Question about Research

[haha2020]

Hi all!
So in undergrad, I participated in research in the same lab for four years. About two years in, I decided I wanted to be more involved in the research and took it upon myself to review some literature and come up with a hypothesis of my own related to the subject my PI was researching. I presented my ideas to him and he surprisingly granted me the opportunity to implement & lead this project in the lab. I came up with an experimental path/conducted the experiments/analyzed the data/and wrote a thesis on it. He plans to continue the research (now that I have graduated) and wants to publish within the next year (by then I will have left the lab ).

I mentioned this project in my primary/secondary because I believe this experience helped me to grow immensely as a scientist/intellectual. Do you think schools will see my work as trivial since I did not publish/was not around long enough to publish? I am proud of the work I did, but do not want to harp on my research too much if my project will be seen as not important/unique.

Thanks in advance for your help/opinions!

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[Engrailed]

Hi all!
So in undergrad, I participated in research in the same lab for four years. About two years in, I decided I wanted to be more involved in the research and took it upon myself to review some literature and come up with a hypothesis of my own related to the subject my PI was researching. I presented my ideas to him and he surprisingly granted me the opportunity to implement & lead this project in the lab. I came up with an experimental path/conducted the experiments/analyzed the data/and wrote a thesis on it. He plans to continue the research (now that I have graduated) and wants to publish within the next year (by then I will have left the lab ).

I mentioned this project in my primary/secondary because I believe this experience helped me to grow immensely as a scientist/intellectual. Do you think schools will see my work as trivial since I did not publish/was not around long enough to publish? I am proud of the work I did, but do not want to harp on my research too much if my project will be seen as not important/unique.

Thanks in advance for your help/opinions!

You're applying this cycle, you've submitted your applications already and ruminating on how it looks to adcoms isn't going to change anything.. With that said, quality research often takes years to materialize, and be published, and so even if you don't have anything concrete to show, it's still very impressive imo. Im not sure what your concern is... are you worried about talking about it too much in your interviews?
*Also, if your PI is on track to publish this, I would make a mental note to keep in touch with him and stay involved even if over email so that you can get authorship on the paper, if you did have a big hand in driving the hypothesis. Just something to think about.

 

[Engrailed]

Hey, thank you for your reply! I am not concerned on how adcoms see it in my application, just was not sure if it is worth highlighting in an interview. I do not want to come off as annoying if someone asks me about my research & I go through how I came up with the hypothesis/planned experiments/etc. if this is not something that would come off as unique/important since I did not officially publish anything, if that makes sense

I mean, I don't see in any way, how it would hurt you to bring it up in an interview. What you've outlined in your OP shows your capacity to formulate a scientific inquiry and the fact that your PI is following up on it is a good thing. I don't think ANY adcom would ever hear a student talk about any research and think it is.... "annoying" LOL. Don't over think it.