Psychology Research and Dental school

[xenomblack]

Hey guys,
I'm a sophomore psychology major at IU, and considering about applying for
an undergrad research position.

I know that you need some experience in dental fields,
and research experience in bio and chem fields will increase the chance of getting into dental schools.

But since I didn't take enough advanced bio or chem classes to start out with, i think i have a slim chance of getting the position in those fields.

So I was hoping if any dental student who majored in psych for their undergrad could tell me if the admissions consider psych research significant enough.

Thanks alot~

p.s. I love this website... 😀 I've learned alot about dental application procedure.

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[syn_apse]

first, welcome to SDN! stick around, you'll learn alot.

second, i did neuroscience research (not quite psych but close enough haha). obviously it wasn't dental related, but adcoms were still interested to know that i had research experience. dental schools love research!

my advice? research what you love and shadow a dentist on the side... also, don't sell yourself short on the 'prior experience' needed for some research. get your foot in the door by doing any task, then prove yourself and step up and take on more responsibility. e.g., i started photocopying journals for my PI, 4 years later i was scrubing in for neurosurgeries for my own research project (my avatar is a pic of me in the OR pretending to be a real doctor ).

anyways, i hope this inspires you! if you love research, go for it! it will open a lot of doors for you down the road 👍

 

[drengineer]

I agree with syn_apse. Any type of research will look good on your application to dental school.

I didn't even do a biology related research. The research projects that i was involved in were regarding artificial intelligence and wireless communications. Nothing to do with biology but the adcoms loved talking about it with me.

 

[syn_apse]

that sounds interesting dr.surfer.. mind explaining what you studied?

ps: bummer about clark foam 🙁

 

[howui3]

any research is a big + for dental schools, especially ones that focus on research (UCSF, Harvard, etc).

for example, i did research in undergrad on cardiac hyperinnervation due to nicotine and last year i co-wrote a paper on cutaneous melanoma. Neither subject is dentistry related but all the schools wanted to know more about my research during the interview.

Oh, now I got a cool research project looking at Egyptian mummies teeth.

 

[drengineer]

that sounds interesting dr.surfer.. mind explaining what you studied?

ps: bummer about clark foam 🙁

my major is computer engineering.

For my first research project we built a robot that played soccer. We had to conduct research in the field of pattern recognition and artificial intelligence to come up with a good algorithm and a speedy but efficient prototype.
I had to write the whole kernel for the robot, and had to some image processing at a very (and i really mean very very) hig speed. So it was a lot of fun.
I'm thinking about selling my code to linux people so that i don't have to worry about debt in dental school.

For the second research project i had to design a wireless tricorder for Crista McAuliffe Space Education Center that would communicate with the base computer. I made use of the Rabbit Core microprocessor and the XBEE wireless modem. Also wrote the web interface for this prototype using 'revolution'. Hardcore eh! Well... this thing i designed was geared towards 10-12 yr old children at the Space Education Center.

 

[thewince7]

Im a psych major and i did psych research and when i met with the IUSD admissions guy and had my interview at BU they didnt even acknowledge it.

 

[drengineer]

that sounds interesting dr.surfer.. mind explaining what you studied?

ps: bummer about clark foam 🙁

That is a big set back to the surfing industry man.
They had their headquarters at the place where i love to go surfing. Mission Viejo, CA!

 

[brittnylee]

Im a psych major and i did psych research and when i met with the IUSD admissions guy and had my interview at BU they didnt even acknowledge it.

I was a psych major too, and did undergrad research in psych - my interviewers didn't mention anything about it, but they did discuss my shadowing/work experence in the dental field. Something to put down in the research area of the application is better than nothing though! 🙂