<p>Ok, so I'm currently engaged in research (have been since January) at UT Southwestern, and just got my first publication. I guess anyway. I'm the 6th author out of 10, if that makes any difference, but I don't think that'll be much of a factor (good or bad). It was a poster that was presented at a conference in Germany last week, and I'm listed as an author. We will also be preparing a publication soon. I may be off to college by the time they get around to it, but there's a pretty good chance I'll be put on that as well (since it's pretty much related to the poster). As someone who just graduated high school, how will that look to medical school adcoms? I'm not trying to brag or anything, I'm just curious to see if getting something somewhat major like this accomplished this young is going to be at all impressive, or if it'll just be an "oh, ok, yet another one" type of thing.</p>
<p>I'm also going to be coming back next summer and will probably get to be even more autonomous and learn even more.</p>
<p>I'm also wondering if I should do research during the school year, or should I just focus on clubs and a regular job if my summer research will suffice.</p>
<p>It looks good but, to be honest, 6th author is going to look like you were more of an RA and had a very generous PI or research advisor than an actual contributor. Still, for an HS accomplishment, this is certainly good. On the other hand, the truth is nobody really cares what you did before freshmen year of college. This would probably be somewhat of an exception (esp. if you were 1st author) but I’ve heard of people doing much larger things in HS and still excluding those activities simply b/c they were pre-college. I’d be more apt to congratulate you on your success and suggest you use this experience as a step to getting into research at the UG level and get published at the end of your freshmen or sophomore yr of college.</p>
<p>Research is the one exception to the ¨nothing from high school¨ rule. A publication stays with you your whole life (though granted there will be diminishing returns over time), and it will definitely be a plus that you were involved in research so early. However, a poster is not generally considered a publication. A publication usually implies its acceptance into a peer reviewed journal. That does not mean that you should not include this in your ECs, but understand that working on a poster (especially one that you didn´t even personally present) is not as impessive as a 6th authorship on a publication in a journal. While a lot of students don´t get the fortune of publishing in college, many more do make posters, abstracts, and do presentations. Thus, while a valuable experience, it is not as impressive.</p>
<p>I personally did research during summers and school years. However, I was able to drastically reduce my participation during the year so that I still had time to do other ECs. If this is an option for you, I would recommend it if you want to continue research. If its something you really enjoy and a project that you are interested in, do it. If not, there will be plenty of research in your future.</p>
<p>Thanks so much guys. I guess my question was more of a “How impressive is a poster.” I think it’s just a stepping stone, because I am pretty sure I will get authored on the publication we are preparing (the poster was just the basics) and so I suppose that will be a better resume builder than a poster. I guess the poster will be good for helping me get other research positions.</p>
<p>Just trying to gauge the significance of my work thus far.</p>