Will an A+ in research class look good or not?

[ucla2134]

Hi!
I got an A+ for my research Neuroscience class but i really have to work my a** off for this research position. A lot of SDN people told me that everybody who do research will get an A. Does that mean dental school will not recognize my hard work and they just presume that it is an easy grade?
It kinda dumb question but i have no idea how the committee would think so i think opinions are good

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[Pyriots]

Hi!
I got an A+ for my research Neuroscience class but i really have to work my a** off for this research position. A lot of SDN people told me that everybody who do research will get an A. Does that mean dental school will not recognize my hard work and they just presume that it is an easy grade?
It kinda dumb question but i have no idea how the committee would think so i think opinions are good

Honestly, it is really easy to get an A in a research or journal club class. the As kinda a given, anything else reflects basically lack of attendance or very poor lab technique (like you broke all the machinery). That grade is based on effort and not ability or results (lots of people have no worthwhile research results).

On the other hand, it WILL boost your GPA overall so that will certainly help. But if you think your A in neuroscience research will, on a class by class comparison basis, make up for like a C in the neuroscience lecture class or orgo2 or something, no, it certainly won't do that.

The other thing is that most schools won't list "neuroscience research" on the transcript. they'll list something like BIOL 999. or a special number like that and then it'll say "self directed/supervised research". if you want you're research tomatter, you need to get a recommendation from your PI and talk about your publications or important results, techniques, manual dexterity involved in your work in your personal statement.

 

[rewJW]

Research at my school doesn't confer an automatic A. You have to bust your a** to get an A ... many end up with a B, as is 'average', but do the research to gain experience. They base the grade on a lot of things including the paper you write up, attendance, whether or not your experiments worked, etc. My school is one of those strange ones that gives out other pluses, but no A Pluses ... I don't know why.

 

[Pyriots]

I've been working and getting paid for research for 4 years. and even the PIs and PhDs often have experiments that don't work. unless you designed it poorly, theres no reason at all for that to affect your grade.

but still. labs don't count as much as lectures. research doesnt count as much as labs (no standard to compare you against as you arent taking standardized testsor anything).

just how it is. research experience is certainly important for other parts of your application. and it'll fluff your GPA. but again its certainly not comparable to core science lectures

 

[ucla2134]

Honestly, it is really easy to get an A in a research or journal club class. the As kinda a given, anything else reflects basically lack of attendance or very poor lab technique (like you broke all the machinery). That grade is based on effort and not ability or results (lots of people have no worthwhile research results).

On the other hand, it WILL boost your GPA overall so that will certainly help. But if you think your A in neuroscience research will, on a class by class comparison basis, make up for like a C in the neuroscience lecture class or orgo2 or something, no, it certainly won't do that.

The other thing is that most schools won't list "neuroscience research" on the transcript. they'll list something like BIOL 999. or a special number like that and then it'll say "self directed/supervised research". if you want you're research tomatter, you need to get a recommendation from your PI and talk about your publications or important results, techniques, manual dexterity involved in your work in your personal statement.

Thanks for your response. I agree with you that lecture is so much harder than research. Do you think that publication will look better on application compare to just an A+?

 

[ummjoey]

i dont know much about research but i am pretty sure publication is always a good thing.

as for the original post.........i think it is hard to say what the committee would "think." since no one here is actually part of the commitee? unless someone is and that would be awesome.

 

[Aceofspades]

It doesn't really matter. You already took the class and got the highest grade possible. It may not impress anybody, but it surely wouldn't condemn you.

 

[TheWiredNerv]

Better than a B.

 

[tekstyle]

my school didn't have grades for research. we had research internships and they were pass/no pass. However , the amount of time spent in lab was more than a typical class

 

[laundry]

no, an A+ will look horrible. In fact, it will be a major red flag...

 

[yorkiepoo]

an A+ is an A+

It still gets factored into your GPA

 

[caffeinehigh]

an A+ is an A+

It still gets factored into your GPA

An A in anything is good... what the hell are you thinking?

That's like saying, is a 25 on the QR section good even though it isn't the PAT or one of the hard sciences?

 

[blankguy]

An A+ is an A+. It looks good regardless of which class you got that grade. One single "flaky" course isn't going to raise a red flag.

 

[scuzfly]

AN A will look good if it's three credits no matter what. Schools know research isn't easy but it's not Molecular Biophysics. What looks bad is when you get a B+ in your senior thesis because your P.I. is mad that you didn't finish a 7 month project in 3 months.

 

[Ehhhh]

To answer the OP... It depends on the school but I think it is reasonable to assume that they won't look at it as an amazing feat... I mean if there was a class that almost everyone got an A in would you think it was a tough class? ADCOMs are going to take the time figure out exactly what you did in you research and how hard it was... I'm sorry to say this but I believe it is the truth... However, still milk the research for as many A+s you can get... It'll only help...