Undergraduate Research

[Ryan08]

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Hello,
I am starting to question how good my current research experience is going to look to ADCOMs in a couple years. I have only 1 research experience that I can put down on an application. Last summer I participated in a study abroad program in Ghana. Basically we interviewed 100s of people at markets and 1 university about their current political/economic situation and how America's influence is affecting them. This was research for a political science professor at my university.


My questions are:
1. Do I need more research? (trip lasted only 2 weeks.. but it was INTENSE)
2. Do dental schools care if research is done in the dental field or other science related field?
3. Would It help if I got my essays published? How do I go about doing that? Just ask my prof??

By the way... I feel that this experience was the most amazing and life-changing thing I have ever done. I found profound meaning in this experience.

 

[timwatley]

Hello,
I am starting to question how good my current research experience is going to look to ADCOMs in a couple years. I have only 1 research experience that I can put down on an application. Last summer I participated in a study abroad program in Ghana. Basically we interviewed 100s of people at markets and 1 university about their current political/economic situation and how America's influence is affecting them. This was research for a political science professor at my university.


My questions are:
1. Do I need more research? (trip lasted only 2 weeks.. but it was INTENSE)
2. Do dental schools care if research is done in the dental field or other science related field?
3. Would It help if I got my essays published? How do I go about doing that? Just ask my prof??

By the way... I feel that this experience was the most amazing and life-changing thing I have ever done. I found profound meaning in this experience.

There are all sorts of varying opinions about research on this forum. I think research is great experience and gives you insight on whether or not you'd be cut out for it. I have several friends that are pursuing an MD/PHD and they take pride in being the wave of the future. Dentistry is more confined than medicine though, so research opportunities are more limited. Someone at UCLA just created a mouth rinse that prevents cavities. There is also a new product out called 'on-set' that instantly numbs your mouth, instead of waiting for several minutes. So obviously, research is still a big part of the dental profession, thus making research experience/research geared students attractive.

In your case, I'd say the political research is a great experience. But, it's not necessarily scientific research in my opinion. It will still look great on your app. If your planning on impressing schools with research though I'd dive into a biomedical lab or something along those lines. I spent a year in a herpes lab (a careful year) and was amazed how fast paced and creative it was. My guess is that most of the research in dental schools focuses on materials/bonding/molecular interactions. Getting your name on published papers, or publishing your own essays, would look great.

 

[r2thekesh]

Disagree with most everything said in timwatley's post. Schools are looking for dds/phds. With the number of schools opening, they need professors to teach and the profession is rapidly expanding so research needs to be done. Everything from wound healing, to bacteria in the mouth, how these bacteria effect heart valves, to application based studies such as how much force can a new filling take, new mouthwashes, or new materials are being researched by dental researchers. FYI, not all researchers doing dental related stuff have a DDS/DMD.

The biggest difference is medical research is more accessible to undergrads than dental.

In regards to your case, research is good but not totally important to your admissions. Do it if you want but you have to get good grades/DAT scores. You're going to be asked how many hours you spent on the project on AADSAS. Getting published is helpful but not the end of the world. Ask your professor about it.

Golden rule: GPA high, DAT high, and do stuff you're passionate about.

 

[timwatley]

There are all sorts of varying opinions about research on this forum. I think research is great experience and gives you insight on whether or not you'd be cut out for it. I have several friends that are pursuing an MD/PHD and they take pride in being the wave of the future. Dentistry is more confined than medicine though, so research opportunities are more limited. Someone at UCLA just created a mouth rinse that prevents cavities. There is also a new product out called 'on-set' that instantly numbs your mouth, instead of waiting for several minutes. So obviously, research is still a big part of the dental profession, thus making research experience/research geared students attractive.

In your case, I'd say the political research is a great experience. But, it's not necessarily scientific research in my opinion. It will still look great on your app. If your planning on impressing schools with research though I'd dive into a biomedical lab or something along those lines. I spent a year in a herpes lab (a careful year) and was amazed how fast paced and creative it was. My guess is that most of the research in dental schools focuses on materials/bonding/molecular interactions. Getting your name on published papers, or publishing your own essays, would look great.

Disagree with most everything said in timwatley's post. Schools are looking for dds/phds. With the number of schools opening, they need professors to teach and the profession is rapidly expanding so research needs to be done. Everything from wound healing, to bacteria in the mouth, how these bacteria effect heart valves, to application based studies such as how much force can a new filling take, new mouthwashes, or new materials are being researched by dental researchers. FYI, not all researchers doing dental related stuff have a DDS/DMD.

The biggest difference is medical research is more accessible to undergrads than dental.

In regards to your case, research is good but not totally important to your admissions. Do it if you want but you have to get good grades/DAT scores. You're going to be asked how many hours you spent on the project on AADSAS. Getting published is helpful but not the end of the world. Ask your professor about it.

Golden rule: GPA high, DAT high, and do stuff you're passionate about.

I really don't see how you disagree with nearly everything I said.

To make myself more clear: research experience looks great and there are a good amount of research opportunities in dental school. It is, however, not completely necessary.

 

[Ryan08]

Thanks guys, I think i'm just gonna stick with the research I already have and ask my prof about publishing. I'm really not that interested in dental research and I'm not afraid to tell adcoms about that. I already have stellar grades/experience and I can now see that adding more research is not worth the effort. I want to practice dentistry, not benchwork.

 

[UCLAzy]

must be nice to even fathom being published after 2 weeks of "intense" work.









i should have gotten a b.a.

 

[Ryan08]

yeah it is. BA's are mostly BS if you know what i mean. but dont get me wrong, it was intense. if you saw any of us at the 2 week mark, you would think we were a bunch of sleep deprived schizos.