<p>Hi, I don't get UMD's Number 2 "Niche" Question on the application. Can someone explain what it means and how I would go about answering it. I did everything else but this and want to submit my application asap. Thank you!</p>
<p>Does multi-disciplinary team research with a faculty mentor, lasting throughout your undergraduate years and dealing with the social implications of science and technology appeal to you? If yes, briefly tell us why and what are some of the interests, experiences and skills that you would bring to such a research team.</p>
<p>This basically asks if you want to do Gemstone, which is a research project where you form a team and pick a topic of study and work on the project throughout your undergrad years. Then it asks why you want to do it and what you could contribute.</p>
<p>i wrote absolute BS for that question but i wrote good BS... since im going for business and all why would i want to do research haha... so feel free to do the same :P</p>
<p>I'm sorry but what aspects of science and technology does it mean? I said I want to major in English or Psychology, so...how does that relate to this question and what sort of things do you think I could put?</p>
<p>You can always put that it doesn't interest you...I mean, not everyone has to do Gemstones. And really, they mean science and tech in the most general sense because the students choose the project. I was very vague with my answer...I said that the idea of working with a team on a research project was appealing and I wanted to examine the affects of the application of knowledge on society as a whole, some BS like that...I ended up turning down Gemstones anyway.</p>
<p>Okay, thank you so much for your help. I researched the Gemstone program and I think I'm going to talk about how I'm interested in the "Service and Learning" and "The Arts" programs. Can someone post one last time to tell me if I'm doing it right? I get stressed enough about if I'm even filling out applications correctly.</p>
<p>haha i was gonna right "i have no interest in research at this time" but i chose to write complete BS instead which was actually very credible... you pick the lesser of two evils tho... :P</p>
<p>oh jeez..... don't worry you all, it won't hurt your chances. the only purpose of that question is to see if you'd be interested in research-based programs (such as gemstone). if you aren't interested, you don't have to lie about it!</p>
<p>of course since only people who get into honors even qualify for gemstone, for the vast majority of students this question serves no purpose at all.</p>