research experience?

[crystal87]

Yay, first post!
after spending many hours on this site, I have to say that the sdn forums are one of the more valuable resources for a pre-health student like me .

But one thing that i haven't really found too much info on for pre-dents is research experience. I go to a school where the majority of the kids there were at one point pre-med, and thus getting research experience is emphasized quite a lot there. So just how important would this be for a pre-dent student? I'm assuming that if I were to apply to more research-oriented dental schools, then this experience would be a plus...but overall, would it be a better idea to maybe get more shadowing hours, or work in a dental clinic, maybe spend more time studying for the dat

Thanks~

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[SugarNaCl]

Yay, first post!
after spending many hours on this site, I have to say that the sdn forums are one of the more valuable resources for a pre-health student like me .

But one thing that i haven't really found too much info on for pre-dents is research experience. I go to a school where the majority of the kids there were at one point pre-med, and thus getting research experience is emphasized quite a lot there. So just how important would this be for a pre-dent student? I'm assuming that if I were to apply to more research-oriented dental schools, then this experience would be a plus...but overall, would it be a better idea to maybe get more shadowing hours, or work in a dental clinic, maybe spend more time studying for the dat

Thanks~

You are right... SDN may be the reason I am in dental school... well that and hard work. I think shadowing is VERY important...more important than research if you don't have much and your GPA is good. Research looks really good however if you have a borderline GPA and some shadowing experience. Bottom line is... many schools REQUIRE shadowing and they only RECOMMEND research. Good luck this cycle. If you have over 50 hrs of shadowing, I'd try to get involved in research personally. It opened MANY doors for me

 

[somethinpositiv]

I have 5 research experiences, but I don't think it really helps that when applying to most dental schools. As you'd predict, I was once considering being a physician or a researcher (but realized I didn't like either profession), so I just happen to have this extra stuff to pad my resume. Like you said, it looks pretty good to some schools with a research orientation (Ivys, UC's, Michigan, ect.), to others it's prob not much different than a work experience, extracurricular, or award.

Bottom line is that I think you'd be better off using that time to get shadowing hours or studying to get a really high DAT or GPA, unless research is a passion than you should definitely do it.

 

[SugarNaCl]

I have 5 research experiences, but I don't think it really helps that when applying to most dental schools. As you'd predict, I was once considering being a physician or a researcher (but realized I didn't like either profession), so I just happen to have this extra stuff to pad my resume. Like you said, it looks pretty good to some schools with a research orientation (Ivys, UC's, Michigan, ect.), to others it's prob not much different than a work experience, extracurricular, or award.

Bottom line is that I think you'd be better off using that time to get shadowing hours or studying to get a really high DAT or GPA, unless research is a passion than you should definitely do it.

Maybe good for you to know too...not the case for me that shadowing helped most. Of course you have to have SOME shadowing experience. The interviewers I had were MOST impressed with my research experience over the rest... Buffalo and VCU seemed to really like the research aspect A LOT! I think ANY school with dental/medical research facilities does.