Research Experience Question

[irish80122]

By the time I graduate I will have about 16 credit hours of research experience split between two labs but I am while I have this research experience I am worried. The problem is I am at a top 20 university and with how it is here, while I get to do a lot of the work, I haven't yet gotten to be part of a publication or a poster presentation. In addition, the professor I work for is just now coming back from maternity leave so our lab has been pretty unproductive for the last year-year and a half. There just haven't been opportunities for me to get published or to do a poster. My professor has promised to include me when (if) we get some significant results but I just don't know if that will happen in time!

If you have good research experience and professors who are willing to write good recommendations for you then how important is having a publication or having a poster presentation? I am just nervous that it is going to hurt me but it isn't for lack of trying or anything like that...just lack of opportunities.

Also, as a side question, how important is clinical experience? This is something I haven't done much of either and I just don't know if I should put some of the research on the backburner and do some clinical work or if I should just keep pushing the research. Thanks in advance everyone, I really appreciate your help!

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[HonieButterfly]

By the time I graduate I will have about 16 credit hours of research experience split between two labs but I am while I have this research experience I am worried. The problem is I am at a top 20 university and with how it is here, while I get to do a lot of the work, I haven't yet gotten to be part of a publication or a poster presentation. In addition, the professor I work for is just now coming back from maternity leave so our lab has been pretty unproductive for the last year-year and a half. There just haven't been opportunities for me to get published or to do a poster. My professor has promised to include me when (if) we get some significant results but I just don't know if that will happen in time!

If you have good research experience and professors who are willing to write good recommendations for you then how important is having a publication or having a poster presentation? I am just nervous that it is going to hurt me but it isn't for lack of trying or anything like that...just lack of opportunities.

Also, as a side question, how important is clinical experience? This is something I haven't done much of either and I just don't know if I should put some of the research on the backburner and do some clinical work or if I should just keep pushing the research. Thanks in advance everyone, I really appreciate your help!

I am currently a senior in my last yr and I at least know from some prospect faculty I would like to work with who I have an interview with next week and other prospective faculty I spoken too but in less detail. They seem most to be interested in our matched research interest which Ive been into for over 2 yrs and that I am doing an honor thesis in the same area, and that I have clinical experience with the population. I have no publications but I did present research at 3 conferences and I am a co author on a grad student poster which was present at ABCT. I have 18 credits in research and worked in several labs some without credit. Overall I think pubs and presentations are great to have but I dont think its the make u or break u factor. I have 4 letters of recs too and the one from my prof I worked with count the most because it resulted in a personal phone call last yr with between them about me. Research Match from my experience seems to be most important. So hopefully the research you have been involved in has relevance to the type of research your potential faculty are doing. This is only my 2 cents and I hope this helps.