<p>I understand that it is important to have publications, from what I read, top med schools would like to see at least 2 publications, but do they care where the research is published? Obviously getting published in journals like Nature is a big boost, but what about getting published in your college's undergraduate research journal or do they only like to see publications in legit research journals? The only reason I am asking, is because I can be published as the sole author for my independent research in health economics before this year is done, but since I am the sole author and only a sophomore, the only research journal that will most likely take my paper is my college's undergraduate research journal.</p>
<p>I was wondering if this will help boost my app. just as much as getting published in a legit research journal (not big name research journals like Nature, but I guess "lower" level journals that normally publish Ph.D work). There are no Ph.D's who are assisting with my research, so they won't be listed as authors, and thus it is hard for me to get my research published in a journal for Ph.D's.</p>
<p>From what I have picked up on, publications are better than no publications, and the journal does matter. Nature >>>> undergrad college student journal, a lot of adcoms are top researchers, and they know which journals are worthy, and which journals pretty much publish anything. Also, authorship matters, and a first author on an independent project is going to be better than the PI throwing you a bone and putting you as fourth author of a lit review or something.</p>
<p>That said, I don’t think publications are essential. To put it into perspective, I have three years, three summers of research experience and no publications. I got into 2 medical schools, interview invites at 10+, some of which are top 10/ top 20 research institutions. I think pubs are nice, but it is better to be able to talk about your research experience and what you have learned from it. There are other ways to prove you are a good scientist and critical thinker, such as presentations and PI LORs, that could work. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>They’re like vanilla ice cream with apple pie. If it’s there and the pie’s already good, it makes things amazing, but if the pie sucks, it all sucks. Also, the ice cream’s not really necessary, just a great addition. Same with pubs.</p>
<p>Yeah. LOL. That pretty much covers it. No pubs but extensive research for D, too. She did just fine without them. Could they have been useful? Probably so. Would it have made a difference at the schools that ignored her? I really doubt it.</p>
<p>^^^ Wait didn’t your D win a really prestigious research award. I forgot the name of the award, but I remember it being really prestigious. Didn’t the award require publications? </p>
<p>Curm could you comment on how “much” research (as in how much time it took up, and how many years she did it for) your D did? I started in a biology lab this past semester, and will continue that on for the rest of college and will also do research in health economics starting next semester until I graduate. Hopefully all that time spent doing research gets me published.</p>
<p>Yes, she won a national award (a Goldwater as a soph ). No, it was not for a publication. She did present her work at several regional and national conferences. </p>
<p>As to time spent, wow. I have no idea how to accurately quantify that. Started in her lab as a first-year, worked two summers (10 weeks each) full-time as a paid Research Fellow, and 3 years during the school term. Some of the school time was for academic credits, some paid, and some volunteer. </p>
<p>Gosh. I don’t really know. 10 hrs a week for 3.5 years during the year would be about 1000 hrs + 800 hours for the 2 summers. That’s as close as I can get. But I don’t offer that as a goal (and as certainly not a requirement) for anybody. She was into it on a major level and really wasn’t doing it for med school admissions. </p>
<p>She was and is still considering the life of a researcher. She told me the other day that she wanted to work with an MD researcher this summer “to see what that life is because I know what the life of a PhD. is”. </p>
<p>She’s wired funny. The things that interest her, interest her. Things that don’t, well…they just don’t. I don’t really know how much planning she does beyond that. lol.</p>
<p>^^^ I was talking to a couple of med students at some top med schools, and they told me research without a publication is a waste of time and effort, but I guess they were wrong…As a result, I thought it was necessary for me to get published.</p>
<p>I agree to some extent. Doing 2 years of research is not much different than doing 3 years of research if you have no pubs to show for it. However, it’s not a waste of time in that it is still a checklist item. You should do some research to at least show top med schools you’ve attempted it. </p>
<p>It is very difficult for undergrads to standout research-wise. So, you gotta do research if you want to get into a top med school but you don’t need pubs. However, if you don’t stand out in your research, you need to have 1-2 other standout EC’s.</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification. At this point in time, I don’t have great EC’s that help me standout. I am in a couple of clubs, I hold 1 leadership position and I played a couple of intramural sports. My Bio Lab research I guess can be my checklist item (I am indifferent to the research that this bio lab does, maybe its because I am just starting out and don’t know that many lab procedures). My research in health economics is something that I find really interesting, so hopefully I can get pubs, and help myself standout this way.</p>
<p>^^^^ Well right now, in my bio lab I am still in the process of learning lab procedures, so when I am not learning lab procedures I am just doing mind numbing work like counting insect babies (I am pretty much the data collector for the project), potting plants and cleaning up, so it can get kind of boring. But once I learn what kind of lab procedures the lab does, I should be able to do more interesting stuff. </p>
<p>Getting to the point where you can do independent biology research takes more time and effort then getting to the point where you can do independent economics research, because with economics research, once you have take a couple of foundation classes, and know how to use basic regression programs, its easy to do research on various interesting topics of your choice.</p>