Post

@fredbarrettphd.bsky.social

reality check: do prospective grad students really need to have first-authored papers to be competitive? perspectives have differed widely when sampling a few local colleagues. It's clear they can be sufficient, but the question is whether they are truly necessary ...

14/4/26, 4:41 pm0 reposts2 likes

Brad Postle

@bradpostle.bsky.social

14 Apr

Not for me; cognitive neuroscience @ UW-Madison Psychology

Matt Wall

@mattwall.bsky.social

14 Apr

God no. Are people really getting first-author papers as undergraduates? How does that even work? Would be extraordinarily unusual in the UK.

Fred Barrett

@fredbarrettphd.bsky.social

14 Apr

reasonable question - folks in the US often take research assistant gigs between undergraduate and graduate school, or pursue a master’s degree before applying to PhD programs, and that’s where I believe the expected opportunities might lie

Matt Wall

@mattwall.bsky.social

14 Apr

Fair enough, that's fairly normal here too, but even expecting a masters student to get a first-author paper is quite unusual.