Does Stanford expect publications?

[Starling314]

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also, does anyone know about what percentage of their mateiculants have published papers?

 

[Seldon]

They don't expect them, but they would be nice. Don't feel too pressured about producing papers. Poster presentations should be fine.

 

[starspells]

I think it would greatly help.

source: https://forums.studentdoctor.net/th...eed-some-advice-please.1139210/#post-16519679

 

[Lucca]

In 2015 it was 44% of the matriculating class, it was 33% in 2013 (I think I posted the sources to that in the thread linked above).

"Expect" is probably not the right word. What they likely "expect" is a serious commitment to scholarly endeavors. For most students, this is likely to mean basic science. One benchmark of commitment and productivity is publication in the literature, but that depends on a lot of factors and means very little on its own for an undergraduate without a lot more context. What I mean is that there are people who are middle authors after 3 months because they hopped onto a project at the right time and place. There are also a lot of politics involved in publishing so it could just be the student is related to the PI or some other important person the PI wants to ingratiate. Others still will have spent a significant amount of time working independently on a project and managed to achieve a first or second author publication.

A productive and sustained commitment to scholarly activities such as basic science will be noticed at Stanford. FWIW, I know 4 people IRL who have been interviewed at Stanford and all of them had sustained independent research projects but only one of them did basic bench science.

This makes sense if one studies Stanford's mission statement, secondaries, and curriculum. They are a school out to train Doctors+ -- as in, Doctors + something else. What that "something else" is should already be well defined and supported by the applicant's goals and accomplishments, respectively.

 

[efle]

Like Lucca mentioned, I've known people that got interviews with only an honors thesis and/or a few years of sustained independent project work but no pub.

Having a pub is common there for sure, but not a requirement

 

[CavsFan2016]

In 2015 it was 44% of the matriculating class, it was 33% in 2013 (I think I posted the sources to that in the thread linked above).

"Expect" is probably not the right word. What they likely "expect" is a serious commitment to scholarly endeavors. For most students, this is likely to mean basic science. One benchmark of commitment and productivity is publication in the literature, but that depends on a lot of factors and means very little on its own for an undergraduate without a lot more context. What I mean is that there are people who are middle authors after 3 months because they hopped onto a project at the right time and place. There are also a lot of politics involved in publishing so it could just be the student is related to the PI or some other important person the PI wants to ingratiate. Others still will have spent a significant amount of time working independently on a project and managed to achieve a first or second author publication.

A productive and sustained commitment to scholarly activities such as basic science will be noticed at Stanford. FWIW, I know 4 people IRL who have been interviewed at Stanford and all of them had sustained independent research projects but only one of them did basic bench science.

This makes sense if one studies Stanford's mission statement, secondaries, and curriculum. They are a school out to train Doctors+ -- as in, Doctors + something else. What that "something else" is should already be well defined and supported by the applicant's goals and accomplishments, respectively.

Could you provide some examples of what that "something else" may be?

 

[Lucca]

Could you provide some examples of what that "something else" may be?

From their secondaries: anything that could answer these questions adequately:

"Choose the single answer that best describes your career goals and clinical practice setting:

Academic Medicine

Non-Academic Clinical Practice

Health Policy/Administration

Primary Care

Public Health (Community Health, Global Health)


Why do you feel you are particularly suited for this practice scenario? What knowledge, skills and attitudes have you developed that have prepared you for this career path? (1000 characters)


How will the Stanford curriculum, and specifically the requirement for a scholarly concentration, help your personal career goals? (1000 characters)


If you have peer-reviewed publications resulting from scholarly endeavors, please complete a citation for each of your publications in the space below using the following format: Author, Title, Journal, Volume, Pages, and Date of Publication (e.g., searchable on PubMed). Please do not include abstract, conference, or unpublished papers."

 

[chibaddie]

Yeah, pubs help a lot there. I know someone that got in with a below average gpa, solid mcat, and numerous pubs.

 

[aldol16]

Having publications will help for any school that has a stated mission of training physician-scientists. But people understand that not having publications doesn't mean that you're not a good researcher - too many things impact whether or not you get published at the undergrad level and a lot of it is luck. So having a strong research background with a strong PI LOR will definitely help at those places.

 

[Lawpy]

pretty sure no medical school nor MD/PhD program requires publications. productivity (in the form of publications, abstracts, presentations, talks, book chapters etc.) is good to have since they are something concrete to demonstrate and validate your research experiences. but not having publications won't hold you back because getting a publication depends on many factors beyond your control. instead, showing that you understand the research process and acquiring a strong PI LOR will be much more helpful