Pre-Med Authorship Statistics

[PostBaccHopeful]

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Thanks.

 

[raltima07]

This would be something I am intersted in to

 

[Narmerguy]

I would highly doubt. The best you will likely find is the number of students involved with research from each school which is simply taken from the MSAR. Compiling information like authorship is tricky because there's all kinds of problems of some who have submitted a manuscript for publication at time of application but have not yet had it accepted, those who have to review it but never get around to it after acceptance, those who have articles published with their name on it after they've already matriculated, etc.

Though having authorship is clearly a great plus, it is not at all necessary to boast impressive research credentials.

 

[BiopsychStudent]

If there was a statistic, I would imagine too that the number applicants who have meaningful authorship are much lower: in undergrad its often a result of a professor's generosity rather than meaningful intellectual contributions... much like there are many applicants who do research for only one semester: they're still considered as having done research, but its a far cry from someone whose been with a lab for 2 years.

...Granted this is just based on my own observations, and from a general consensus I've seen on SDN.

 

[jsh52]

If there was a statistic, I would imagine too that the number applicants who have meaningful authorship are much lower: in undergrad its often a result of a professor's generosity rather than meaningful intellectual contributions... much like there are many applicants who do research for only one semester: they're still considered as having done research, but its a far cry from someone whose been with a lab for 2 years.

...Granted this is just based on my own observations, and from a general consensus I've seen on SDN.

Yep, you are pretty much correct. We see lots of undegrads come and go. It is the rare one who makes a meaningful contribution to a lab. It does happen occasionally. The ones who do make meaningful contributions to the lab usually stay in the lab or go to graduate school. Even so, they usually are not the intellectual driving force behind the paper, even if they do make a meaningful experimental contribution. The ones who are here for a semester generally go to medical school. It's no secret. 🙂

And summer students? Not to be mean here, but more often than not, when our PI announces we are getting a summer student, he is met with groans from grad students, research associates, and post-docs. That's because we have to spend awhile training them, and then they leave. However, we did have a pretty awesome summer student last year--she actually has real potential as a researcher and was VERY good.