research questions

[wontonsoup]

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Hey, I am beginning to put together a school list for applying this coming cycle and I had a few questions as to the strength of my app.

I have a 3.7/519 from a top 10 undergrad, with decent ECs, strong letters, and a pretty solid theme to my journey/application.

My questions are in regards to research. I have been enrolled in my school's "independent study" course, which is what research is coded as, since the summer after my freshman year. My PI has made it a point for all of the students in his lab to learn about research protocols and keep up with recent developments related to the lab's research. This means weekly journal-club style reviews and discussion about progress on various projects. We have to present a paper to the group every week and answer questions about papers presented by other students. The grading was lenient but it still took up a decent chunk of time. In addition, the first semester or two, I learned how to do data analysis under a grad student, learning SPSS and what kind of statistical tests I should be doing and when/how/why.

Then I was given a project by my PI from one of our field sites. This project did not result in any interesting data and was essentially un-publishable. My junior year, I asked for a new project and was put into contact with a contact of my PI who invited me to his field site, where I successfully designed and executed a project over the summer. This project will be presented as a poster at a relevant conference the summer after I graduate. I can say honestly that I have learned a lot about the research/scientific process, from choosing a good question to study design to fieldwork/execution to analysis.

1. Will a lack of published papers be seen as a failure? Given my numerical stats, I am interested in applying to top 20 schools, will this hurt me?

2. After the summer project, the professor I was working with said he would be happy to write a letter for me, without my asking him. I have interacted more with my grad student in my home lab and while I believe my PI will gladly write a strong letter for me, I am thinking that this professor might be able to write a more personal letter. Would it be a red flag if I didn't have a letter from my PI of 3 years and instead had one from a summer research project?

BONUS: I currently have letters from my job supervisor (free chemistry tutoring center at my school for struggling students), a science professor with TA input, and a clergyman from my city who runs a tutoring center I helped found way back in high school that primarily targets at-risk youth. This will all be packaged into a committee letter from my school. I have seen the advice to get 2 science letters and 1 non-science letter; is my "spread" of letters sufficient, or should I try to find more professors who have seen my academic work?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[infectiousdisease101]

Hey, I am beginning to put together a school list for applying this coming cycle and I had a few questions as to the strength of my app.

1. Will a lack of published papers be seen as a failure? Given my numerical stats, I am interested in applying to top 20 schools, will this hurt me?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Publications are beyond your control. You can only do the work and see what happens. Which do you think tells more about you, the PI's letter of recommendation or a publication under that PI?

 

[Robin-jay]

Research is an interesting past time.

I've had friends who did "total organic synthesis chemistry" and they either hit it big (by synthesizing their desired molecule) or would have a complete miss (could never obtain the molecule).

That's if those molecules are even possible to synthesize with the equipment in their lab!

So they would spend 8-10,000 hours (majority of a PhD school) for essentially zero publishable data (excluding some circumstances which I won't get into on this forum), or they could get away with a very good publication after 2,000+ hours.

I don't know what research you're doing, but I know people who do analytical chemistry research or environmental science research where the results are much faster than organic or biochemistry for publishing.

If I were a betting man and if you say you did as much research as you did, you should be able to be published as a 3rd author or so at some point if you weren't able to really move the project substantially but still played a part.

However, even with publishable data, getting the paper written and accepted takes a while anyway.

Be prepared to apply without a publication. I think putting in several thousand hours of research will look good for a top school though.

As for your other questions, I do not know.

 

[MonkeyArrow]

For the third question, it sounds as though you are a traditional applicant, so I would look for at least one if not two letters from professors that can speak to your academic aptitude.

 

[bae2017]

1. Will a lack of published papers be seen as a failure? Given my numerical stats, I am interested in applying to top 20 schools, will this hurt me?

Nope and nope. Excellence in research can be demonstrated in multiple ways - research output (publications and abstracts/posters) is certainly one of them, but so are having strong PI LORs and independent projects. Additionally, how you describe your research experience in your application and how this factors into your future career will be important.

2. After the summer project, the professor I was working with said he would be happy to write a letter for me, without my asking him. I have interacted more with my grad student in my home lab and while I believe my PI will gladly write a strong letter for me, I am thinking that this professor might be able to write a more personal letter. Would it be a red flag if I didn't have a letter from my PI of 3 years and instead had one from a summer research project?

The best letters tend to come from people who offer them up without you asking, so I would say take it. You should also be asking your home PI for a letter as well. I was going to say that you don't have to send both LORs to everyone, but I see that you'll be using a committee letter. If your committee allows you to submit both then I would say go for it. Having two strong research LORs will only benefit you at the Top 20 schools.

BONUS: I currently have letters from my job supervisor (free chemistry tutoring center at my school for struggling students), a science professor with TA input, and a clergyman from my city who runs a tutoring center I helped found way back in high school that primarily targets at-risk youth. This will all be packaged into a committee letter from my school. I have seen the advice to get 2 science letters and 1 non-science letter; is my "spread" of letters sufficient, or should I try to find more professors who have seen my academic work?

Ideally two science and one non-science LORs, in addition to 1-3 EC LORs, is recommended. Do you have other professors who could write you strong letters? Ultimately whether or not you need these depends on your committee's requirements, since for most med schools the committee letter fulfills any LOR requirements they might have. To be honest if I were you I'd try to get at least one more professor who's had you in class and maybe ditch the tutoring LOR (unless there was some significant leadership in your involvement there).