedule in dental school, you still manage to find time to do research and manage to score just as high on the board exam as the applicants who don’t do research.
 
That had to be some time ago, because UCLA is pass / fail / Honors and I don't believe they rank their students anymore...
UCLA does not rank the average students like me but the school does rank the students who have the highest number of Honor passes (EPRs) in their class. This ranking helps a lot when these students apply to UCLA post grad programs. And when the board becomes P/F this year, I think the ranking at UCLA will be very important. Before that, the specialty program directors only looked at the board score because they knew that UCLA is a non-ranked, P/F school.
 
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