Post-Bacc Opportunities for Posters/Publications?

[MeekoKeeko]

Ok, I'm going to stumble through this, so bare with me.

I've recently graduated with a B.S. in Psych from Wayne State University. I have a poor-ish GPA (3.5), and a less than perfect in-subject GPA (3.7). I do have three years of undergraduate research experience, and four years as a volunteer for a children's support group program. I also received decent GRE scores (V- 760, Q- 710, W-5.5), and I do believe I will be receiving a couple of very strong LORs and one somewhat strong LOR. I have, according to the PIs of my current labs, a great sense of my research interests and good personal statement.

My concern is that I have been completely ignorant about posters or publications. To be honest, I didn't even know undergraduates did these until I stumbled upon this forum. No one in any of my classes, my labs, or in my chapter of Psi Chi has mentioned any of this; not even the professors I've spent a couple years working with have. So am I royally screwed? And is there any way as a post-baccalaureate student, that I might be able to take a directed study course and work on a research topic for publication? I feel like I missed the boat big time on this, and I'm panicking... (yes, I do know that I should not.) I feel like maybe if I had been an honors psychology student, I might have known about this poster/publication ordeal, but I switched to psychology late in my career, as it wasn't until then that I became impassioned for research. But I guess that explanation would be best saved for my applications.

So what-da-ya think? Do I stand a chance? Can I get published in a year and a half as a post-bacc? Am I fretting over nothing? Is the academic culture at my school fricken wacky and out of touch? LOL Gah!

PS - I am currently enrolled as a post-bacc student, as I am just filling my time (between three volunteer research assistant positions) with extra fun psych classes. Also, if you're curious why I didn't apply when I graduated from undergrad (in 2010), that is because I finished my bachelors degree during the beginning of chemotherapy, and was subsequently out of commission for 10 months thereafter. (More on this in a later thread, as I have some seriously dubious thoughts on battling cancer and my personal statement.)

[eco_env]

I didn't have any publications or posters at conferences outside my school when I applied (I did have a work in progress to submitted for publication, but I don't know if that's worth anything). Is any of your previous work publication-worthy? Can you publish or present anything from your research assistant positions? You should know better than any of us if you have an opportunity to do research that can be presented or published.

[Pitangus]

I believe it is definitely possible to conduct research and get published even if you come from a school without many research opportunities.

I came from a SLAC that didn't have much of a research culture in biology, especially not in my area of interest, and while I took part in the school's summer research program and was able to present a poster at a regional conference, it wasn't until I pursued a senior thesis project independently that I was able to present at national conferences and submit a paper to a journal.

Like eco_env has suggested, you should first look at your previous research experience and see if there is a possibility of producing at least poster for a conference presentation.

Whether this is a possibility will depend on your role in the research you've been a part of: if you developed your own project, however small, and obtained results, then you could definitely produce an abstract describing this project and submit it to a conference (I'm not in psych so I can't give suggestions unfortunately). If accepted you could present a poster as first author, listing anyone else involved in the work as additional authors.

If your research experience has been mostly assisting others (professors or graduate students) with their projects, then you would have to talk to them to find out if they have any plans of submitting a poster/paper somewhere, and perhaps then you could be listed as a second or third author, depending on the extent of your involvement.

Also, I know in my field (ecology) there are post-bacc research opportunities similar to Research Experience for Undergrads (REU) programs that are designed for people considering graduate school, though like REUs, they are often very competitive. But again, I have no experience in psych to know if similar opportunities exist for you, so hopefully someone in psych will have further info!

[MeekoKeeko]

Thanks so much for the help, guys. It's really appreciated. I think I just got overwhelmed by having missed such an (apparently and obviously) important factor in admissions. I will definitely be speaking to the professors with whom I work.

[Pitangus]

Yes, definitely talk to your professors and share your concerns and goals with them.

I understand your feeling of being overwhelmed about missing experience and wanting to make up for lost time. Although I was fortunate enough to catch on before senior year and to start looking for opportunities on my own, I know I am still applying alongside people with better connections and experience working with a lab/mentor throughout their entire undergrad career.

But I am staying positive, because the work I have been able to do so far is the kind of work I would love to keep doing, and I can only hope that it will show my self-motivation and be worth something to the admissions committees!

So if research is what you really want to do, don't give up because you didn't go through the typical channels for gaining experience. Good luck!

[socihealth]

I wanted to add a bit about grad students at your school. If you have had luck with professors that is great! But another avenue to explore is assisting current grad students with their projects. In my experience, they are happy to have the help and often are enthusiastic about guiding you through their interests. They can also be a helpful resource for your applications!