Need help on SOP and CV for a candidate with limited research experience for Biostatistics PhD

[coconuts2]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm an international applicant for Biostatistics PhD program. I hold MS from a pretty decent American institution in Biostatistics, and I'm planning to apply this year for 2021 fall admission. I have decent GPA (with good selection of math classes) and good GRE scores. The only thing that concerns me is that I seem to have limited research experience compared to some of the applicants here.

 

I did work as a Student Researcher for a year in an imaging lab, but unfortunately the project I was working on did not lead to any concrete presentation or paper. I'm currently working on a paper (first author) with a faculty member from my Master's which is basically the extension on my graduation project for my MS. We're aiming to submit the paper by late October/November, but then again this wouldn't be a thing I can put on my CV by Dec deadline as the paper is unlikely to be accepted by then. Do you have any suggestions as to how to write SOP or CV for applicants with limited research experience like me? Should I mention those two research experiences regardless of the fact that it did not lead to anything tangible yet?  Also, do some people put papers that are yet to be accepted, but submitted on their CV, or SOP? Any suggestions/advice would be very much welcomed.

 

[bayessays]

Almost nobody has meaningful research experience. Write about what you did and what you learned and why it made you want to get a PhD. SOPs are not super important (see the stickied post at top of forum).