Being published as co-author

[ponybreeder4]

How good exactly does this look when applying to med schools? Does it make one stand out?

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[theroadtomed]

Makes you look like a douche bag. Sorry man.

 

[RySerr21]

Makes you look like a douche bag. Sorry man.

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OP, its a great accomplishment. Something you should be proud of and definitely worth putting on your app.

 

[EastCoastie87]

Makes you look like a douche bag. Sorry man.

Try to not feed the troll.

 

[ponybreeder4]

i fail to see the connection between a publication and an object of vaginal hygeine, but thanks for your input anyways. im sure you are just jealous you haven't published, but no need to be! just get off your lazy ass and instead of insulting people on the web, go work your butt off so you can have a publication too!

but regardless...how much of a boost does it really give you? say you have a 3.5 gpa, would that kind of help cover it?

 

[scarletgirl777]

i fail to see the connection between a publication and an object of vaginal hygeine, but thanks for your input anyways. im sure you are just jealous you haven't published, but no need to be! just get off your lazy ass and instead of insulting people on the web, go work your butt off so you can have a publication too!

but regardless...how much of a boost does it really give you? say you have a 3.5 gpa, would that kind of help cover it?

I don't think you should see it that way. I think you should see it as having a nice extracurricular, like a leadership position.

 

[junkct]

by co-author, I'm assuming you mean 2nd author, right? (otherwise you would've said 1st author). Also, if you're an MD/PhD candidate, I think the prestige of the journal also matters. I don't think the journal is much of an issue if you're just applying MD

 

[Jmoh]

Makes you look like a douche bag. Sorry man.

LOL I don't want to feed the troll, but this made me laugh

 

[hal9000]

How good exactly does this look when applying to med schools? Does it make one stand out?

I think that unless you're applying to top tier schools, setting up a clinic in africa would be more likely to catch someone's eye.

 

[Jmoh]

I think that unless you're applying to top tier schools, setting up a clinic in africa would be more likely to catch someone's eye.

I guess top-tier schools don't care about Africans?

 

[SB100]

The paper isn't worth anything unless it's published in Nature or Science anyway...you're out of luck man.

 

[EpiPEN]

The paper isn't worth anything unless it's published in Nature or Science anyway...you're out of luck man.

psh... we all know that the only way to get into med school is to have endorsement by Oprah. Everything that woman touches turns into gold!

 

[hal9000]

I guess top-tier schools don't care about Africans?

Well that's certainly a way to look at it. Haha, no actually I just didn't write that sentence well. I'll just assume you knew what I meant...

 

[richse]

by co-author, I'm assuming you mean 2nd author, right? (otherwise you would've said 1st author). Also, if you're an MD/PhD candidate, I think the prestige of the journal also matters. I don't think the journal is much of an issue if you're just applying MD

I don't see why he couldn't mean 3rd, 4th, 5th, or wherever his name falls. I've published papers with 6+ authors and they are all co-authors.

To the OP, quite a few interviewers mentioned my publications as a very positive aspect of my application. Although, no one really wanted to talk about the research, but I'm not applying MD/PHD so I guess that's not really surprising.

 

[magikdoc]

Congrats on the co-authorship. Definitely make sure you make copies of all manuscripts / abstracts / posters you have your name on, just so you can read up on it before interviews to refresh your memory.

And to comment on how it affects the application, it made a huge difference for me. Lots of research oriented schools decided to invite me for interviews as a result, despite having sub-par GPA.

 

[junkct]

I don't see why he couldn't mean 3rd, 4th, 5th, or wherever his name falls. I've published papers with 6+ authors and they are all co-authors.

Hmm, good call.. learn something new everyday

 

[NTF]

It's always good to have publications. How much does it really make you stand out? Depends on the competition I suppose. Probably won't be so impressive (but still a good thing) when compared against the ECs of applicants at top 10 schools.

As far as mitigating a below average GPA... it all depends. But honestly an upward trend does far more to mitigate GPA than a publication will. In the end, your GPA is your GPA, and the best way you deal with that is to get A's in the classes you're taking now or take more ugrad classes. But it's always good to add things to your app that make you a better applicant as a whole.

If you're getting a co-authorship, kudos to you. It's always looks good.

 

[Marquis_Phoenix]

So a first-author Nature or NEJM or Science is not that impressive?

 

[theslave]

So a first-author Nature or NEJM or Science is not that impressive?

I don't think people realize how hard it is to be published in those journals. Many scientists would sell their family to be published in those journals (i'm not being literal with the family selling thing).

 

[NTF]

So a first-author Nature or NEJM or Science is not that impressive?

Of course, they'd be impressive. But the OP was talking about co-authorship, and from the sounds of it standard co-authorship (ie not Nature, NEJM, or Science).

I've got several co-authorships in very respected journals (but not Nature, NEJM, or Science). All my interviewers spoke highly of my research background, but no one acted like I walked on water or anything.

 

[Marquis_Phoenix]

Doesn't the stage of career you're at come into play?

An undergraduate pulling off one of those papers as opposed to say somebody who had been a lab tech/graduate student for several years would be more impressive (since graduate students are sort of expected to, although clearly it's still hard)?

 

[NTF]

Doesn't the stage of career you're at come into play?

An undergraduate pulling off one of those papers as opposed to say somebody who had been a lab tech/graduate student for several years would be more impressive (since graduate students are sort of expected to, although clearly it's still hard)?

Ugrads getting co-authorship isn't as unusual as you would think, especially at large research universities.

 

[ponybreeder4]

awesome advice! thanks everyone. i actually am not sure where it will be published yet since any of you who have published know it takes nearly a year!

 

[Pinkertinkle]

awesome advice! thanks everyone. i actually am not sure where it will be published yet since any of you who have published know it takes nearly a year!

It's nice to have a coauthorship but it does nothing to make up for a GPA. MCAT and GPA first, extracurriculars second. Also if you don't know what journal your article is going in and if its a year away from publication it's probably not accepted yet and so don't count your eggs before they hatch and in this case don't count your authorships until they're in press.

 

[Marquis_Phoenix]

It's nice to have a coauthorship but it does nothing to make up for a GPA. MCAT and GPA first, extracurriculars second. Also if you don't know what journal your article is going in and if its a year away from publication it's probably not accepted yet and so don't count your eggs before they hatch and in this case don't count your authorships until they're in press.

Exactly. Your GPA and MCAT show how well you can grind, which is more important than any personal or intellectual brilliance as attested to by your extracurriculars or publications.