Level of publications for top PhD programs

[CSallday]

What level of publications are expected to get into a top-5 PhD program? 

 

Obviously, there are different levels of publications you can have. There are many different types of publications you can have with varying degrees of academic prestige:

 

- First author in a top conference in the field.

- First author in a workshop of a top conference.

- First author in a non-top-tier conference in the field.

- Non-first author in a top conference in the field.

- Non-first author in a workshop of a top conference.

- Non-first author in a non-top-tier conference in the field.

- Poster presentation in a top conference in the field.

- Poster presentation in a workshop of a top conference.

- Poster presentation in a non-top-tier conference in the field.

- Unrelated publication.

- etc. (notes vs papers in some conferences)

 

Do you need a first author paper in a top conference in order to get into Stanford/Berkeley/CMU/MIT? How "low" in the prestige of papers can you go for it to be acceptable? How would you rate these different types of publications from an admissions standpoint? Do multiple publications in lower-tier venues / lower-tier methods of publications (like a poster presentation) make up for not having a pub in the top conferences in the field?

 

By the way, I plan to research HCI. And I am currently in a masters program at a top-4 CS program.

 

Any insights would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[ivorytowerunlocked]

I really don't think you can quantify publications the way you're thinking (and that certainly won't lead to an automatic acceptance / rejection).

 

Someone might ask how you got into your masters program, and it probably wasn't solely based on some publication impact formula...

 

Source:  I did a postdoc at MIT and have friends who were grad students at or are currently faculty at CMU, Stanford and Berkeley.

Edited July 10, 2015 by fuzzylogician
Edited to remove link

[Icydubloon]

Pick one:

One first author poster or oral in the top conferences in your field

2-3 second or third author posters or orals in the top conferences in your field

Edited July 11, 2015 by Icydubloon

[CSallday]

@ivortytowerunlocked: I know the approach is holistic, and that for the schools where a professor will admit you rather than the department (not all programs do this), different professors put different value to different parts of the application. But for the very top programs, I feel like you need to be strong on all parts of the application, and I was just wondering what was needed for the prior publications part of the application (especially for a masters student at a top program, who would probably be expected to have a bit more publications than an applicant straight out of undergrad or undergrad/industry).

 

@icydubloon: Thanks. This sounds reasonable for the top programs. 

[toxicdevil]

What level of publications are expected to get into a top-5 PhD program? 

 

Obviously, there are different levels of publications you can have. There are many different types of publications you can have with varying degrees of academic prestige:

 

- First author in a top conference in the field.

- First author in a workshop of a top conference.

- First author in a non-top-tier conference in the field.

- Non-first author in a top conference in the field.

- Non-first author in a workshop of a top conference.

- Non-first author in a non-top-tier conference in the field.

- Poster presentation in a top conference in the field.

- Poster presentation in a workshop of a top conference.

- Poster presentation in a non-top-tier conference in the field.

- Unrelated publication.

- etc. (notes vs papers in some conferences)

 

Do you need a first author paper in a top conference in order to get into Stanford/Berkeley/CMU/MIT? How "low" in the prestige of papers can you go for it to be acceptable? How would you rate these different types of publications from an admissions standpoint? Do multiple publications in lower-tier venues / lower-tier methods of publications (like a poster presentation) make up for not having a pub in the top conferences in the field?

 

By the way, I plan to research HCI. And I am currently in a masters program at a top-4 CS program.

 

Any insights would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

I know a few people (my seniors) who got into top programs like UIUC, UT Austin, MIT in PhD but they did not have any publications at all.

But they did have research experience and were doing research project with faculty members.

[cicada2014]

Publications are hugely helpful, but they are neither necessary nor sufficient.

 

- I had a first author publication at a top conference, but did not get into top 4 (I did get into others though).

- I know of people who had no publications, but did get into top 4. They had superlative research experiences, though.

[CSallday]

This is all very good to know. Thanks!

[Andrewknudsen96]

I did not have any publication and I graduated from not-so famous undergraduate schools. But I got into Top 5.

 

Universities don't expect you to publish as an undergrad. If you publish you have great chance but not automatically in. It is holistic approach - your test scores, your undergraduate performance, courses you took, research statement, research fit with the department etc.

Edited July 27, 2015 by rising_star
to remove link