Pursuing research

[discensdentibus]

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Hey all, D1 here, and I would appreciate any insight into aggressively pursuing research with respected faculty. Now, I have a love for learning and science, so don't peg me as the try hard attempting to beef up resume. When I see a challenging opportunity for personal growth, I drive hard towards it. I genuinely feel its great for me to increase my knowledge base and become a pseudo-expert in a specific topic, hopefully one that would help with my clinical reasoning down the road. I had short research experience in undergrad, and I can appreciate how potentially awesome research can be. I met briefly with an advisor of the sort this morning, but I felt that he was playing mind games with me and played the whole meeting with the perception that I was under prepared to make a decision or that I was doing it for extrinsic reasons, which I thought I had made clear in the email leading up to the meeting that I was not. The thing I realized was that he wanted a lot more specifics than what I was giving him despite the meeting's original intent.

My specific angle I am looking for help with is interaction with faculty leading up to said research project. The dos and don'ts. Basically, there is time during the summer for us to seize a project, but I want my conviction felt by faculty and I want to make sure I am adequately prepared when I meet to discuss working with them. What attitudes make you and attractive research candidate? I am not looking for shortcuts but really guidance. If you want to troll/play devil's advocate, I don't mind a past student researcher bashing the idea either. I appreciate all and any opinions given that they have some sort of experience/evidence behind them. Maybe even illuminating the expectations of a student pursuing research at dental school. I feel like a lot of this is left in the dark or not well laid out.

 

[Typical Average Student]

It all depends on your school, some schools are very willing to advocate for any student willing to do research. Other schools will only take 2-3 students a year so it's a bit more competitive. In terms of attitude, I've seen students of all types of personalities doing research... It's really all based on experience and of course if you're a good public speaker, that'll help you in the long run.