Publication stats honesty?

[13199]

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I know everyone says that you don't need publications to get into an MD/PhD program, but I was wondering how common/uncommon unpublished matriculants are at top tier programs (ie Harvard, Hopkins, WashU, Stanford, Cornell, etc). Are they the majority or minority?
I understand that most applicants don't have publications, but most applicants are also not accepted 🙂.

 

[Neuronix]

I know everyone says that you don't need publications to get into an MD/PhD program, but I was wondering how common/uncommon unpublished matriculants are at top tier programs (ie Harvard, Hopkins, WashU, Stanford, Cornell, etc). Are they the majority or minority?

About 50/50 in my class.

 

[gbwillner]

A minority, IMHO. Most that have publications prematriculation are extremely lucky. Lots of things have to go their way, they have to be in an environment that would allow them to publish in an unreasonably short time, and their contributors need to be generous. This cannot be expected of applicants to ANY school. Sure, some will be lucky, but I don't think programs take too much stock into it.