research schools

[mrpatel]

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anybody know of any schools which favor undergraduate research?

 

[bassplayer400]

I heard U of M and Harvard are two big ones. In fact, I had a friend who interviewed at Michigan and most of the interview questions were focused on an aquatic biology internship he had one summer. Having any type of research on your app will just make it stronger!

 

[SuperDuper]

Are you asking if which schools prefer students with research experience over the ones without the experience? If this is what you are asking, I think most schools, if not all, probably want their students to have some sort of undergrad experience.

This doesn't mean you aren't going to get into a dental school without any research experience, because research opportunities are often rare at many institutions and because research experience is only one factor in their deciding factor.

Good luck! 🙂😀😎

 

[mrpatel]

to rephrase the question, i want to know which schools put the most emphasis on undergraduate research.

 

[SuperDuper]

to rephrase the question, i want to know which schools put the most emphasis on undergraduate research.

I think this is a very hard question to answer as most schools are not explicitly clear of their decision process. Some schools actually use a mathematical formula to score each applicant (and you can figure out what the biggest admission factor for these schools from these formulas), but many schools will just tell you that they are looking for well-rounded applicants.

It would be interesting to see what other users on SDN know 😀🙂😎

 

[UCSF2012]

I don't think Mr. Harvard answered Mr. Patel's question the slightest bit, which is funny. The schools that'll like research are the ones capable of having students do it to a great degree. Don't expect schools like ASDOH or Nova to be research intensive, since they're not full institutions. ASDOH's just 2 buildings, even. Harvard dental's right next to their biomedical research centers. Columbia's a major player. UCSF's the biggest in the country into research. U Kentucky produces many of the major articles in dental journals. Tufts is trying to become more research oriented. Case has opportunities technically, but my interviewer said not too many students practically had the opportunity. And of course, you can't not mention Penn, U Mich, and UW.

The only school that I know of that's SOOO into research is UCSF. Their having the highest NIH funding helps them see themselves as pioneers in advancing dental knowledge. To a certain extent.

 

[SuperDuper]

I guess I misunderstood mrpatel's question for some reason.
I thought he was asking for schools where undergraduate research experience plays the biggest role in the admission process.
If this is what mrpatel is asking, I don't think any pre-dental students would know the answer to this question since most dental schools don't share this information with the applicants. We can speculate that "research intensive" schools look for students with research experience more so than other schools, but we still don't know if having the research experience is the BIGGEST factor at each of these research schools. After all, the biggest deciding factor at a research school may easily be high DAT/GPA with second most important factor being the research experience, whereas research experience is the last important factor at non-research schools. For instance, I know UCSF is a major player in dental and other medical researches but I still don't know if their BIGGEST deciding factor in admissions is the research experience.

If mrpatel was simply asking for schools that are into research then Mr. UCSF2012's answer is perfectly accurate.

 

[rollypolly]

I don't think Mr. Harvard answered Mr. Patel's question the slightest bit, which is funny. The schools that'll like research are the ones capable of having students do it to a great degree. Don't expect schools like ASDOH or Nova to be research intensive, since they're not full institutions. ASDOH's just 2 buildings, even. Harvard dental's right next to their biomedical research centers. Columbia's a major player. UCSF's the biggest in the country into research. U Kentucky produces many of the major articles in dental journals. Tufts is trying to become more research oriented. Case has opportunities technically, but my interviewer said not too many students practically had the opportunity. And of course, you can't not mention Penn, U Mich, and UW.

The only school that I know of that's SOOO into research is UCSF. Their having the highest NIH funding helps them see themselves as pioneers in advancing dental knowledge. To a certain extent.

I believe that the OP was asking about undergrad research, not dental school research. I wouldn't be so sure that even dental schools that are highly into research themselves would necessarily put a big emphasis on the undergrad research of applicants. 😉

That being said, it seems logical that dental schools that do a lot of research (UCSF, Harvard, Michigan, etc.) would put more emphasis on undergrad research as factor in admissions. But, we all know that logic does not always play a big role in dental school admissions.

OP, there is really no good answer to your question because no school explicitly states that research is a requirement in admissions. I agree with Super that most schools are looking for well-rounded applicants.

One other thing. UCSF2012, what do you mean by Nova not being a full institution?? Do you mean that they are not affiliated with an undergrad? I hope you don't mean that because that is certainly not accurate.

 

[UCSF2012]

I believe that the OP was asking about undergrad research, not dental school research. I wouldn't be so sure that even dental schools that are highly into research themselves would necessarily put a big emphasis on the undergrad research of applicants. 😉

That being said, it seems logical that dental schools that do a lot of research (UCSF, Harvard, Michigan, etc.) would put more emphasis on undergrad research as factor in admissions. But, we all know that logic does not always play a big role in dental school admissions.

OP, there is really no good answer to your question because no school explicitly states that research is a requirement in admissions. I agree with Super that most schools are looking for well-rounded applicants.

One other thing. UCSF2012, what do you mean by Nova not being a full institution?? Do you mean that they are not affiliated with an undergrad? I hope you don't mean that because that is certainly not accurate.

Yes, he's asking about undergraduate research. But he's asking which schools show favoritism towards those with undergraduate research.

I know Nova has an undergrad. I know people from there. Its just lacking the full broad spectrum of schools and institutes of other universities.

 

[SuperC]

UF provides many opportunities for undergrad research and I would say they also look favorably on applicants that have done research. Upon acceptance they provide an optional summer research program if you are so inclined.
-C

 

[SuperDuper]

Yes, he's asking about undergraduate research. But he's asking which schools show favoritism towards those with undergraduate research.

I know Nova has an undergrad. I know people from there. Its just lacking the full broad spectrum of schools and institutes of other universities.

I think it's safe to say that all dental schools, even non-research ones, favor students who are well-rounded. Therefore, it's probably safe to say that most dental schools prefer students to have some sort of undergraduate research experience. The research experience doesn't have to be anything extensive, and this certainly doesn't mean that applicants without the exeperience doesn't get in.

However, I am not sure if the schools you listed necessarily answer mrpatel's question. I believe he was asking for schools where undergrad research experience is the BIGGEST selection factor. Although schools like UCSF and columbia are major players in dental research, it doen't mean their BIGGEST selection factor actually is research experience. It's probably true that these schools value the experience more than the schools that are not research-intensive, but this still isn't answering mrpatel's question.

Also, I am not so sure how much going to a smaller school without the full academic spectrum hinders students to get research experience. I personally went to a college that lacks certain departments, but something like 50-60% of all students participate in independent research/thesis research. 🙂😎😀

 

[USU24]

I believe he was asking for schools where undergrad research experience is the BIGGEST selection factor. Although schools like UCSF and columbia are major players in dental research, it doen't mean their BIGGEST selection factor actually is research experience. It's probably true that these schools value the experience more than the schools that are not research-intensive, but this still isn't answering mrpatel's question.

Also, I am not so sure how much going to a smaller school without the full academic spectrum hinders students to get research experience. I personally went to a college that lacks certain departments, but something like 50-60% of all students participate in independent research/thesis research. 🙂😎😀

I don't think there is a school where research is the BIGGEST selection factor, he/she didn't mean that. There is no school that values research more than stats. That being said, it follows that the schools with the most emphasis on dental research would want students with more research experience. Which you admitted.
He/she wasn't saying that small schools don't allow opportunities for students to particpate in research, he/she was saying that smaller schools (with dental schools) are less likely to be involved in any kind of large scale research and therefore would be less interested in applicants undergrad research for very much the same reasons that research schools would.

 

[UCSF2012]

I don't think there is a school where research is the BIGGEST selection factor, he/she didn't mean that. There is no school that values research more than stats. That being said, it follows that the schools with the most emphasis on dental research would want students with more research experience. Which you admitted.
He/she wasn't saying that small schools don't allow opportunities for students to particpate in research, he/she was saying that smaller schools (with dental schools) are less likely to be involved in any kind of large scale research and therefore would be less interested in applicants undergrad research for very much the same reasons that research schools would.

I like you. You're sharp.

One of the best indications that a certain dental school doesn't care too much for research is the complete absense of a research facility. (This can be dental research, craniofacial research, or biomedical research.) Next to having no facility is having a less established facility, and this can be in several forms: having only a few labs, having low funding, etc....

For schools that do have the facility, they'll all want student researchers to a certain extent. The question is how many. Not all admitted students have research experience. This is obvious. Not everybody has research experience, and to a worse detriment, those that have done quality research are far and few. I have never seen a predent win the Goldwater scholarship, win the Fulbright, or get internships with Sloan Kettering or Tigr. And in all honesty, I'm one of these not-so-exceptional researchers.

As far as admissions into schools, research will usually be secondary to GPA/DAT. Harvard seems to chase after those with 25-30AA, while they reserve some seats for those with "experience." Columbia seems to chase after AA, with GPA mattering only when it's really low. UCLA seems to be a number chaser too, with the GPA requirement tightening for out-of-state students. UCSF appears to have practical cut-off's for GPA. Regardless of how high the AA, a 2.x GPA's usually a deal-breaker.

 

[jdoc04]

Add San Antonio to the list.