no research experience = bad?

[MrAvicii]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

how is this even possible when many schools not on the list impose MANDATORY shadowing hours

the ADEA guide is discrepant, cuz as far as i'm concerned, "REQUIRED" trumps any level of "importance"

Does shadowing go under Professional Experience? I'm not sure if it does. There is no classification anywhere that describes this.

 

[dentalWorks]

Its sad this thread turned into a pissing contest of whos right vs wrong (I am sorry to say, even I took part of this).

BACK TO THE MAIN TOPIC:

OP's original question stated: "How important do you guys believe research experience is to dental school applicants?"

I believe at this point, the OP (and future pre-dents) can read and make a decision. And just to clarify one thing: majority of dental graduates end up in a clinical setting (specialty or none), this should give you a hint where the dental profession gears its selection criteria when comparing applicants.

 

[dentalWorks]

Does shadowing go under Professional Experience? I'm not sure if it does. There is no classification anywhere that describes this.

I haven't look'd at AADSAS in a long time, but wasn't there a "shadowing" selection from a drop down?

 

[MrAvicii]

so do you believe that by just having a good GPA and LOR, but no extracurriculars, will give you the best shot at getting into any dental school? So do you believe extracurriculars don't mean anything? just curious everyone is entitled to their own opinion i guess.

As I said before, if you happen to have read the other posts, I would rather have higher GPA and DAT than tons of EC. Most applicants will not have a zero EC. I dont like absolutes and its not really good to think that way. I happen to have a lot of EC myself, but there were times where I decided to opt out of ECs for the sake of maintaining a higher GPA. I was also working full time so that made it even tougher.

All I'm saying is do ECs if you want, but never sacrifice your grades just to do some ECs thats a losing battle.

 

[MrAvicii]

I haven't look'd at AADSAS in a long time, but wasn't there a "shadowing" selection from a drop down?

I meant in the Survey picture that I posted. They did not differentiate where Shadowing belongs (either Prof Experience or Community Service or elsewhere.)

 

[toothexplore]

Does shadowing go under Professional Experience? I'm not sure if it does. There is no classification anywhere that describes this.

yea i checked it before i posted lol, but community service was also under Professional Experience so who knows

 

[MrAvicii]

Its sad this thread turned into a pissing contest of whos right vs wrong (I am sorry to say, even I took part of this).

no pissing contest just stating the facts and discussing them with fellow predents.

 

[FLOSS UR TEETH]

I think that one should only do research if they really want to and can appreciate the beautiful nature and knowledge gain from doing it. Don't do research just to "make yourself look better." Do it because you want to.

OP, your application will not be hindered accompanied by lack of research. If your interested in doing research and it won't offset your grades in school or your DAT score then by all means get involved. Otherwise, don't fret about it.

 

[SN1]

IMO, yes. lol not really that maybe a lil harsh. but seriously, you are just limiting your options by not having any experience at all with dentistry. it will be that much harder for you to gain admission.

LOL thanks!

Yeah, I should probably start asking around some dentists to shadow. I have been focusing solely on my grades.

 

[UltimateHombre]

so do you believe that by just having a good GPA and LOR, but no extracurriculars, will give you the best shot at getting into any dental school? So do you believe extracurriculars don't mean anything? just curious everyone is entitled to their own opinion i guess.

Listen man, i love ECs, just check my predents to see mine.... but i still think that they rank pretty low in comparison to GPA and DAT.

If i had to choose between 2 scenarios, i would rather have a 3.8 and a 22 with maybe 1 or 2 ECs, than a 3.3 and an 18 with 6 or 7 ECs. I will say it again... a slew of awesome ECs will never make up for a sub par GPA and DAT.

And sorry for getting off topic OP. Good luck in your decision to do research, but if it compromises your DAT or GPA, i personally wouldn't do it.

 

[MrAvicii]

LOL thanks!

Yeah, I should probably start asking around some dentists to shadow. I have been focusing solely on my grades.

👍 do your 100+ hours of shadowing and you will be fine. do some ECs in your last year just in case, but dont go overboard and blow your classes for it.

 

[jirotrom]

Here is a list of schools that consider Professional Experience (Assuming Research is lumped into this category) to be Very Important:

(Notice how the Ivys are not even on this list LOL 😕)


UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA
WESTERN UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
MEDICAL COLLEGE OF GEORGIA
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, CHICAGO
INDIANA UNIVERSITY
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI, KANSAS CITY
U. OF MEDICINE & DENTISTRY AT NEW JERSEY
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK, BUFFALO
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
CASE SCHOOL OF DENTAL MEDICINE
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
MEHARRY MEDICAL COLLEGE
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE
TEXAS A&M, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF DENTISTRY
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, HOUSTON
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, SAN ANTONIO
VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO

My school is on this list and I've never done a lick of research

 

[Longcatislong]

Thank you, everyone, for your responses to this topic! I've been provided with a wealth of information regarding research vs. no research. It seems that peoples opinions on this issue go both ways, but I'm going to stick with the opinion that research (or lack their of) is a NOT a deal breaker for dental school admission. At this point, I have a great deal of EC/community service stuff, lots of professional work experience (though not dental related), and by the time I apply, I'll have close to 100hrs of shadowing. Assuming I keep my science GPA high during my post-bacc, I think (or hope!!) I'll be okay when the time comes to apply 🙂

 

[r2thekesh]

Don't worry, when you are in you will be forced to do this anyways and to be honest at least for me I couldn't care less at the moment. You have so many other classes that weigh far more towards your grade that you see reading scientific papers and analyzing them as a distraction. To be honest there isn't that much research going on by actual dentists in the field, there is a grat lack o them, but hey you sound like a person who would go that DDS PHD route... more power to ya!

I read a lot of scientific papers whether they were for a class, a lab, my research, or my own interests (like if I saw a Gizmodo article, I would look up the original journal article). This strategy helps in a lot of places including the DAT's reading section. I got an article about microarray technology when I had read multiple journal articles that used them or discussed their invention. My RC score was like 96th percentile or something when I took the DAT.

This is one of the big problems I see in students these days. Why are activities, classes, etc. kept so separated. Like I was awful at Gen Chem, especially concentrations. Never did well on those quizzes/test questions. I worked in a lab for 3 years afterwards and had to do dilutions, pour molar quantities and I got really good at it. Did it help my gen chem grade? Nope because I learned it well afterwards. Did it help my DAT chem score? Yeah! Did I learn something out of it that helps when I'm brining a turkey and cooking other things in the kitchen? Yeah! Did I get a job post graduation out of lab work? Yeah!

Have you ever talked anatomy with your dentist? I did. The dentist I shadowed while taking anatomy helped me learn remember sections because she talked to me about their clinical relevance.
Another cool thing to learn about is protein denaturation temperatures. Did you ever wonder why a pork butt that's been slow cooked for 8 hours tastes better? It's because of the collagen and fascia breaking down. That makes it more tender. Same reason why cooked eggs can taste like leather or just straight up amazing.

No I don't plan on doing a PhD while in dental school. Not worth the time or money.

I hope this comment doesn't fall along the lines of a pissing contest.

 

[iralex801]

Research can help you, but it is not necessary for admission to ANY school. Treat research like any other professional experience. If you have an genuine interest in it, you should do it. None of your professional experiences should be done for the sole reason of impressing dental adcoms anyways.

GPA/DAT/LOR/ are the most important and required factors. We can all agree with these statements above right? Can we just leave it at that? I feel like that's the summary of this thread lol.