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How to Turn a Ph.D. Into a Nonacademic Career

By  Christopher Cornthwaite

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As my Ph.D. drew to a close in 2018, I had no plan. I had been living abroad with my spouse and our three children, completing a final fellowship that I was sure would make me a better candidate for academic positions.

Instead of heading off to a new post, our family moved back into my parents’ basement. It was an anticlimactic end to my academic career and, frankly, one of the hardest periods of my life. Many professors don’t appreciate how difficult leaving academe can be on their students who expected to be professors. It can be a devastating loss of purpose and identity.

From the darkness, we tried to put the pieces of our lives back together. We decided to move to the city of Ottawa, Canada’s capital, anticipating that it was probably the best option in the country for getting a nonacademic job with a Ph.D. (My spouse is a graphic designer and location independent.) I had been to the city once in my life and knew nobody there. We used the last of our cash to rent a small town house outside the city, with the pressure on me to find a job.

I’d never understood what I could do with my humanities Ph.D. outside academe. As I learned about the world of work, I was surprised by the options. I would email people with interesting careers or reach out to them on LinkedIn asking if I could talk to them. Sometimes I would connect through the networking app Shapr. Many of them were kind enough to take the time to talk to me.

All this networking led to a job running economic development projects for a think tank. It was a far cry from my religious studies Ph.D., but I watched my projects go through the Canadian news cycle and enter policy debates. My work was having an immediate and visible impact on my country. I eventually moved on from that job and worked for the government as a policy analyst, helping foreign countries explore and launch refugee programs.

When I left higher education, I imagined that things couldn't get much worse for my colleagues. Little did I know what the future had in store. These are especially difficult times -- many people have lost job or funding offers and need to explore what life outside academe looks like. Here’s the advice I have for building a career with your Ph.D.

Become the CEO of your life and career. I don’t know whom to attribute this idea to. I’ve heard versions of it from different sources but certainly something like it from Fordham University professor and author Leonard Cassuto in the academic space.

Personal agency is a powerful tool in building a career with any degree, but especially with a Ph.D. If you need to leave academe, you may not find anyone to tell you what to do or give you permission. (In fact, some departments or supervisors are actively hostile to alt-ac conversations.) You need to make the decision about what’s best for you and your life and can’t look to anyone else to make it for you. The onus is on you to learn how your skills apply in the marketplace and find somewhere you love applying them. So, stop waiting for permission and start building.

Recognize that networking is everything. Most Ph.D.s preparing to leave academe will start by working on their résumé and firing off job applications. For many, especially humanities grads like me, those applications disappear into a black hole. Why wouldn’t they? Unless your knowledge is in high demand -- as is the case for some STEM graduates -- employers can’t draw a line from your degree to being the employee they need.

The answer is networking. It’s the most transformational tool that Ph.D.s have at their disposal.

I know, you hate networking. Just about everybody does. But, unfortunately, the beautiful transformation that you are about to go through -- from grad student to career professional -- requires other people to help you make the transition. And if you don’t know anyone outside academe, it’s time to remedy that.

That doesn’t mean printing business cards and going to networking events. It just means contacting people who do things that intrigue you and asking them questions about their work, as well as for any advice they would have for someone in your position. Look for family and friends doing work that appeals to you. Check your alumni association. Ask your supervisor or committee if they know anyone doing interesting things outside academe and see if they’ll give you an introduction.

If you don’t have those options, you can do what I did and start messaging strangers on LinkedIn. (You’ll have the best chance of a response if you pick people it makes sense to connect to -- for example, those in your city, from your university or in a similar field.)

Be creative in meeting the people you need to meet. Recognize that each potential connection may lead to your career, and take the conversations seriously. This is far more valuable than sending résumés into the void. One of those people will inevitably change your life. They’ll tell you something you didn’t know or put in a good word for you somewhere that’s hiring. You just need one person to take a chance on you, and the rest will be history.

Create a brand for yourself. Developing a personal brand is especially vital for Ph.D.s. It may be an anathema for many students (and professors). But when paired with your degree, proper branding can transform you from looking like a grubby graduate student to looking like a leader.

Yes, Ph.D.s are perceived as leaders, even in the marketplace. But all too often, their command of their online presence and brand doesn't match the level of their skills. LinkedIn is a gift for Ph.D.s, an opportunity to present themselves to the world and control the narrative. If you’re not on there, I’d recommend creating a profile and sharing ideas. ( I wrote a guide on how to do that here .)

Your new goal is to be seen and taken seriously outside higher ed. Write op-eds. Engage with people on Twitter if you are comfortable doing that. Leverage the technology and media at your disposal to build your presence and reputation. The more positive visibility you have, the more employers will want to work with you.

Learn nonacademic language. Being in academe is a bit like living in a foreign country. Academics learn a language to talk about themselves and their skills. That language makes perfect sense inside the academy. But speaking it outside higher education can be the kiss of death in a job interview.

It's not to say that you can't have intelligent conversations outside academe. But overuse of jargon and buzzwords, or droning on about the complexities of your research, will mark you as an outsider in the nonacademic world.

Remember, an employer’s first question is “Can they solve X problem for me?” If you seem to only know academe, they might be uncertain of the answer to this.

Instead, try to learn the language of whatever workplace you are exploring. You can take note of key terms during your informational interviews or while looking at job postings. When I became a policy analyst, I had to learn a lot of new lingo that came with it. This included government-specific language, acronyms and other ways of wording things that helped me operate in that world.

Translate your CV into a résumé . Many people know this is necessary, especially in North America, where the résumé is the industry standard. While I don’t think it’s the most important thing, or the thing you should be spending most of your time on, we usually do need résumés at some point.

Translating your CV will require a brutal assessment about what actually fits in a résumé. I had to delete my publications in religious studies, totally irrelevant to my nonacademic work, and replace them with a single line: “Two peer-reviewed articles in top-tier journals.” Ditto my fellowships, which I replaced with, “Grant writing and proposals won over $200k in funding.”

In fact, after reading hundreds of Ph.D. CVs and résumés over the past year, I’ve realized that a lot of the best stuff is often in the overlooked “Service” section at the end of the CV. It’s here that students have led committees, launched projects, worked on teams creating an edited volume or conference, and just generally done the sort of things that make sense outside higher ed.

Be creative with your career. The question I am asked most often is “What can I do with a Ph.D. in X field?” While there are lists out there (some of the best are at The Versatile Ph.D. ), they should be thought of as starting rather than ending points.

Be creative about how you apply your skills and think about your career. Your Ph.D. will probably not fit into a single career box -- and that is great! Focus on topics that interest you, causes you are passionate about, issues that move you. That’s the way to build a great career with a Ph.D. and not simply drop into the first organization that will have you.

Oh, I know in the Ph.D. hierarchy of needs a paycheck can be the most important thing. I’ve been there. To pay the bills, you might need to take the first job offer you receive. But in the long run, you should develop a vision that goes beyond what you can do with your Ph.D. to what you want to do with your Ph.D. Because the sky is the limit.

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•       Resources       Publish or Perish: Graduate Students' Guide to Publishing

Publish or Perish: Graduate Students' Guide to Publishing

In addition to endless piles of reading, demanding expectations in the classroom, student teaching responsibilities, and the always-looming awareness that they need to research, write, and edit a high-quality dissertation before graduating, today’s Ph.D. students also commonly feel stress about another topic: publishing. As more prospective employers expect degree seekers to get their names in academic journals and conferences while still in school, many learners feel overwhelmed by the prospects of making the grade. The following guide answers some of their most pressing questions, provides guidance on the ins and outs of publishing while still in school, and offers expert advice from a professor who knows better than most what it takes to publish rather than perish.

Understanding Publishing in Graduate School

Getting published as a grad student can feel overwhelming at first, because there’s so much to learn about the process and expectations surrounding it. With a bit of research, however, students can familiarize themselves with the specific language surrounding publishing and make in-roads towards getting their first paper published.

What Does it Mean to Get Published?

Within the context of graduate school, publishing refers to getting essays, papers, and research findings published in one of the academic journals or related forms seen as a leader in the field. As jobs in academia continue to become more competitive, it isn’t enough for learners to simply do well in their coursework. The degree seeker who hopes to land an important post-doctoral fellowship or find a teaching position at a college or university must make themselves stand out in other ways.

When Should a Ph.D. Candidate Get Published?

Getting a paper published takes a lot of time and effort, and those students who wait until the final year or two of a doctoral program may fail to actually have any published materials by the time they graduate. According to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Graduate Connections program , getting a paper published – especially if it’s your first – can take up to three years. In addition to the fact that most journals publish quarterly, the panel review process typically takes a significant amount of time and those submitting for the first or second time usually need to make a large number of edits and complete rewrites in order to reach a publishable standard.

How to Get Published

In order to get published, students submit their work to the journal or conference of their choosing. They frequently also provide a cover letter outlining their research interests. Most journals put out generic calls for submissions once or twice a year, while some may ask for papers addressing specific topics that have a much shorter turnaround time. Grad students may find it intimidating to go up against more seasoned academics, but another option revolves around partnering with their dissertation supervisor or another professor with whom they work closely with to co-author a paper. This not only helps ensure the validity of their findings, but alerts the academic world know that this other, more recognized faculty member believes in the research the student is doing.

Who Should Get Published?

Learners most anxious to get published are those who see their future careers in teaching and research. Because the world of academia is relatively small when divided into individual subjects, it’s important for students who want to break into these ambitious arenas to make a name for themselves early on and create a curriculum vitae that captures the attention of hiring committees.

Where Should Students Get Published?

When deciding which publications to pursue, students should consider the research aims of each and their likelihood of getting published. Newer journals tend to take more submissions as they are still working on building up their roster of contributors. While less venerated than other publications, getting printed in these can help build up name recognition and make it easier to break into the top-tier publications over time.

In terms of where work is published, the majority of students look to academic journals when sending out cover letters and examples of their work. But other options exist as well. Presenting papers at conferences is a popular avenue, as are chapters in books. The following sections takes a more in-depth look at how and where to publish.

Realities & Challenges of Getting Published

Getting published, especially while still in grad school, takes tenacity, focus, and a thick skin. Those who continue working on their craft, presenting at conferences, collaborating with others, and not taking no for an answer, however, frequently find success. Some of the challenges students may encounter include:

Lack of time

It’s no secret that doctoral students have busy schedules that seldom allow for outside – or sometimes, even related – interests to take up much of their days. Because publishing is not a degree requirement, carving out the time needed to research, write, and edit the type of paper required for publishing can feel impossible. With this in mind, student should look for ways to multitask. If presenting at a conference, think about how that paper could be transformed into a journal article.

Lack of confidence

Studies have shown that mental stress and illness frequently increase in grad school as students feel intense pressure to stand out from their peers. These feelings are often intensified when considering publishing, as learners are going up against academics and researchers who have been working in the field far longer than them. It’s important to remember that each of those renowned individuals had to start somewhere.

Lack of funding

Completing the research needed for a competitive paper doesn’t only take time – it requires money. Whether traveling to archives or printing all the necessary documentation, funding for outside research can be scarce while in school. Some programs provide competitive grants for research travel to help offset these costs.

Intense competition

As discussed earlier, competition for publishing is fierce. Academic journals and conferences only have space for so many authors and trying to get noticed can feel like a losing battle. In addition to seeking out newer publications and co-authoring with more notable figures, consider taking part in symposiums at the school you attend to get your foot in the door. While research on the average number of rejections is lacking, don’t feel discouraged if it takes a long time to be chosen for publication.

Finding the right publisher

While getting your name in print within an academic journal you greatly admire is the ultimate goal, it may take some years for it to come to fruition. One of the biggest mistakes students make is applying to ill-suited publications. Look for journals with editorial board members whose names you recognize. If a professor knows one of them, don’t be afraid to ask if they can help get your paper in front of them.

Adequately addressing feedback

Getting a paper published often requires intense editing and even completely restructuring and rewriting what you conceived in the initial abstract. If an academic journal shows interest in your essay but suggests rewrites, pay close attention to their requests and try to work with an advisor to ensure you meet all the stated requirements.

What do Graduate Students Publish?

Academic journals may receive the lion’s share of discussion in the publishing world, but graduate students can actually choose from numerous outlets and paths for getting their work to a larger audience. Students should review the options listed below and think about which format might showcase their work best.

Tips for Publishing

Despite the great amount of work required to publish, students who meet the challenges and persevere stand to position themselves favorably for future job opportunities. The following section addresses some of the most common questions about the process and alleviates general fears about how publishing (or not) reflects upon them.

How many papers should a Ph.D. student try to publish before graduating?

According to scholar-practitioner Dr. Deniece Dortch, no single answer exists. “There is no hard and fast rule as to the number of publications students should have prior to graduation,” she notes. “The reality is students in STEM disciplines and those who use quantitative methods are more likely to have publications prior to graduation because they often work in research teams and labs. This is not to say that qualitative scholars or those in other disciplines aren’t, but it’s a much more standardized practice in STEM for students to graduate with two or three publications. Personally, I had one sole-authored publication accepted prior to graduation, one first-authored piece, and one second-authored piece.”

How many journal articles is it possible to publish during a PhD?

“The answer varies and is determined by factors such as length of program, research team access, and faculty relationships,” says Dr. Dortch. “I’ve seen folks finish with as many as 10 publications, although this is extreme and doesn’t happen often.” She continues, “Imagine you are in a four-year program and you get your idea to write an article in year two. You submit that article in year three after getting approval, collecting data, analyzing it, and then writing your paper. Year three you submit that paper; it may be accepted in year four after months of revisions at the request of the editor. You finally have one published paper as you graduate.”

Are there PhD students who have no journal publications? Should they be worried about that?

“It depends on the type of employment the student is seeking upon graduation,” says Dr. Dortch, “Students applying to or wanting to work in institutions and organizations with the highest levels of research productivity who have no publications may want to consider post-doctoral positions so they have the time and space to work on increasing their publication record after graduation.” She continues, “Postdocs are a very common practice in many disciplines and are used as a way to gain additional training and expertise in research and teaching.”

Is it absolutely essential to have publications to apply for a PhD program?

In a word, no. Individuals working toward doctoral degrees have many reasons for doing so, not all of which require them to publish. Admissions panels also recognize that students focus their efforts on many different goals (e.g. jobs, internships, presenting at symposiums) throughout bachelor’s and master’s programs. As long as learners can demonstrate an ongoing commitment to scholarship, publishing is not an absolute requirement.

Does publish or perish begin before starting a PhD program?

It’s true that many students begin worrying about publishing before starting a Ph.D. program, but the reality is that they have ample time during and after completing a doctorate to make their mark on the world of scholarship. According to a recent article by Inside Higher Ed , some individuals in the academy now wonder if too much emphasis is being placed on grad students publishing. Learners unsure about this should speak to a trusted advisor or mentor to figure out when to focus on getting published.

What is the difference between a published article and a Ph.D. thesis?

While a Ph.D. thesis is required for satisfactory completion of a degree, a published article is not. A Ph.D. also takes a much longer form than a published article, averaging approximately 90,000 words. Academic journal entries, conversely, are usually between 4,000 and 7,000 words.

Should I first write my Ph.D. thesis or publish journal articles?

Though publishing at the doctoral level is increasingly seen as a requirement in the job market, it is not part of degree requirements. With this in mind, students should prioritize the research and writing of their thesis above all else. If they have the time and mental clarity needed to publish journal articles, this can be a secondary focus.

From the Expert

Dr. Deniece Dortch is a scholar-practitioner known for her commitment to diversity, social justice and activism. Dr. Dortch holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an Ed.M. in Higher & Postsecondary Education from Columbia University, an M.A. in Intercultural Service, Diversity Leadership & Management from the School for International Training and a B.A. in Spanish from Eastern Michigan University. Hailed a graduate school expert by NPR, she has published numerous articles on the experiences of historically underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students. She is the creator of the African American Doctoral Scholars Initiative at the University of Utah and currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Higher Education at The George Washington University .

Publishing as a student can feel intimidating. Why is this process important for learners to go through?

Long gone are the days of getting a good job by just having a solid dissertation or an award-winning thesis. Publishing your work while in school demonstrates a commitment to answering and understanding our world’s most complex problems. Further, institutions want to know that you have the capacity to publish. Now, publishing doesn’t mean you have to be first author or that you must publish sole-authored pieces only. Collaboration is also sufficient and often encouraged. The publishing process is intimidating for folks because it involves critique and, most often, rejection.

Receiving and giving critical feedback is part of the learning process and students should not shy away from it because it will only serve them well in the end as they learn to cope with disappointment and reward. But more importantly, there is no point spending months and years conducting research if you are just going to keep your findings to yourself. What you learn is meant to be shared.

What are some common mistakes these learners make when preparing their first papers?

Common mistakes that individuals make include not adhering to the guidelines outlined in the submission process. Examples of this can include ignoring formatting requirements (e.g. APA, MLA, etc.), going over the stated word count, inadequately proofreading, and not submitting a cover letter. This is probably the most important one.

What specific advice do you have for them in terms of finding the right outlet, preparing their work, and submitting to journals?

Students should have multiple individuals read over their work before submission. Writing is a process and even after it is submitted, it will need to be revised many more times before you will read it in print. It is part of the process. To find a good outlet for your work, pay attention to where other scholars are submitting their work. If you’re subject is aligned with theirs, you have a shot. Make a list of at least three outlets that fit your article. Also look out for special calls. A special call for submissions usually goes a lot faster than the regular submission process, so if you’re a student who is about to go on the job market, submit to those first. Also, the more competitive the academic, the longer the process, so keep that in mind. If you are rejected, just re-submit to the the next journal on your list.

In addition to publishing in journals, how else might a student go about getting recognition in their field while still in school?

Apply for all fellowships, grants, and awards that are specific to you and what you do. People in the academy love an award winner and they especially love people whose work has been recognized and/or funded by outside groups. A great way to increase a student’s visibility is to publish outside academic journals and publish in other media outlets. Also attend conferences in your field. Try to get on the program as a presenter or facilitator so that people in your field will start to know who you are and your research interests.

• Translation

Understanding and preparing a ‘PhD by Publication’

By charlesworth author services.

• Charlesworth Author Services
• 12 April, 2022

The importance of publication for the academic

The reality is that to “survive” academia, publications are a must . Employers and funding bodies will review your publication history to factor into their decision-making. To better prepare for this reality, an increasing number of institutions are beginning to allow PhD students to submit their body of published literature that they have created during their PhD programme as the thesis that they would need to produce for earning their degree.

‘PhD by publication’ explained

A PhD by publication (also known as a paper-based thesis ) does what it says on the tin: it’s a mode of submission that allows the candidate to submit their body of published work created during their PhD as a thesis. The idea is to help graduates hit the ground running with a publication history that will help them on their next steps as researchers. While not universally accepted at the time of writing/publishing this article, it is an emerging model that has become more popular in certain disciplines and institutions.

Note: PhDs don’t typically focus on publications

During your PhD, while you are encouraged to actively engage with the publication process, it isn’t usually the focus. There will be a long and arduous learning curve , most likely for the first half of your PhD, where you improve your skills to take on the bulk of the PhD work. In fact, many PhD students report that the bulk of the content for their thesis was created in the final year of their degree.

Getting started with a PhD by publication

That said, if you are considering or have been advised to do a PhD by publication, then the best time to translate this into action is as early as possible. Here’s what you’ll need to think about:

• Find out i f your institution allows PhD by publication (if it’s something you’ve thought of rather than something you were advised to do).
• Identify the stage a publication needs to be at to qualify as submission for examination for your doctoral qualification. For example, some institutions do not require that the PhD candidates have actually had their papers accepted and published, but just that the papers are prepared to a sufficient standard that is ready for submission .

Considerations and challenges in preparing a PhD by publication

A. deciding on the number of papers.

While there is no set number of publications you’ll need to publish, you’ll want to think about how many papers you’ll need to prepare to adequately communicate the full extent of your research to your examiners, and think about timing accordingly . If you are in a STEM discipline, you’ll also want to factor in time for extra experimentation, if required.

b. Considering co-authorship

Make sure you also consider co-authorship as a reflection of your contribution to the research. Don’t feel the need to publish by yourself and do all of the work alone. It is not uncommon to co-author papers, particularly if you are doing your PhD as part of a larger research project and group, and so these collaboratively written papers may still be accepted as part of your submission. However, consider the contribution you made to the piece, and consult with your institution to make sure that whatever you plan to produce would be acceptable.

c. Undergoing peer review

Finally, a common thought to this mode of submission will likely be:

What if I don’t pass peer review?

While a valid concern, it’s important to remember that rejection is a part of the publication process , and d oes not necessarily reflect the quality of your work . Also bear in mind that you don’t usually need to decide on whether you would prefer to opt for a ‘PhD by publication’ at the commencement of your PhD programme. So, you will still be able to submit a more traditional thesis should your publication plans not pan out.

A thesis by publication can be a worthy undertaking to add additional challenge to your PhD journey. It will teach you to go through the motions of what researchers rely on for their next project: publications. So, if you feel up for the challenge and your institution allows it, then go for it! Just remember the key points discussed in this article and ensure that you prepare your submission according to the specific requirements of your institution .

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• Psychology [Psy.D. / Ph.D.]

Has anyone here been accepted into a PhD program without significant research experience?

• Thread starter Meteora
• Start date Jan 5, 2016

Full Member

• Jan 5, 2016

Psychologist

Spent like a year and a half on a research team. Only one poster, and I wasn't even first author. Still got in to a fully funded PhD program.  

GoPokes said: Spent like a year and a half on a research team. Only one poster, and I wasn't even first author. Still got in to a fully funded PhD program. Click to expand...

• Jan 6, 2016

Meteora said: Wow, so it is...possible!? May I possibly inquire on what some of your other stats were that aided in your admission into a program, or what factors you think really helped you? Another thing that I am worried about is that my approach to volunteering/supplemental experience has always been to stay at one place for a while and try to contribute as much as I can. I could never be that person who worked in 2 labs at the same time while volunteering at a hospital and also doing a crisis hotline etc. In addition to my classes, half my time is spent at a research lab on campus and the other half at a clinic. I work hard at both of those places, but I wonder if not having more experiences at different places will hurt my chances. Click to expand...

AcronymAllergy

Neuropsychologist.

I had two years' worth of research experience (simultaneously in two labs) with no posters or publications and ended up landing an offer at a funded clinical Ph.D. program. My other stats weren't particularly staggering, either--3.4-ish GPA and mid-1300's GRE (the latter of which did help a bit). Apparently my then-POI just really liked my personal statement.  

If the experience was high quality, I don't think this should be an absolute barrier to you. I assume you aren't looking at extremely research-heavy programs anyways - that is where you may run into issues in that regard. Even my clinical science program routinely accepted some outstanding candidates who didn't have any posters/pubs. I think I was 3rd of 4 authors on one regional conference presentation (and the presentation was about a student organization and wasn't even science-based) when applying and that was it. Still got into a clinical science program (admittedly now almost a decade ago). Its likely even less of an issue at less research heavy institutions (where I assume you will be looking given your goals). Either way, don't let anxiety drive major decisions about your career/life path. Same advice I'd give a patient. I think its responsible for a lot of the bad decisions we see on this board ("I'll never get in, so let me just apply to the schools that accept everyone"). Worst case scenario - you don't get in the first round and have to apply again a year later. Whoopdee doo. The world won't end and you can adjust your goals downward as needed or build experience to be more competitive the year after.  

Justanothergrad

Counseling psychologist.

It all depends on the program. More research intensive programs will be less likely to admit folks without research experience, but its not impossible and it still regularly happens. Those folks offer something else.  

OP, your anxiety is totally understandable given how competitive funded PhD programs are, but it sounds like you have a reasonable chance. More people than we realize apply to these programs with no research experience at all--they are probably not serious competition for you. When I was applying, I made sure to have at least a year in a research lab, but it was only a year, and it was a qualitative research lab at a small university. I think I got interviews in large part because of my personal statement and other written materials that accompanied each application. I worked hard to match myself to every single lab I applied to, which of course meant more work. (To be honest, my undergrad institution probably helped a lot--it's one of those that everyone has heard of and impresses people far more than it probably should!) It seems like it's all over but the anxiety--you have done the work and you're planning to apply to good programs. Unless the anxiety motivates you to put more effort into each application, it doesn't serve you now. You can't do anything about your competition or where the field is, so just try to let go of some of those things you can't control.  

DynamicDidactic

Still kickin'.

OP, the whole of your application is the most important. If you have good grades, good GREs, supportive letters, well thought out and written personal state, and research experience, but no posters then you will be ahead of 50% of applicants. As other said, the top tier research places may not work out but many fully funded PhDs will be interested. In a case like this, you really want to make sure that your letter writers are impressed by your work. However, you still have plenty of time to put together a poster. Remember, local conference by your local Psych Ass or a school conference would be fine.  

SharkBait13

Phd student - counseling psych.

• Jan 11, 2016

smalltownpsych

SharkBait13 said: years of masters-level clinical experience Click to expand...

EmotRegulation

Faculty member here. It is typical to squelch your *talking* about wanting to be a therapist for most programs. Don't worry, it's not like we don't know that the modal career outcome is clinical. It's just that we don't want to take students who will moan and groan about doing research while in school or about learning the evidence base. There ARE programs that want primarily research focused students--those are Clinical Science programs, and they don't sound like the right fit for you. But it does make sense to focus on your research experience and what you'd like to learn about (study) in-depth while in graduate school. Also, we got a LOT of applicants from people who don't have posters or publications. We also get a lot of applications from people who've never worked in a research lab. Students with posters and pubs stand out, but good applicants without conference or publication experience absolutely get offers.  

• Jan 12, 2016

Meteora said: Is this true (and something that could be generalized to most doctoral programs)? It is a real shame, because I am rather proud of the clinical exposure I've received through my volunteering. It's had a very strong effect on my understanding of certain disorders, and only reaffirmed the importance of evidence-based therapy for me (and thus the value of being able to produce and synthesize research as it will inform my clinical work). That is actually a topic I've been worried about. In applying to PhD programs, the consensus from what it seems is that I should spend the majority of my application talking about my research experience and should not at all mention that my main goal is to be a therapist. Click to expand...

smalltownpsych said: You misunderstood my point. I was commenting on how someone with lots of experience can often be difficult to train. Most balanced programs understand that they will be training clinicians more than researchers so you don't have to hide that, but research is a core competency. That is why psychologists are aware that the current best evidence on EMDR points to the eye movements not being additive to the effects of exposure therapy. Click to expand...

deleted343839

smalltownpsych said: We had one person who fit that description in our cohort and they were pretty frustrating at times because they "already knew it". They were also a big advocate of EMDR and no one could squelch that notion either. Click to expand...

Board Certified in Clinical Neuropsychology

SharkBait13 said: I know this isn't the main topic of this thread, but I'd love to hear more about this. Most practitioners, teachers, and trainees I have encountered seem to hold such differing opinions on this, and I'd love some clarity on the topic. Can you recommend a few articles about this? Click to expand...

Here is one study I found http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16382428 At this point the burden of proof is on the EMDR people to show that the eye movements improve outcomes over other forms of exposure therapy.  

Thanks guys!  

• Jan 21, 2016

I'm struggling with this as well, as I went the MA route and received a few years practicing as a therapist. I'm now ready to continue my education and am feeling daunted by my complete lack of research experience (and now the thought that my clinical experience might be seen as a negative is rather overwhelming).  

• Jan 31, 2016

ayerhead said: I'm struggling with this as well, as I went the MA route and received a few years practicing as a therapist. I'm now ready to continue my education and am feeling daunted by my complete lack of research experience (and now the thought that my clinical experience might be seen as a negative is rather overwhelming). Click to expand...

Counseling psych PhD programs are much more amenable to training someone without existing research exp  

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A recipe for zero-emissions fuel: Soda cans, seawater, and caffeine

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A sustainable source for clean energy may lie in old soda cans and seawater.

MIT engineers have found that when the aluminum in soda cans is exposed in its pure form and mixed with seawater, the solution bubbles up and naturally produces hydrogen — a gas that can be subsequently used to power an engine or fuel cell without generating carbon emissions. What’s more, this simple reaction can be sped up by adding a common stimulant: caffeine.

In a study appearing today in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science , the researchers show they can produce hydrogen gas by dropping pretreated, pebble-sized aluminum pellets into a beaker of filtered seawater. The aluminum is pretreated with a rare-metal alloy that effectively scrubs aluminum into a pure form that can react with seawater to generate hydrogen. The salt ions in the seawater can in turn attract and recover the alloy, which can be reused to generate more hydrogen, in a sustainable cycle.

The team found that this reaction between aluminum and seawater successfully produces hydrogen gas, though slowly. On a lark, they tossed into the mix some coffee grounds and found, to their surprise, that the reaction picked up its pace.

In the end, the team discovered that a low concentration of imidazole — an active ingredient in caffeine — is enough to significantly speed up the reaction, producing the same amount of hydrogen in just five minutes, compared to two hours without the added stimulant.

The researchers are developing a small reactor that could run on a marine vessel or underwater vehicle. The vessel would hold a supply of aluminum pellets (recycled from old soda cans and other aluminum products), along with a small amount of gallium-indium and caffeine. These ingredients could be periodically funneled into the reactor, along with some of the surrounding seawater, to produce hydrogen on demand. The hydrogen could then fuel an onboard engine to drive a motor or generate electricity to power the ship.

“This is very interesting for maritime applications like boats or underwater vehicles because you wouldn’t have to carry around seawater — it’s readily available,” says study lead author Aly Kombargi, a PhD student in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. “We also don’t have to carry a tank of hydrogen. Instead, we would transport aluminum as the ‘fuel,’ and just add water to produce the hydrogen that we need.”

The study’s co-authors include Enoch Ellis, an undergraduate in chemical engineering; Peter Godart PhD ’21, who has founded a company to recycle aluminum as a source of hydrogen fuel; and Douglas Hart, MIT professor of mechanical engineering.

The MIT team, led by Hart, is developing efficient and sustainable methods to produce hydrogen gas, which is seen as a “green” energy source that could power engines and fuel cells without generating climate-warming emissions.

One drawback to fueling vehicles with hydrogen is that some designs would require the gas to be carried onboard like traditional gasoline in a tank — a risky setup, given hydrogen’s volatile potential. Hart and his team have instead looked for ways to power vehicles with hydrogen without having to constantly transport the gas itself.

They found a possible workaround in aluminum — a naturally abundant and stable material that, when in contact with water, undergoes a straightforward chemical reaction that generates hydrogen and heat.

The reaction, however, comes with a sort of Catch-22: While aluminum can generate hydrogen when it mixes with water, it can only do so in a pure, exposed state. The instant aluminum meets with oxygen, such as in air, the surface immediately forms a thin, shield-like layer of oxide that prevents further reactions. This barrier is the reason hydrogen doesn’t immediately bubble up when you drop a soda can in water.

In previous work, using fresh water, the team found they could pierce aluminum’s shield and keep the reaction with water going by pretreating the aluminum with a small amount of rare metal alloy made from a specific concentration of gallium and indium. The alloy serves as an “activator,” scrubbing away any oxide buildup and creating a pure aluminum surface that is free to react with water. When they ran the reaction in fresh, de-ionized water, they found that one pretreated pellet of aluminum produced 400 milliliters of hydrogen in just five minutes. They estimate that just 1 gram of pellets would generate 1.3 liters of hydrogen in the same amount of time.

But to further scale up the system would require a significant supply of gallium indium, which is relatively expensive and rare.

“For this idea to be cost-effective and sustainable, we had to work on recovering this alloy postreaction,” Kombargi says.

In the team’s new work, they found they could retrieve and reuse gallium indium using a solution of ions. The ions — atoms or molecules with an electrical charge — protect the metal alloy from reacting with water and help it to precipitate into a form that can be scooped out and reused.   

“Lucky for us, seawater is an ionic solution that is very cheap and available,” says Kombargi, who tested the idea with seawater from a nearby beach. “I literally went to Revere Beach with a friend and we grabbed our bottles and filled them, and then I just filtered out algae and sand, added aluminum to it, and it worked with the same consistent results.”

He found that hydrogen indeed bubbled up when he added aluminum to a beaker of filtered seawater. And he was able to scoop out the gallium indium afterward. But the reaction happened much more slowly than it did in fresh water. It turns out that the ions in seawater act to shield gallium indium, such that it can coalesce and be recovered after the reaction. But the ions have a similar effect on aluminum, building up a barrier that slows its reaction with water.

As they looked for ways to speed up the reaction in seawater, the researchers tried out various and unconventional ingredients.

“We were just playing around with things in the kitchen, and found that when we added coffee grounds into seawater and dropped aluminum pellets in, the reaction was quite fast compared to just seawater,” Kombargi says.

To see what might explain the speedup, the team reached out to colleagues in MIT’s chemistry department, who suggested they try imidazole — an active ingredient in caffeine, which happens to have a molecular structure that can pierce through aluminum (allowing the material to continue reacting with water), while leaving gallium indium’s ionic shield intact.

“That was our big win,” Kombargi says. “We had everything we wanted: recovering the gallium indium, plus the fast and efficient reaction.”

The researchers believe they have the essential ingredients to run a sustainable hydrogen reactor. They plan to test it first in marine and underwater vehicles. They’ve calculated that such a reactor, holding about 40 pounds of aluminum pellets, could power a small underwater glider for about 30 days by pumping in surrounding seawater and generating hydrogen to power a motor.

“We’re showing a new way to produce hydrogen fuel, without carrying hydrogen but carrying aluminum as the ‘fuel,’” Kombargi says. “The next part is to figure out how to use this for trucks, trains, and maybe airplanes. Perhaps, instead of having to carry water as well, we could extract water from the ambient humidity to produce hydrogen. That’s down the line.”

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Was the Shooting of Donald Trump “Political Violence” or Something Else?

Bu experts point to possible bullying and america’s gun culture as more likely roots of the attack.

Donald Trump was helped off stage after his July 13 shooting, an assassination attempt that appears motivated by non-political factors. Photo via Getty Images/Anna Moneymaker

Rich Barlow

Despite the nation’s polarized politics, Donald Trump’s near-assassination on July 13 united Republican leaders, their Democratic counterparts, and the media about one thing: the attack was “political violence,” officially defined as “ the deliberate use of power and force to achieve political goals .”

“America’s Political Violence Crisis,” Time magazine trumpeted two days after Thomas Crooks’ bullet grazed the former president’s ear. Foreign Affairs magazine published “The Rising Tide of Political Violence: An Attempted Assassination of Trump Is Part of a Global Trend.” Senator J. D. Vance (R-Ohio), days before being nominated as Trump’s running mate and mere hours after the shooting, tweeted that President Joe Biden’s accusations about the Republican nominee’s authoritarianism “led directly” to the attempt on Trump’s life. Biden agreed that Americans needed to “cool it” with incendiary words—including himself, admitting error in saying it was “time to put Trump in a bullseye” before the attack.

Two weeks removed, however, experts say Crooks’ motives may have been more attention-getting than political. His planning was bipartisan: a review of his phone showed searches for Trump as well as Biden, and the Democratic National Convention. Investigators also say the 20-year-old had been bullied in school and grown enamored of gun culture. 

A mass shootings expert told the New York Times that while targeting a politician made the shooting appear politically motivated, Crooks might have wanted rather to commit mass violence, with the nearby rally making a convenient venue. The shooter researched John Kennedy’s assassination online and apparently registered for the rally on the same day, one week before the event.

“Epidemiological studies show that the vast majority of individuals with serious mental illness are never violent,” says Nicholas Wagner , assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at the College of Arts & Sciences. He studies, among other things, risk factors that can influence or predict the likelihood of violent behavior in adolescence and adulthood.

Epidemiological studies show that the vast majority of individuals with serious mental illness are never violent. Nicholas Wagner

Similarly, not all people who are bullied or own guns turn violent. But both can become entwined with gun violence, Boston University experts on those topics say.

“Taken together, research evidence indicates an association between bullying victimization and weapon-carrying,” says bullying expert Melissa Holt . The director of Kilachand Honors College and professor of counseling psychology at Wheelock College of Education & Human Development, Holt says that “to understand which youth might be at greatest risk” for carrying weapons at schools, “additional factors—e.g., peer aggression—should be considered.”

Taken together, research evidence indicates an association between bullying victimization and weapon-carrying. Melissa Holt

Parents and teachers can be on the lookout for specific warning signs that a child is being bullied, Holt adds, including “somatic symptoms—headaches, stomach aches—a decline in academic grades, avoidance of social situations or prior friends, changes in mental health, and difficulty sleeping.”

Reducing the incidence of bullying requires “evidence-based bullying prevention programs that take a whole-school approach,” involving the entire school community, she says. “Schools should also maintain clear policies on bullying and practices for reporting and responding to bullying that align with best practices .”

As for guns, “there is an abundance of evidence showing a strong correlation between lax firearm laws, high presence of firearms, and higher rates of gun violence,” says Michael Ulrich , associate professor of health law, policy, and management at the School of Public Health.

Ulrich, who has a joint appointment at the School of Law, says that “when we talk about gun culture, I think it’s important that we don’t treat gun owners as a monolith.… Gun culture was centered on hunting and precision shooting for much of history before a shift to self-defense that was largely orchestrated by the [National Rifle Association].” That shift germinated a “‘good guys with guns versus bad guys with guns’ binary that, I think, contributes to an accompanying righteousness for some people, who believe guns are a way to punish or to release their emotions.

It’s important that we don’t treat gun owners as a monolith.… Gun culture was centered on hunting and precision shooting for much of history before a shift to self-defense that was largely orchestrated by the [National Rifle Association]. Michael Ulrich

“The growing normalization of guns and gun violence is a dangerous combination,” he says. The problem is that it’s hard to predict who may turn violent and when, especially with young people, Ulrich says: “Generally, we should worry about people who demonstrate things like anger and a lack of empathy in combination with a fondness for or access to guns, and a lack of respect or appreciation for the harm they can cause.”

“One of the best predictors of gun violence is access to guns,” agrees Wagner. He cites research to argue that there’s a “robust association between gun ownership and firearm homicide rates in the US between 1981 and 2010.”

Red flag laws , under which judges can order firearms taken from someone deemed dangerous by police and family, can help in such situations, Ulrich says, though research suggests they may curb suicides more than attacks on others. “Age restrictions are also useful,” he adds. “Younger people are more impulsive, willing to ignore risks, and less likely to think long-term. We have started seeing third parties, such as parents, held accountable for shootings when they negligently enable access to guns or break the law themselves.”

For mass shootings, “restrictions on large-capacity magazines and semiautomatic rifles can be useful,” says Ulrich. (Crooks used an AR-15-style rifle.) But “there is no single solution for our gun violence problem, so a number of laws will be important in reducing shooting incidents—but also in shifting our gun culture to have a greater understanding and appreciation for the risk and harm of firearms.”

Wagner sees value in “ carefully working towards identifying specific indicators of risk” for violence—gun violence included—but “we should ensure we are committing energy to gun policies that we know will reduce gun-related deaths,” while also investing in “strategies that we know will support children’s healthy development and protect against pathways toward violence.”

Ultimately, Ulrich says, responsible firearms owners may be the best allies in “helping to change the gun culture and reinstall the respect and appreciation that should accompany firearm ownership. Trusted messengers are always more likely to have an impact within their own community. They can also help to advocate for gun safety measures that can mitigate gun violence while leaving Second Amendment rights in place.”

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There are 2 comments on Was the Shooting of Donald Trump “Political Violence” or Something Else?

Maybe the Secret Service was bullied into not securing the nearest roof?

“Epidemiological studies show that the vast majority of individuals *who own firearms* are never violent,” Ok, nice orchestrated hit piece on gun owners disguised as an article about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Millions of Americans own firearms. Millions of Americans don’t try to kill the former president at a campaign stop. There’s far more to this story than what is in this article, and what’s being widely reported. WAY too many ‘coincidences’ and outright lies told by the actors in charge of the security. Things cease to be conspiracy theories when they continually turn out to be true.

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To do today: attend the annual feast of saint agrippina in the north end, to do today: free outdoor screening of godzilla 2000: millennium on the rose kennedy greenway, biden calls for supreme court reforms–but are there better options, pov: what is the “right” population for earth, and who should decide, has the us hit the “soft landing” of controlling inflation without a recession, penny bishop, adolescent development scholar, appointed new dean of wheelock college, bu radiologist heads to the paris summer olympics, to do today: seaport sweat, to do today: watch 46 plays for america’s first ladies, who won the two free tickets to deadpool & wolverine tonight, to do today: catch a free outdoor screening of jaws at the anchor boston, bu’s framingham heart study gets new director, the rewards of working as rural docs, pov: sisterhood for the win, living with a rare disease, this recent grad is trying to help others like herself, to do today: kayaking on the charles river, to do today: central square farmers market, biden drops out of presidential race—what it means, and what comes next, artem dunks is a bu phd.

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Completing PhD with no publication

I went straight from my undergrad into a PhD program and have been in the program for a little more than 3 years now. The plan was to complete within 3 years but I had to do a lot of changes all thanks to the pandemic. Because of that, alongside minimal supervision, I did not manage to publish any of my work. I’d be submitting my thesis next month just shy of the 3.5 years mark and there isn’t any publication requirement for my University but I’m now stressing out about not having any publications. I don’t have plans to stay in academia but would that affect getting a job in industry?

Edit: for those in industry/consulting field, when did you start looking for a job?

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BREAKING: Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan released in massive prisoner exchange with Russia

Kamala Harris' 2020 campaign was a mess. If she replaces Biden, this time could be a lot different.

WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris had one great day in her ill-fated 2020 presidential campaign: her first.

Then came a rapid collapse.

The freshman senator who announced her candidacy in January 2019 before 20,000 cheering supporters in Oakland, California, dropped out in December before a single vote had been cast.

By the time she quit, Harris lacked money, a message and a cohesive campaign operation — all ingredients of a successful candidacy.

It was a hard fall for someone whose youth and biracial identity evoked the appeal of the last Democratic president, Barack Obama.

“I have mixed emotions about it,” her rival and the eventual winner, Joe Biden, said upon hearing she had withdrawn from the Democratic nomination contest. He called her a “first-rate intellect.”

Now, Harris is set to get another shot. As the sitting vice president, she is a leading candidate to succeed Biden after his exit from the race, receiving his immediate endorsement. Other elected officials might step forward to challenge Harris, dividing Democrats and clouding the general election picture ahead of a November showdown with Donald Trump.

“I know there are people working behind the scenes who think she may not be the best one suited to take us to victory,” said Maria Cardona, a member of the Democratic National Committee’s rules panel, speaking before Biden's withdrawal. “If that is seen as a full-on, inorganic tactic that is being led by senior people within the Democratic Party, there will be a civil war inside the Democratic Party the likes of which we will not survive.”

With only a few months to wage a campaign against Trump, Harris couldn’t afford to repeat the mistakes that tanked her last presidential bid. There would be little time to recover. Hers would need to be a virtually error-free sprint to Election Day.

When Harris gave that announcement speech before a hometown crowd five years ago, her prospects seemed dazzling. A Monmouth University poll released the week after she entered the race showed her running third in a crowded Democratic field that eventually numbered more than two dozen. With 11% support, she trailed only Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, both of whom had run presidential races before.

Harris had earned her bona fides as a former prosecutor and had distinguished herself in Senate committees as a feared interrogator who could pick apart a witness’s testimony.

A pro-Harris super PAC prepared an ad that showed her grilling Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and two Trump-era attorneys general, William Barr and Jeff Sessions.

It never aired. On the day the $1 million ad buy was supposed to begin running, Harris dropped out.

Making the leap from state to national politics proved daunting for her. Rivals like Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren had spent much of their adult lives steeped in policy.

Harris hadn’t mastered policy questions that dominated the Democratic debates. She had originally backed Sanders’ “Medicare for all” plan, but later released her own version that carved out a continued role for private insurers.

She quickly faced incoming fire from the left and center of the ideological spectrum.

Sanders’ aides denounced her proposal as a “terrible policy.” Biden’s campaign joined the attack, warning that she would undercut Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act.

“She was trying to figure out where she landed in the primary field on a bunch of issues,” one of her former California campaign advisers said. As a state official, Harris “hadn’t had to deal with that level of nuance.”

Another policy stumble marred what seemed to be her breakthrough moment. In a debate in June, she attacked Biden for opposing school busing in the 1970s.

Harris mentioned a “little girl” in California who had been bused to school every day. “That little girl was me,” she said. Within hours of the exchange, her campaign triumphantly started selling “That little girl was me” T-shirts for $29.99 apiece.

But after the debate, she struggled to offer a consistent answer to whether she believed federally mandated busing should be used to integrate schools.

A Biden campaign aide seized on the equivocation, tweeting that she was “tying herself in knots trying not to answer the very question she posed” to Biden.

This time, instead of facing off against fellow Democrats, Harris would be able to elevate one to serve as her running mate. She would have a plethora of promising choices to balance the ticket, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, all of whom won in places where Trump performed well.

Admirers say that Harris has grown in the job. Early in her campaign, she traveled to South Carolina and spoke to a group of Democratic women.

“The woman that I met in early 2019 was not as confident and was significantly more tentative in the way she presented herself to potential voters,” Amanda Loveday, a senior adviser to a pro-Biden super PAC called Unite the Country, said before Biden withdrew.

While affirming she wanted Biden to remain at the top of the ticket, Loveday said of the vice president: “The woman I met back then is very different from the woman I see on TV today. She’s grown as a leader and she has developed more confidence.”

Both Harris’ government office and the Biden-Harris campaign declined to comment for this article before Biden's withdrawal.

A campaign is akin to an expensive startup business on a national scale. It needs an inspirational candidate, but it also relies on a unified staff. Harris didn’t have one. People close to the campaign say that lines of authority were blurred between Harris’ sister and campaign chairwoman, Maya Harris, and other advisers who’d worked on her state races but weren’t blood relatives.

In November 2019, a campaign staff member wrote a letter, obtained by The New York Times , that depicted a campaign in crisis.

“Campaigns have highs and lows, mistakes and miscalculations,” wrote Kelly Mehlenbacher. “But because we have refused to confront our mistakes, foster an environment of critical thinking and honest feedback, or trust the expertise of talented staff, we find ourselves making the same unforced errors over and over.”

By that point, Harris was running fifth, her poll numbers down to 6%. Money was dwindling, accelerating the downward spiral. That fall, Harris’ campaign laid off staff and moved others from her national headquarters in Baltimore to Iowa to save money.

Any hope of reviving her candidacy with a strong showing in the Iowa caucuses in January was short-lived. On Dec. 3, Harris dropped out. She emailed staff that she “simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue.”

A Harris sequel would look nothing like the original, former advisers said. She’d be buoyed by a Democratic Party that would coalesce behind her, desperate to defeat Trump. Donors who’ve bailed on Biden might take a fresh look at the race with a younger candidate atop the ticket.

She would also likely inherit the parts of Biden’s campaign that are working — like the massive field and data operation s that are designed to drive voter turnout. While Biden’s most senior aides would likely be gone, many rank-and-file campaign staff with long resumes may choose to remain.

Harris’ background as a prosecutor could prove advantageous in a future debate. Rather than sparring with fellow Democrats over health care and education policy, she would be boring in on Trump’s criminal conviction in Manhattan.

“Literally everything” would be different, starting with her pitch to voters, a longtime Harris adviser told NBC News. “It is a three-month sprint and not a two-year slog.”

Peter Nicholas is a senior White House reporter for NBC News.

Katherine Doyle is a White House reporter for NBC News.

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How to make up for lack of publications in CV?

Just for some background information: I’m currently enrolled in a MS/PhD integrated program and finished my first semester last fall. I’m planning to opt out and apply to PhD programs this year and if all goes well then I’ll be attending school in the fall of 2021.

I’ve been looking into schools, labs, and professors that I may be interested in working with, and have fortunately found quite a few. Just an FYI, my field of interest is geometric deep learning in CS.

It is a little early to be asking, but I’ve sent emails asking professors if they believe they’ll have spots open in their labs for 2021. Some professors specify on their websites that if you’re going to send an email to attach a CV.

As of writing this, I don’t have any publications in journals or conferences. I submitted one as the second author in January to an international conference, and am involved in three other projects. However, I’m not sure if the results for the acceptance or rejection for these papers will be announced by the time I actually apply. Thus, the “Publications” section of my CV would essentially be blank.

What would be some advice for someone in my position? Should I specify the progress of the work that I’m doing or elaborate on my research interests?

Any tips or advice are appreciated. Thanks in advance!

• graduate-admissions

• Thanks for the comment. I assumed that research interests were put on your CV as well as it seems that every professor's CV I look at they included it in a separate section. –  Sean Commented Feb 23, 2020 at 1:31

2 Answers 2

As of writing this, I don’t have any publications in journals or conferences. I submitted one as the second author in January to an international conference, and am involved in three other projects.

I cannot speak for admissions committees, but this looks really strong. You have already submitted a paper, and you are involved in not just one but four research projects. As such, you will want to make sure to highlight this at the very top of your CV.

To highlight it, I would not include a "Publications" section, but include a "Papers", and put in submission or draft for as many papers as that applies. (This is a common structure for academic CVs, even for mid-level PhD students.) I would also include a separate section for "Research Experience" or "Research Projects" and list everything you have been involved in.

If you are confident about naming research areas, including research interests at the top of your CV is also a plus. Morgan Rogers' comment is correct that this should be very brief, only bulleted keywords (e.g. "Geometric Deep Learning"). In my area of CS this is perfectly normal (although definitely not expected, particularly for someone who is only applying to a PhD, and not yet a student).

This related question is about if you have no research experience. Fortunately, having significant research experience but no publications puts you in a far better position.

• 3 Good answer! About the suggestion to include research interests, be careful not to name too many/too diverse research areas -- an excessive namedropping may come off as unfocused. Ideally, the given research areas should match the ones of the submitted/drafted papers. –  lighthouse keeper Commented Feb 23, 2020 at 12:58
• 1 @lighthousekeeper I agree. If you are not certain of precise research areas, better to leave it off and just explain in your cover letter. Or have someone who is an expert look it over to make sure you are at the right level of specificity. –  Caleb Stanford Commented Feb 23, 2020 at 16:29
• Hi! Thanks for the encouraging answer and comments. I was just curious and wanted to ask. Those other three projects I’m involved in, I’ll probably only submit one of them as a first author. Will it be a problem if I’m not the first author? I guess I’m feeling anxious because it seems the programs I’m aiming for are much more competitive than I thought, and even students with stellar publication history get rejected. –  Sean Commented Feb 23, 2020 at 23:54
• 1 @Seankala I know that ML is competitive and may have higher standards than other areas, so I cannot answer that definitively. But in general, papers are good, and it is of less importance whether they are first-author. I would not worry. :) Put together the best application that you can. –  Caleb Stanford Commented Feb 24, 2020 at 14:27

If I were you, I would list four publications. It is normal to list publications as "submitted" "in press" or even "in preparation".

I wouldn't abuse the last one, especially if you have a lot already (you don't). But I think in your case, it makes sense to do that.

Sure, it's possible that no paper comes out of one of the three in progress projects. Or even that two come out of one project and none out of another. But it's clear that ANY publication, not finally accepted may still fall out (even a submitted or in press one).

If it makes you feel better ethically, you could start a Word file on each of the three projects that are likely to get published and just write an outline (and I mean a very high level outline). The good thing is this sort of practice (starter file for an in process project) may prompt you to get them over the goal line, rather than dropping off and never getting your merit badge. Sometimes doing this actually gets me motivated to do the research itself!

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