<p>No, this is not about a college. But if one of you tell me the level of this particular thing, it might help with college. Recently, I was a co-author on an abstract of a science research paper. ....
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.....Initially, that sentence in itself might not be eye-opening to all of you CC'ers. BUT......
it was not just any publication. There are a few things that I think stand about it, but not sure what they actually mean.
1. The work was done at Sloan-Kettering, one of the best cancer hospitals in the entire world, with world-class researchers.
2. It wasn't published by just ANYone. It was published by AACR (American Association of Cancer Research). According to my mentor, it makes Intel look like child's play. He said it is UNHEARD OF for even a COLLEGE STUDENT to be published by AACR. He said it is one of the most impressive things on HIS resume, and he was a PHd at cambridge. So, my question...I'm not sure about how much you guys know about cancer research, but will, say, an Ivy league admissions officer realize that this is a pretty big deal (or not)?</p>
<p>So you co-authored the abstract for a scientific paper? Did you also contribute to the research that went into the paper? If so, what was the nature of your contribution? If a college interviewer asked you about the paper, could you knowledgeably discuss its content?
Is your name cited anywhere on the publication?</p>
<p>(These are rhetorical questions. I wouldn’t expect you necessarily to answer in any detail.)</p>
<p>Something tells me if you have to ask this question then something’s askew. If something is as prestigious as your original post claims, then of course the adcoms will know, they aren’t incompetent at deciding who gets into the best institutions in the US (at least they aren’t a majority of the time). If they don’t recognize it, it’s probably for good reason.</p>
<p>Isn’t an abstract, for lack of a better word, basically a summary of the paper? It doesn’t seem like you actually did any research or contributed to the main content. The paper might be prestigious, but just helping write up an abstract isn’t as prestigious. </p>
<p>The admissions officers aren’t cancer research specialists. They probably will have heard of Sloan-Kettering but won’t consider it as prestigious as their own school’s medical center. It’s unlikely that they’d recognize any publications except maybe JAMA. You’ll be just another applicant with a laundry list of activities.</p>
<p>Even if they are aware, they may think your involvement is not more than assisting for lab work and data collection. </p>
<p>“Co-authoring” can mean anything ranging from being the lead or major contributor to just piggybacking (for example, if you are from faily well-off family, they may suspect any family connection with the lead author). </p>
<p>It would help to establish your credibility if you have other significant and perhaps independent research activities that further show you are beyond your years (if that’s the impression you want to leave).</p>
<p>The key here is going to be the letter of recommendation from the primary investigator. This is a typical example of where an additional recommendation (one not from a teacher) is important because the PI is in a position to describe your level of involvement, your contribution and your potential relative to the other researchers in the lab. If you don’t include a letter, my assumption is that the admin officers will assume it’s just another typical research assistantship by a high school student who may have worked hard but didn’t contribute anything original or stand out from the usual RAs in a lab.</p>