No Publications, No Presentations

[Reki]

What is the possibility (is there any chance at all) of a person being accepted into a PhD program if they have no publications, have never presented at a conference and have no academic teaching experience?

[MsDarjeeling]

Well sure its possible and I bet if you search the forums you'll find posts by people in that situation who got in.  If this is the position you're in the key is to highlight the skills and experience you do have.  Have you been conducting research?  Have you done any volunteer (or paid! *gasp*) work in your field?  Have you maintained a good gpa?  Great lor's?  Great writing sample?  All of those things are relevant when adcom's look at applicants.

[Bactrian]

It's very possible. In fact, I think it's the norm.

[lafayette]

What Bactrian said. I had none of the above and did just fine. Others as well. It's all about the LORs/writing sample/SOP. 

[Reki]

Thanks! It's good to know that there is a chance. 

[seaofghosts]

I posted a question once asking if PhD programs expected undergrad theses, and everyone said that's not even typical. So yeah, chill for undergrad, you'll be doing plenty of that stuff in grad school.

[Henry Hudson]

I have no publications.

 

at the time I applied for MA programs, I had done one undergrad conference (but I noted a 2nd one was upcoming), and was accepted into 3 of 4 programs.

 

when I first applied to phd programs, I had done 2 undergrad conferences, a pretty big conference (although on the final day, a Saturday set aside for grad students after all the big guns were gone or at least scarce), and got into 2 of 3 programs applied to (the third was UMich, tough enough in its own right). 

 

I have since done two guest lectures in 100-level courses. 

 

It seems to me, the more you do, the better, but many who have done nothing still have a shot.

 

maybe call a local historical society and ask to do a public lecture, and then put that down as an upcoming event? That shows you are making a stab in that direction.