Is second author paper helpful for applying phd?

[henrykuo]

I have one second author paper published in a conference, is it helpful for applying graduate school?

[fuzzylogician]

It's helpful to have the presentation/publication on your CV. What helps more is the ability to talk about the details of the paper and your role in the research in your SOP and in any subsequent interviews. Hopefully the process you went through helped you refine your interests and be able to talk about your research in more detail. That is something that will come out in your application documents. And then having the paper doesn't hurt, although there is only so much that a conference paper can do for you. 

[eternallyephemeral]

You should absolutely put any posters or publications on your cv, and discuss them in your statement of purpose.

No one aspect of your application gets you into graduate school, but it is much better to show that your research has been accepted to a conference, which suggests it is on its way to being published in a journal.

So put it on your cv, talk about it, and write it in your statement. These things matter.

[GradSchoolTruther]

Not really, as conference presentations are not that impressive. Nice touch, but they aren't getting you in a program.