Pubs expected for PhD admissions from MA program?

[davet73]

Straight up question...how much do you think pubs influence admissions to PhD programs? Are pubs expected from MA students going into a PhD program? This is more for students coming from a MA program than a BA (as I would assume that recent BA grads wouldn't have any pubs). If you have any pubs, do you think it was a deciding factor in your admission? Would love to hear from faculty on this as well.

 

During the next two years at my MA program at McGill, I am trying to get one pub. My GPA will be fine but, honestly, I am horrible on standardized tests. I am hoping that having a pub might offset any poor GRE score.

 

Thoughts?

[Poli92]

If I can add to this, I think we all know that not all pubs are equal.  So what kinds of/venues for pubs send the best signals for PhD prospectives? Or is it really just having been published that matters? Does this differ between sole authorship and co-authoring? Does anyone care about student journals? 

[Gvh]

I come from a different field from you, but in speaking to profs in Psych/Neuro, publications are considered hugely beneficial to PhD applications since they are great evidence of the applicant's ability to do research. One professor I spoke to in particular went so far as to say a publications made a "day or night" difference; though, I am sure there is some individual difference between profs on this stance. 

 

Intuitively, I would also guess that a first author is better than second, and fifth author is better than no publication at all. 

 

I'm not sure if this still stands in PoliSci, but I don't see why it wouldn't. 

Edited May 28, 2014 by Gvh

[cooperstreet]

For one, no one gives a shit if you published in an undergrad journal. Sure the process may help you beef up your paper, and in doing so you must have conducted some original research, but its not a mark of quality any more than internet commenting.

 

The fact of the matter is, is that a MA student most likely doesn't have the skills/tools to do sophisticated quantitative work to get into a respectable polisci journal.  Moreover, the time it takes to get published from submission to printing is about 2 or 3 years, so if you go straight from a MA into a PhD, no one will know you got published until after you are in the program.

 

Full disclosure: I published a single authored work on my subject of interest in a very closely related humanities field in a highly respectable (albeit European) journal. It helped me because I had a lot of deficiencies in my record, but sometimes I wish I didn't publish it, and 'saved' it so that I could beef up the research and publish it as a PhD student.

[davet73]

If I can add to this, I think we all know that not all pubs are equal.  So what kinds of/venues for pubs send the best signals for PhD prospectives? Or is it really just having been published that matters? Does this differ between sole authorship and co-authoring? Does anyone care about student journals? 

 

Of course, it all depends. I don't plan on getting something published in APSR or anything of that caliber, but at least something respectable. I don't even try for student journals. As far as co or sole authorship, we will see. Sole authorship would be great, but I think that a co-authorship could help as well, especially if the co-author is respected in the field. I guess there are a lot of "ifs".

[victorydance]

I think, in all likelihood, the only significant chance you have of publishing something at this stage is co-authored with a prof at McGill. Most people don't come out of BAs or MAs with any significant publications. The one's that do, hit a bit of a jackpot with a prof and got co-authorship on a paper. The chances of publishing something on your own in a respected journal during your MA are quite slim, but certainly possible.

 

I also agree with the whole timing thing as cooper pointed out as well. I helped do research for a prof that was writing a paper last summer. He submitted it about this time last year. He just heard that it is getting accepted now. Some of the others are still in review. So you are looking at best case scenario 1 year from submission to just get it accepted, much less actually published.

 

Also, I know the faculty at McGill very well, so PM if you want and I can tell you profs that you might want to target to try and get involved in their research.

[catchermiscount]

Definitely not expected.  Quite rare to see.  I had nothing close to a pub during my transfer, though my writing sample was probably better than many folks that didn't benefit from graduate experience.

[WanderingLux]

I see undergrad journals are not worth much, but what about grad student journals? Maybe worth a little for PhD admissions committees? 

[jazzrap]

In comparative politics, I think anything above Democratization would enhance your chance of getting into a good program. But two things: First, you are not expected to even have an R&R on your CV for PhD admissions. In fact, most admitted students at top programs do not have anything close. Second, even with a solid publication, say you are published at CPS or WP, it is still not guaranteed that you are going to be admitted into your dream school. There is no nuclear weapon in admissions.

[steedyue]

In comparative politics, I think anything above Democratization would enhance your chance of getting into a good program. But two things: First, you are not expected to even have an R&R on your CV for PhD admissions. In fact, most admitted students at top programs do not have anything close. Second, even with a solid publication, say you are published at CPS or WP, it is still not guaranteed that you are going to be admitted into your dream school. There is no nuclear weapon in admissions.

CPS and WP are nuclear weapons as long as it is a good fit, I should say.

[RWBG]

You're right that psychology is a very different field. The publication process is very different in political science. Having read hundreds of applications this year for admissions, I can't think of any applicant who actually had publications of the quality that would make a significant difference.