Value of undergrad research work in PhD applications

[VNSBKS]

I'm a sophomore at a top 10 college in Chem Eng. Coursework is not of my taste and so have merely a 3.7GPA. I  enjoy research. I started working in a research lab part time since the second semester of Freshman, and was in fulltime during the last summer. Apparently, the research project has sufficient funding to keep me employed part time during fall and spring semesters and full time during summer and winter breaks.

 

I have a paper published as a first author, and I plan to publish one or two more.

 

How much credit would I get from my research experience and publications in graduate degree admission applications. Provided I maintain at least the current GPA, have a good GRE score, would I have a chance to get a PhD admission in a college like UT Austin, GATech or UMinnesota ?

 

Edited January 12, 2015 by VNSBKS

[Quantum Buckyball]

Yes 

[bsharpe269]

For some perspective, I only had around a 3.3 uGPA and then a 4.0 MS GPA. I do have good GRE scores. I have tons of research and great LORs from that and have invited to interview at multiple top 20 schools in my field and even a top 10 school. From my experience, some schools seem completely uninterested in my app and at others that value research strongly, I seem to be one of the school's top choice candidates. I am realizing that the research vs GPA issue seems to be dependent on that specific school in question. Your GPA is great though so I wouldn't worry either way.

Edited January 12, 2015 by bsharpe269

[acelloguy]

Great answer by bsharpe269.

 

Another way to think of graduate school is that these professors are (in a way) hiring you as a researcher for their lab.

So of course, any prior research and publication experience and the letter of recommendation that supports that work is going to be a large part of your application. So far you're on track! I would definitely continue research when you're at school, but it wouldn't hurt to gain an industrial experience (summer internship) if you think you would benefit by it.