Research without Publication

[samosamosa]

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First time posting! I'm a fourth year undergrad. I have been working in a research lab for nearly two years, working with one of the postdocs on her projects. She's working on really cool experiments and I've learned a lot about bench science! However, I have not presented any posters or been published anywhere, nor do I have a truly independent research project of my own.

Will medical schools look down on working in a research lab with no independent projects or publications? Is it common for medical school applicants to have posters or publications before applying?

 

[Catalystik]

First time posting! I'm a fourth year undergrad. I have been working in a research lab for nearly two years, working with one of the postdocs on her projects. She's working on really cool experiments and I've learned a lot about bench science! However, I have not presented any posters or been published anywhere, nor do I have a truly independent research project of my own.

Will medical schools look down on working in a research lab with no independent projects or publications? Is it common for medical school applicants to have posters or publications before applying?

It is the Research experience itself which is of the greatest value on an application. The vast majority of applicants are not named on a research paper. And most posters are presented at home institution "Research Symposia" which are not particularly selective. Perhaps highly-selective, research-oriented schools would prefer to see evidence of your personal research productivity, but for most schools, the experience alone is what they are looking for.

 

[Moose A Moose]

Worry about getting inked during medical school.

 

[DameJulie]

No. Not having a research pub/poster won't put you in the worry area. In fact, Most applicants don't have research pub/poster. Thus, many students get accepted w/o one.

In a big lab or big university, pub/poster is usually depend on the project, PI , funding, and little bit of luck. UGs don't control the process of publication, since it involves much more outside factors. Research isn't something where you put in xxx hours of work and that grants a pub. So please don't get discouraged if you don't get one. Some grad students don't get their first pub until their final year of PhD study.

But, make sure you know what your researching on, and be able to talk about it with knowledge during interview.

 

[Goro]

First time posting! I'm a fourth year undergrad. I have been working in a research lab for nearly two years, working with one of the postdocs on her projects. She's working on really cool experiments and I've learned a lot about bench science! However, I have not presented any posters or been published anywhere, nor do I have a truly independent research project of my own.

Will medical schools look down on working in a research lab with no independent projects or publications? Is it common for medical school applicants to have posters or publications before applying?

Nope. All med schools want is for you to have learned something about the scientific process. Pubs are actually quite rare for UG students.

 

[samosamosa]

Thank you everyone! That is quite encouraging!