Importance of publications for grad school?

[jimmy shergill]

I have completed my four year bachelors degree program in Electronics and Telecommunication from India. Academics are average.

By this time i have only managed to publish just a single paper on GLOBAL WARMING implementing engineering basics and technology to eradicate its effects within "WSEAS transactions proceedings".

Sorry, but with complete modesty, I seriously dont know how much importance just one publication might hold.

1.) Can you elaborate its significance please as I might be quite ignorant to know it ?

2.) Also does anybody here know how much significance WSEAS publication holds ?

3.) I wish to pursue Masters in Electrical Engineering as major or Physics (its my first preference ) from sweden. Would this publication prove to be beneficial as far as admission is concerned in top universities or schools ?

Regards.



P.S.

For more about publications, I am providing the link : http://www.wseas.org/conferences/2008/bucharest/cgb/

Still my transactions are yet to arrive but atleast this website can give u an idea of its significance (which I am not able to determine).

If still it seems that I am still reluctant in informing you something which I should inform you, I but havent, please feel free to point that out. I am quite novice to this kind of forum an posting stuff.

[tmc]

From the link, it appears the publication was not peer-reviewed; is that correct?

Also, was the paper a technical paper about global warming, or is it basically you talking about how engineering can solve everything?

[jimmy shergill]

Dear tmc,

The publication was substantially scrutinized and peer reviewed for the selection. I also got the reviewers comments as to revise my paper after its selection.

It was a paper which technically proved, atleast in theory, how the concepts of engineering can be of help in solving the problem of global warming by being able to generate ozone in the ozone layer. It involves the concept of "potential difference", "duct wave propagation" and "an experiment conducted to prove the research" as a part of engineering/technical basics and chemistry insights as to how chemical reactions involved can generate ozone as a compensation for lost ozone layer.

Regards.

[jimmy shergill]

Sorry, but with complete modesty, I seriously dont know how much importance just one publication might hold.

1.) Can you elaborate its significance please as I might be quite ignorant to know it ?

2.) Also does anybody here know how much significance WSEAS publication holds ?

3.) I wish to pursue Masters in Electrical Engineering as major or Physics (its my first preference ) from sweden. Would this publication prove to be beneficial as far as admission is concerned in top universities or schools ?

Still I didnt receive any reply for these queries made in the first post.

Please can anybody provide me with any decent answer ?

Regards.

[tmc]

It is fairly significant; any publication always looks great on grad school applications.

[twistor]

Publications are more important than you PGRE score.

[jimmy shergill]

Hey !

Thank you friends!

So, only one publication till date is done. Is that enough or should it be much much more ?

How many publication you all hold ?

[abeboparebop]

Hey !

Thank you friends!

So, only one publication till date is done. Is that enough or should it be much much more ?

How many publication you all hold ?

I believe that most students, even applicants at top schools, don't have any publications going in to the application process. I personally will not. Even one publication is a significant advantage. However, I don't know if committees will have higher expectations for students with a master's.

[stardust]

If you have them, do you have to be first author to count?

I don't think you need them for grad. school. It's not a situation students can
control. As long as you did some research, they can't say what should be published
and what shouldn't. But, like anything else, it probably gets you more noticed
and its a shallow measurement like the pgre, so it probably does help in a shallow way.

[jimmy shergill]

Please have a look at the following link for an example of the WSEAS proceedings.

http://www.wseas.us/e-library/conferenc ... /mnw00.pdf

On page 3 it clearly states,

"All papers of the present volume were peer reviewed by two independent reviewers. Acceptance was granted when both reviewers' recommendations were positive.
See also: http://www.worldses.org/review/index.html

World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society"

Modestly speaking, what do you suggest ? Are the papers given here can be termed "publication" or not ?

[tmc]

It's a peer-reviewed conference proceeding. Label it as such.

[stardust]

It doesn't seem to be the same rigorous peer-review process a journal paper undergoes. There doesn't
seem to be an iterative process here, i.e. if it wasn't accepted, the person doesn't seem to have a whole
lot of time to correct and re-submit. Plus, it doesn't seem that the comments will be as intense as a journal
paper review. The reviewers may not be exactly in the person's field either.

I would still list it as a publication without having to categorize my publications. It could say in such and
such conference anyway.

[jimmy shergill]

Thank you stardust, tmc, abeboparebop and twister for your wonderful and helpful response. Finally I received the publications in the
Proceedings
Journal and
was also the best paper in the conference.

My journal publication is as follows :
http://www.naun.org/journals/energyenvi ... /ee-43.pdf

Journal : International Journal of Energy and Environment : http://www.naun.org/journals/energyenvironment/

Also the best paper : http://www.wseas.us/reports/2008/best20 ... ember2008a

Any bold comments imbibed with critics are creatively accepted. Please be free to give any comments !!!!!!

Regards.

[G01]

Hey !

Thank you friends!

So, only one publication till date is done. Is that enough or should it be much much more ?

How many publication you all hold ?

I got accepted to two programs and got an interview at a third and I have no publications. I do have one conference poster though.

[tshafer]

Hey !

Thank you friends!

So, only one publication till date is done. Is that enough or should it be much much more ?

How many publication you all hold ?

I have no publications and (if you believe TWO theory recruiting calls I got (?!) I was one of only 10 acceptances to Chapel Hill this year so far. Publications would be nice, but your overall body of work as an undergrad, GREs, & letters seem to be most important.

[cato88]

I would think of it this way.

You dont need to win the science fair to get into college but it helps. Like , You dont need a publication to get into graduate school.
You dont need to be an Intel semifinalist to get into college just like you dont need a publication in an APS journal.

[PoincareSection]

On the flip side, I have 3 publications and haven't heard anything from anywhere yet.

[cato88]

I think that might be due to PGRE and choice of schools. Your profile with a 700+PGRE and 3.5+GPA would probably have a fellowship. PGRE can leave that shred of doubt because some schools have data that shows below 40% have trouble passing qualifiers which are also exam based. Schools also want those stats on their AIP sheets otherwise some schools wouldnt be fudging their stats.

[PoincareSection]

I think that might be due to PGRE and choice of schools. Your profile with a 700+PGRE and 3.5+GPA would probably have a fellowship. PGRE can leave that shred of doubt because some schools have data that shows below 40% have trouble passing qualifiers which are also exam based. Schools also want those stats on their AIP sheets otherwise some schools wouldnt be fudging their stats.

Unfortunately, you are probably right. I have a 3.9 and a Masters degree, and my location isn't flexible due to my better half's better job. It just seems so unfair that one test on an otherwise stellar record can set someone back like this (My issue wasn't knowledge, it was timing. Note to people that have yet to take it: Don't try to actually solve most problems!!). If I have to, I'll try again next year, but law school is looking more and more appealing.

[cato88]

The masters increases expectations in terms of research experience. The good thing though is that the PGRE is the easiest\quickest part of your application to change you just need to cater to exam.