How important is getting a research article published?

[Amrazzz]

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I'm currently a sophomore. I've started my undergrad research this year, and loving it. I'm basically going to work at this lab for the rest of undergrad and I have a good chance in getting my own article published by the end of next quarter (I'm hoping I get atleast two first authors before applying to MS)

Do publications account greatly in medical school acceptance? Overall, my resume is more academic orientated (3.98 GPA, Scholarship recipient), volunteering, pre med clubs etc. However, I don't really have many leadership activities or participation.

Do publications have a greater impact than say, leadership activities?

 

[JJMrK]

I think it's pretty hard to quantify how important certain things are over others.

Getting a publication will be good for your application, and is not something that many applicants have. Your app still needs to be well-rounded, though.

 

[Narmerguy]

Publications give you a great boost but you can't get away with not being well rounded (unless you're going MD/PHD) in most cases. You could possibly get into a few places but you would be easily more competitive if you got some leadership activities/other stuff. Also, don't count your eggs before they hatch.

 

[Isoprop]

I'm currently a sophomore. I've started my undergrad research this year, and loving it. I'm basically going to work at this lab for the rest of undergrad and I have a good chance in getting my own article published by the end of next quarter (I'm hoping I get atleast two first authors before applying to MS)

Do publications account greatly in medical school acceptance? Overall, my resume is more academic orientated (3.98 GPA, Scholarship recipient), volunteering, pre med clubs etc. However, I don't really have many leadership activities or participation.

Do publications have a greater impact than say, leadership activities?

Any way you can become a chair of one of your clubs? That would be an easy leadership position.

 

[riverjib]

I'm currently a sophomore. I've started my undergrad research this year, and loving it. I'm basically going to work at this lab for the rest of undergrad and I have a good chance in getting my own article published by the end of next quarter (I'm hoping I get atleast two first authors before applying to MS)

Do publications account greatly in medical school acceptance? Overall, my resume is more academic orientated (3.98 GPA, Scholarship recipient), volunteering, pre med clubs etc. However, I don't really have many leadership activities or participation.

Do publications have a greater impact than say, leadership activities?

A first-author publication will get you an interview over the average applicant. You are unlikely to get one, and it doesn't matter much. Do whatever you truly enjoy doing. I've known plenty of successful pre-meds who HATE research and refuse to do it, and others who did some research but had ZERO clinical experience. Just do one or two things that you enjoy doing, and do them well enough that you truly feel like (regardless of the benefits) it's time well spent, and you can speak about them passionately during an interview.

 

[Catalystik]

If you're applying to schools that strongly favor research, they're also going to care about the reputation of the peer-reviewed journal you publish in. A first author pub in the Journal of Irreproducible Results probably won't get you many points. Yes there really is such a publication: http://jir.com/

 

[JJMrK]

If you're applying to schools that strongly favor research, they're also going to care about the reputation of the peer-reviewed journal you publish in. A first author pub in the Journal of Irreproducible Results probably won't get you many points. Yes there really is such a publication: http://jir.com/

IMO that's not such a big deal as an undergrad applying to medical schools.

 

[Appless]

They may account more at schools like stanford that are more research orientated or interested in academic physicians. For me I had no publication after being in my lab for a year and no one has cared or even asked me why I didnt have one. Publications will help but its hard to say if it will make up for lack of other areas in an app. If you know you lack an area best to work on it as a sophmore not just hope a publication outweighs it.

 

[SwineSue]

I'm currently a sophomore. I've started my undergrad research this year, and loving it. I'm basically going to work at this lab for the rest of undergrad and I have a good chance in getting my own article published by the end of next quarter (I'm hoping I get atleast two first authors before applying to MS)

Do publications account greatly in medical school acceptance? Overall, my resume is more academic orientated (3.98 GPA, Scholarship recipient), volunteering, pre med clubs etc. However, I don't really have many leadership activities or participation.

Do publications have a greater impact than say, leadership activities?

The thing with research in med school admissions is that it's really the only discontinuous variable. For example, 168 hours of shadowing doesn't help any more than 152 hours, and a 3.87 GPA isn't that much better than a 3.85 GPA. But if you get a publication out of your research, interviewers will be impressed, and if you don't get a publication, they'll say "yes well pretty much everyone does research these days." med school admissions is a rapidly escalating arms race - when my sibling applied 8 years ago doing research at all was noteworthy.
As with all aspects of this process, Machiavellian premeds find ways to game the system - some are very good at figuring out which labs they can work in where they're likely to spend no more than a summer or two and still get published.
I've also recently learned that some ivy-league and other premeds will do things like withdraw from classes or take them p/f if they're getting a B+. Going through this application cycle has made me see doctors in an entirely different light.

 

[JJMrK]

The thing with research in med school admissions is that it's really the only discontinuous variable. For example, 168 hours of shadowing doesn't help any more than 152 hours, and a 3.87 GPA isn't that much better than a 3.85 GPA. But if you get a publication out of your research, interviewers will be impressed, and if you don't get a publication, they'll say "yes well pretty much everyone does research these days." med school admissions is a rapidly escalating arms race - when my sibling applied 8 years ago doing research at all was noteworthy.
As with all aspects of this process, Machiavellian premeds find ways to game the system - some are very good at figuring out which labs they can work in where they're likely to spend no more than a summer or two and still get published.
I've also recently learned that some ivy-league and other premeds will do things like withdraw from classes or take them p/f if they're getting a B+. Going through this application cycle has made me see doctors in an entirely different light.

I would agree with that to some extent. IMO there are things you can do other than publishing though that will give your research weight, including presenting posters, giving oral presentations, and being able to write/talk convincingly about your work. Not as good as a publication, but still a good thing to be able to do.

 

[Catalystik]

IMO that's not such a big deal as an undergrad applying to medical schools.

I completely agree. If you don't get published, or if you're author number 6, you shouldn't stress about it. At the undergrad level doing research expresses your scientific curiosity. You're not expected to make ground-breaking discoveries.

 

[Appless]

I completely agree. If you don't get published, or if you're author number 6, you shouldn't stress about it. At the undergrad level doing research expresses your scientific curiosity. You're not expected to make ground-breaking discoveries.

exactly, its not like adcoms dont know what most undergrad research really is. Talking about it well, having a strong udnerstanding of what you are doing, as well as getting a strong LOR from the PI works fine also. Publications are always a plus, but not having one isnt a big deal at all.

 

[Catalystik]

IMO there are things you can do other than publishing though that will give your research weight, including presenting posters, giving oral presentations, and being able to write/talk convincingly about your work. Not as good as a publication, but still a good thing to be able to do.

I agree with this as well. These activities demonstrate that your research experience wasn't just cleaning rat cages, ordering supplies, and running scut for the PhD candidate.

 

[JJMrK]

I agree with this as well. These activities demonstrate that your research experience wasn't just cleaning rat cages, ordering supplies, and running scut for the PhD candidate.

Definitely. That's also something you should try to get a feel for when you're looking around at PIs and labs. Try to envision what you'd be doing on a day-to-day basis; if it doesn't involve carrying out experiments and helping to design them in some way and doing analysis and helping to draw conclusions, keep looking.

 

[Catalystik]

Yes. Too many labs have you start out washing glassware. You want one where you'll be a learning member of the team, offered more and more responsibility as you gain experience.

 

[Amrazzz]

Yes. Too many labs have you start out washing glassware. You want one where you'll be a learning member of the team, offered more and more responsibility as you gain experience.

Well, I got lucky then! My mentor immediately got me culturing cancer cells and doing various proliferation assays and such.

Thanks for the info guys!

 

[bamtuba]

Well, I got lucky then! My mentor immediately got me culturing cancer cells and doing various proliferation assays and such.

Thanks for the info guys!

Publications are great if you can get one, but the political nature of some departments and/or publications can prohibit otherwise deserving work from reaching that level in an efficient fashion. For some it is EASY to get published (ie. PI throws your name on the list of those who contributed just because he/she wants you to succeed) and for others it can be extremely difficult (ie. PI won't include your work no matter what you do because you are "just a volunteer").

The important thing is that you learn as much as you can and take advantage of what sounds like a good opportunity in a good lab. Just try to make sure you really understand what you are doing and WHY you are doing it in the lab so you don't become a drone.

Good luck!

 

[NickNaylor]

If you don't get a publication, you aren't going to medical school. Sorry.

</sarcasm>

 

[sustentacular]

If you're applying to schools that strongly favor research, they're also going to care about the reputation of the peer-reviewed journal you publish in. A first author pub in the Journal of Irreproducible Results probably won't get you many points. Yes there really is such a publication: http://jir.com/

Have you seen The Annals of Improbable Research?

 

[Catalystik]

Have you seen The Annals of Improbable Research?

I had not heard of it, but it looks like just as much fun.

 

[Catalystik]

Just try to make sure you really understand what you are doing and WHY you are doing it in the lab so you don't become a drone.

And because you might be cross-examined by an interviewer on the subject. Some schools select an interviewer who shares expertise in your area of research and can be expected to reliably evaluate you as a scientist.

 

[causalinference]

Publications are great if you can get one, but the political nature of some departments and/or publications can prohibit otherwise deserving work from reaching that level in an efficient fashion. For some it is EASY to get published (ie. PI throws your name on the list of those who contributed just because he/she wants you to succeed) and for others it can be extremely difficult (ie. PI won't include your work no matter what you do because you are "just a volunteer").

The important thing is that you learn as much as you can and take advantage of what sounds like a good opportunity in a good lab. Just try to make sure you really understand what you are doing and WHY you are doing it in the lab so you don't become a drone.

Good luck!

This is great advice. It's very true that some PI's are more willing to list you as a co-author than others. As a rule of thumb, if the PI knows you very well and considers you a great student, he or she will do more to help you. If you are just spending a summer in a lab and the PI doesn't really know you, it will probably be much harder to earn a publication. So my advice is to plan on spending a couple years in a lab and demonstrating to the PI that you are a talented and enthusiastic student. If the PI has a record of consistent publication, your odds of being published are very good. Obviously no one is ever "guarenteed" a publication, but if your PI has been publishing 4 papers per year for 10 years straight, there is no reason to doubt that the pattern will continue.

 

[TaylorMDhopeful]

I'm currently a sophomore. I've started my undergrad research this year, and loving it. I'm basically going to work at this lab for the rest of undergrad and I have a good chance in getting my own article published by the end of next quarter (I'm hoping I get atleast two first authors before applying to MS)

Do publications account greatly in medical school acceptance? Overall, my resume is more academic orientated (3.98 GPA, Scholarship recipient), volunteering, pre med clubs etc. However, I don't really have many leadership activities or participation.

Do publications have a greater impact than say, leadership activities?

It definitely helps. Came up in most of my interviews. Even if you are not first author, if you can talk intelligently about the topic, present the information and findings then it will be a good plus. It shows that you have at least partially investigated a specific niche of science more in depth...shows intellectual curiosity, ability to form ideas, work independently etc. Also, working with a well known investigator can help (small brownie points).

 

[sully677]

(I'm hoping I get atleast two first authors before applying to MS)

I was in your position and just got my first one done. I have another one that will be submitted soon, but you can't count your chickens before they hatch. One pub is way more than 90% of pre-meds.