When is a poster presentation significant enough to mention?

[baratheonfire]

I'll be doing a 3-5 minute poster presentation at my university. All students who're getting paid for research are required to do this. Nowhere near close to getting published. Is this still a "poster presentation" in terms of AMCAS?

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[Goro]

A national or international meeting is worth mentioning. Your own university is, meh.

I'll be doing a 3-5 minute poster presentation at my university. All students who're getting paid for research are required to do this. Nowhere near close to getting published. Is this still a "poster presentation" in terms of AMCAS?

 

[baratheonfire]

A national or international meeting is worth mentioning. Your own university is, meh.

Yeah that's what I thought. But nearly everyone here says they've done a "poster presentation". Have they all gone to national or international meetings?

 

[Goro]

You'll have to ask them!

Yeah that's what I thought. But nearly everyone here says they've done a "poster presentation". Have they all gone to national or international meetings?

 

[baratheonfire]

You'll have to ask them!

uhh

 

[HybridEarth]

I know successful applicants who have done university and regional presentations. A poster presentation provides evidence that you weren't doing scut work (cleaning Petri dishes) and that you can at the minimum speak about your work to an audience that doesn't know anything about it. Although I've done national presentations, I would still have listed regional and university poster presentations, but probably not as a separate category for the 15 experiences. Use your space wisely on AMCAS

 

[theonlytycrane]

a poster presentation for the sake of putting it on your app- not as strong. Reflecting on your research experience, presentation, and it's impact on your endeavors- stronger 🙂

 

[Slave to the Game]

I'll be doing a 3-5 minute poster presentation at my university. Is this still a "poster presentation" in terms of AMCAS?

Yes. However, if you find you've already filled up all 15 slots with the many amazing things you've accomplished, this might be one to drop (or simply merged with/under the relevant research experience).

 

[bee17]

I put all poster presentations as one activity entry, which included both local and international presentations. If I only had local presentations, I still would have included them.

 

[childofmercy]

I was scolded by an interviewer for not including a poster presentation & capstone project in my AMCAS. They were done through required courses so I didn't think I would include them, but she insisted they're worth highlighting... Almost got slapped lol. I'd say do it, especially if you'll have much to say about it.

 

[Doug Underhill]

The poster presentation is a fundamental element of training in biomedical research. It demonstrates several important competencies: research productivity, the ability to present and display experimental data in a coherent fashion, and the ability to orally present and answer in-depth questions about the material to those who view the poster. It is less meaningful than an authorship but is still worthy of inclusion on an app.

The most important poster sessions are at national conferences: Neuroscience, Experimental Biology, many others that I do not list. University-wide poster sessions are still worth mentioning if you have no other evidence of your research productivity, but don't expect it to move mountains and open doors at Stanford.

 

[Catalystik]

I'll be doing a 3-5 minute poster presentation at my university. All students who're getting paid for research are required to do this. Nowhere near close to getting published. Is this still a "poster presentation" in terms of AMCAS?

A campus presentation that doesn't go through a competitive vetting process, especially one that is "required," doesn't help your application and I suggest not listing it on its own under Posters/Presentations. However, I wouldn't blame you for wanting to include it anyway. I suggest mentioning it at the end of your Research entry as a brief side note, unless you have international, national,or regional posters to list, in which case you could group them together in one slot.

 

[Catalystik]

Rationale?

Same as that for a pub in Nature vs a Pay-to-Publish journal which is not peer-reviewed: unknown credibility.

 

[Catalystik]

List and let the reader/interviewer decide.

A cited poster under Posters/Presentations rarely gives more than the poster title for a reader to form an opinion. The (generally much more detailed) information listed in the affiliated Research space is more helpful in that regard, so keeping the two together to keep the perspective makes sense, IMO.

 

[Catalystik]

Fair, if you have more stuff to fill the space. But if not, why not put it down?

JMO, but:
One fluffy entry: noted but ignored.
Two fluffs: eye roll and sigh.
Three fluffs: credibility loss.

Your mileage may vary.