Publications?!

[eelgg123]

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So I am currently an MBA grad student graduating in December. 21 years old. 2 publications. One done in an undergraduate journal. One done in a low IF international journal. Are the pubs worth mentioning? I didn't do so well on the MCAT. I am looking at Post bacs that incorporate MCAT studies in the program, what do you recommend?

 

[Carmiche]

We'd need to know how ''bad' you did on the MCAT, as well as your other stats/EC's.

 

[familyaerospace]

Mention the publications. Most people have none.

 

[Goro]

Admirable, but probably not not helpful for med school apps.

So I am currently an MBA grad student graduating in December. 21 years old. 2 publications. One done in an undergraduate journal. One done in a low IF international journal. Are the pubs worth mentioning? I didn't do so well on the MCAT. I am looking at Post bacs that incorporate MCAT studies in the program, what do you recommend?

 

[mimelim]

So I am currently an MBA grad student graduating in December. 21 years old. 2 publications. One done in an undergraduate journal. One done in a low IF international journal. Are the pubs worth mentioning? I didn't do so well on the MCAT. I am looking at Post bacs that incorporate MCAT studies in the program, what do you recommend?

Anything that demonstrates productivity should be in your application. This includes publications outside of science. However, there are limits to the impact of things like research when you have poor academics.

 

[Lawpy]

Admirable, but probably not not helpful for med school apps.

Anything that demonstrates productivity should be in your application. This includes publications outside of science. However, there are limits to the impact of things like research when you have poor academics.

I request for some clarification, but I thought publications in undergraduate journals mean nothing? Unless I'm misunderstanding.

 

[Goro]

Publications are good. Scientific publications are super good. These are the kind of things that the research powerhouses lover. But pubs in the humanities won't carry the same weight as a scientific paper.

But not even a Cell paper can redeem a poor GPA or MCAT.

I request for some clarification, but I thought publications in undergraduate journals mean nothing? Unless I'm misunderstanding.

 

[ENTDoc45]

How much could a Nature publication make up for a low MCAT or GPA?

 

[Lawpy]

How much could a Nature publication make up for a low MCAT or GPA?

But not even a Cell paper can redeem a poor GPA or MCAT.

Nature/Science/Cell are all viewed to be the top journals. So while getting a publication there is impressive, it won't make up for bad stats.

 

[Goro]

We'd be doing no one a favor by admitting them if they couldn't handle medical school.

How much could a Nature publication make up for a low MCAT or GPA?

 

[Catalystik]

So I am currently an MBA grad student graduating in December. 21 years old. 2 publications. One done in an undergraduate journal. One done in a low IF international journal. Are the pubs worth mentioning?

Are your publications based on original hypothesis-based research? Or are they review articles (and of what), opinion pieces, prose, poetry, or what?

 

[chemist16]

Nature/Science/Cell are all viewed to be the top journals. So while getting a publication there is impressive, it won't make up for bad stats.

I think that "the top journals" is very field-dependent. If you're in a science, Nature and Science are usually the top but Cell is limited to the biological sciences for obvious reasons. So if you're in, say, math, you probably won't get published in Nature but getting a paper in the Journal of the American Mathematical Society would be considered just as prestigious by mathematicians. To what degrees adcoms actually realize this - especially since they all presumably work in a biological discipline - I'm not sure.

I've also seen quite a few Nature and Science papers - especially in biological disciplines - that have no fewer than twenty authors. I doubt that the 15th author contributed significantly to the project and certainly did not contribute significantly to the hypothesis and experimental design. If an undergrad is the 15th author in such a publication, it's more likely that he/she ran a few Westerns or PCRs under direction of a grad student. He/she probably would be viewed as a better researcher/scientist if he/she had contributed significantly to experimental design and published second author in PNAS, for instance.

 

[Lawpy]

I think that "the top journals" is very field-dependent. If you're in a science, Nature and Science are usually the top but Cell is limited to the biological sciences for obvious reasons. So if you're in, say, math, you probably won't get published in Nature but getting a paper in the Journal of the American Mathematical Society would be considered just as prestigious by mathematicians. To what degrees adcoms actually realize this - especially since they all presumably work in a biological discipline - I'm not sure.

I've also seen quite a few Nature and Science papers - especially in biological disciplines - that have no fewer than twenty authors. I doubt that the 15th author contributed significantly to the project and certainly did not contribute significantly to the hypothesis and experimental design. If an undergrad is the 15th author in such a publication, it's more likely that he/she ran a few Westerns or PCRs under direction of a grad student. He/she probably would be viewed as a better researcher/scientist if he/she had contributed significantly to experimental design and published second author in PNAS, for instance.

My point was obvious. I was referring to top basic science research (which adcoms are familiar with) but it still applies to top journals in any field.

And still having published in a top journal despite being a middle or late author is impressive because the PI values you enough to add your name into the paper (though it applies for any publication)

 

[NeuResurgens]

Might as well list them, but probably not as helpful as more scientific publications. What were your MCAT/GPA?

 

[chemist16]

My point was obvious. I was referring to top basic science research (which adcoms are familiar with) but it still applies to top journals in any field.

I understand your point clearly. My issue was with you defining "top journals" to be Nature, Science, and Cell. Now that you qualify that with "basic science research," then I have no issue with it.

And still having published in a top journal despite being a middle or late author is impressive because the PI values you enough to add your name into the paper (though it applies for any publication)

Depends. This is lab politics at its finest. Some PIs will add a student to the author list for doing a single experiment that's in the supplementary info. Some PIs won't add a student even if he/she did many experiments but at the behest of a grad student or post-doc (e.g. simply following a written protocol many times over). There's no uniform guideline for who should or should not be an author - even in top journals. Having your name on it doesn't necessarily mean the PI "values" you one way or another.