how much does publication do for your application?

[sit down lucy]

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How much does being published (in a scientific journal) help your application? Any thoughts? My GPA isn't the best (due to a bad sophomore year it's like a 3.5 overall, close to a 3.8 for the past three semesters, however), but I'll be published, potentially twice, by the time I apply. How much does that help me?

Thanks!

 

[Law2Doc]

How much does being published (in a scientific journal) help your application? Any thoughts? My GPA isn't the best (due to a bad sophomore year it's like a 3.5 overall, close to a 3.8 for the past three semesters, however), but I'll be published, potentially twice, by the time I apply. How much does that help me?

Thanks!

It looks nice, but certainly won't cause folks to overlook anything else in your app. And quite a few folks with research experience have publications, so it doesn't make you all that unique, especially for the top tier research-oriented schools. Might give you something interesting to talk about in an interview or lead to a nice LOR. But there's no way to quantify it, if that's what you are suggesting. Certainly there's no metric that says one publication is worth one point on the MCAT or 0.1 points in the GPA. Adcoms don't work that way.

 

[argonana]

this is anecdotal, but i actually think publication is very important. i don't have any papers out yet, and several of my interviewers have asked me if i expect to get published, how many papers i expect to get out, and even which journals i'd expect them to be published in. publication doesn't replace a lower GPA; rather, it's an additional expectation/advantage.

i like your screen name, by the way.

 

[diosa428]

It also depends how involved you were in publication. If you are the first author, and the paper is primarily about your research, then it shows that you accomplished a lot while you were doing research. However, if you are author #12 and contributed something minute, it's not so impressive.

 

[argonana]

It also depends how involved you were in publication. If you are the first author, and the paper is primarily about your research, then it shows that you accomplished a lot while you were doing research. However, if you are author #12 and contributed something minute, it's not so impressive.

exactly. 1st or 2nd author means a lot more than 5th/10th...if you put in a lot of work, it will show, and it will pay off!!

 

[sit down lucy]

It looks nice, but certainly won't cause folks to overlook anything else in your app. And quite a few folks with research experience have publications, so it doesn't make you all that unique, especially for the top tier research-oriented schools. Might give you something interesting to talk about in an interview or lead to a nice LOR. But there's no way to quantify it, if that's what you are suggesting. Certainly there's no metric that says one publication is worth one point on the MCAT or 0.1 points in the GPA. Adcoms don't work that way.

I wasn't trying to suggest that it would replace a 4.0 or add some increment to my MCAT scores - I was just curious if anyone had opinions as to how much of an asset it is. And also if it was something that was fairly common for other pre-med people who've done research (which you answered, thank you). Most people in my major are more interested getting a PhD than an MD, so publishing as an undergraduate is extremely important to them. I'm just curious as to how important it is to those applying to medical school/general opinions on how much it helps.

Also, I'll be the second author on one paper, and potentially the first on another (fingers crossed about that one).

 

[potato51]

It's definitely a great asset in my opinion, especially if you get a PhD/researcher interviewing you and you're applying to a big research school. Adcoms will know your research experiences was just being a glorified glassware cleaner.

A second author paper is great. I was freaking 5th author for my first publication, which was only because places were promised for other people and it was such a huge project with tons of data required. So even though I contributed the 2nd most, my place as the only non-MD/non-PhD put me way in the back.

 

[masterMood]

potato51, what type of research and for how long did you do it? Did you major in biology or something else?