Does the prestige of your PI matter?

[TheBoneDoctah]

I am working on my application right now and am filling in the EC area. At my university, I worked in a research lab for a PI who did some pretty amazing things. For example, he was invited to go to Russia and look over Vladamir Lenin's remains to piece together how he died. He then presented this information at a huge conference.

I would think that it would be good to mention some of this in my EC area because it shows that someone of this caliber trusts my work as a research assistant. Does anyone have any comments on this?

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[type12]

That sounds like small potatoes, frankly.

In general, most academic PIs have a bit of prestige, but most AdComs don't care. They care more about your credentials and contributions.

Now, if this person is famous, has connections to the school, that's a whole different story. And I'm not talking about "I was next to someone famous," but more like my PI, who was given the title of "Legend of Cardiology." If someone like that vouches for you, it holds weight because schools know how difficult an achievement that is.

Having said that, even though my PI has such a title, it's not like AdCom's know of him, or are going to look him up. In the letter he wrote me, he wrote his position down, but he didn't write that title or mention it. No one is going to lookup the credentials of every applicant's recommender.

Hopefully I didn't out myself and lose my anonymity by sharing that example, but I do hope it illustrates my point: No, prestige doesn't matter; what you do matters.

 

[DoctorWhoo]

That sounds like small potatoes, frankly.

In general, most academic PIs have a bit of prestige, but most AdComs don't care. They care more about your credentials and contributions.

Now, if this person is famous, has connections to the school, that's a whole different story. And I'm not talking about "I was next to someone famous," but more like my PI, who was given the title of "Legend of Cardiology." If someone like that vouches for you, it holds weight because schools know how difficult an achievement that is.

Having said that, even though my PI has such a title, it's not like AdCom's know of him, or are going to look him up. In the letter he wrote me, he wrote his position down, but he didn't write that title or mention it. No one is going to lookup the credentials of every applicant's recommender.

Hopefully I didn't out myself and lose my anonymity by sharing that example, but I do hope it illustrates my point: No, prestige doesn't matter; what you do matters.

No way, I shadowed under "Legend of Cardiology" too! Now we are both not anonymous.

 

[Espadaleader]

Prestige matters. Yes, if you work with the chair of internal medicine at a top ten school and he can write you a strong letter of recommendation it goes a long way. People know who is who. Medicine is a very small world. Having a crappy letter from anyone will get you nowhere. Having a spectacular letter from someone could get you in somewhere, especially if you didn't go to a prestigious undergrad.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Prestige matters. Yes, if you work with the chair of internal medicine at a top ten school and he can write you a strong letter of recommendation it goes a long way. People know who is who. Medicine is a very small world. Having a crappy letter from anyone will get you nowhere. Having a spectacular letter from someone could get you in somewhere, especially if you didn't go to a prestigious undergrad.

Ya this guy was the president of the American association of neuropathologists and teaches at the medical school here as well.

 

[cookiemonsters]

During my gap year I worked for a pretty well known pulmonology researcher. In one of my interviews (with a pulmonologist), the interviewer was basically nut hugging my PI for the entire interview. I got accepted to that school. That is one example of how having a PI who is connected and well-respected can pay small dividends.

edit: in general I don't think prestige of letter writers matters a ton, but it can be helpful if the right person is looking at your app. EG if my interviewer was a cardiologist, he probably wouldn't have cared. Prestige of letter writers matters more for residency apps, where specialists in an x field will be writing LOR's for your application to x field, which will then be read by other specialists in x field.

 

[CarlosDanger]

You probably shouldn't talk about your PIs credentials in your application, if thats what your asking - other than saying they are professor of ___. The point is to highlight your accomplishments, not your PI's. Adcoms will probably not recognize your PI's name unless they work in the same field, science is just way too huge...unless your PI has won a nobel prize or something huge like that. The only way I could see it being helpful is a scenario where and you get your name on a high profile paper. Even then, it would be more of a feather in your cap rather than the real meat of your app, unless you're applying MD/PhD. It also might be helpful if you're applying to your home school where the adcom members may be colleagues with your PI.

I'm talking in terms of PhDs though, so if your PI is an MD, it could be more likely that their name is more universally known among other MDs. Even so, many adcom members aren't actually MDs. Bottom line, it won't hurt and could possibly help if you already have a stellar app, but try to focus more on what you can control yourself.

 

[type12]

No way, I shadowed under "Legend of Cardiology" too! Now we are both not anonymous.

Haha, I said that because I'm listed on the lab website. I never shadowed him, though.

 

[type12]

Ya this guy was the president of the American association of neuropathologists and teaches at the medical school here as well.

You could just do a straightforward sampling right now:
link removed as requested

AdComs, do you know this guy? I'm guessing the answer will be no. He's prestigious, but no one outside of UCLA will know him (unless he says he has connections elsewhere).

In academia, everyone's exceptional, which makes it unexceptional for admissions.

 

[GoodGuyGregory]

Interesting. To hop onto this thread, is it fair to assume that adcoms probably won't give any more weight between one PI versus another who has won a prestigious award? (Lasker, Gairdner, Wolf Prize)

 

[type12]

Interesting. To hop onto this thread, is it fair to assume that adcoms probably won't give any more weight between one PI versus another who has won a prestigious award? (Lasker, Gairdner, Wolf Prize)

Ask yourself these these questions:
1. Did I know about these awards and their prestige before working for this PI?
2. Did I know my PI received these awards before I became interested in working for him?
3. Do I know anyone else who received these awards?

If you didn't, how do you expect AdComs to?

 

[GoodGuyGregory]

Ask yourself these these questions:
1. Did I know about these awards and their prestige before working for this PI?
2. Did I know my PI received these awards before I became interested in working for him?
3. Do I know anyone else who received these awards?

If you didn't, how do you expect AdComs to?

I actually did know of his awards beforehand, and know some (definitely not all) awardees of those prizes or the Nobel prizes.

But yeah I suspect that even if an adcom recognized the PI, it probably wouldn't give any significant advantage. So I guess the lesson is for anyone looking to do research, don't look for famous professors. As long as the PI has good output, a good lab environment and proper personnel support, I would say stay away from more famous professors as they also tend to be the ones that give reference letters that are more modest.

 

[Cinclus]

The only way I could see a high-prestige PI helping you out more than a lower-prestige PI is that the former may crank out publications more regularly (which may be part of how the PI gained prestigious status), which may make you look a little shinier with more pubs. This would not make or break you, though. I had years of research experience with younger faculty that resulted in no pubs. Interviewers were nevertheless very interested in talking about my research. It's more important for you to be able to be enthusiastic about your research work, as this translates into better interview convos and keeps you from losing your mind with a mind-numbingly boring project.

 

[DreamingDoc]

Don't write about your PI in your ECs, write about yourself. If you really want to show that you worked for someone with prestige, just have your PI write you a great LOR. I'm pretty sure it doesn't give you a leg up though.