<p>This question is mainly directed towards any accepted applicants or current students at Yale--though anyone's words of advice are appreciated.</p>
<p>I'm currently a Junior. I am interested in being a CogSci major at Yale and am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work with a very talented and well known researcher in the field (who happens to also be a former Yale professor!). The way that my school does the program at my school is over two summers, and the way the lab splits up the summers is that the first summer is spent doing preliminary research (behavioral) and the second is spent doing the actual fMRI study. I have been lucky to receive some state level recognition for my behavioral study, but the crux of my study is yet to come, thus I have no major awards (ISEF, etc.). Would submitting my paper be helpful? I have heard that papers should only be submitted if they are essentially ready to be published--and while I expect my study to be good, I cannot say it is ready for print in Nature (lol). My thought process is submit it--I'm coming from a good lab with a good mentor. But I was curious as to your opinions.</p>
<p>It’s worth submitting if it’s good work. It doesn’t have to be published in a journal. But I personally didn’t submit a paper or abstract; I just elaborated on my research in the additional information section of the Common App.</p>
<p>Can it hurt? Probably not… unless the writing or the research is really lousy. Might it help? Sure. Can you be sure? Not at all.</p>
<p>My own advice would be to go for it. For whatever it’s worth, my son submitted unpublished work that he did over the summer at an immunology lab affiliated with a prestigious medical school, and he got into Yale. We’ll never know the role that his submission played (or didn’t)… but what’s to lose?</p>
<p>You know, that’s the philosophy I have! I feel like some people feel the institution to be very…I guess harsh is the best word? I agree that if its coming from a credible lab, the admissions board will at least give a look (and I certainly hope a rec from the mentor helps!)</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, did your son intend to major in a field related to his research? Is he at Yale? How does he like the program there if so?</p>