Reading grad apps today, the one I'm looking at now (a student finishing undergrad in 2024) has 3 first-author + 7 co-authored refereed papers. HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE.

As someone who applied to grad school this cycle, that’s absolutely absurd. So many layers to unpack with this 😵‍💫

I’ve seen researcher parents who facilitated 1st authorship for their kids. Not many undergrads have so many opportunities to be so involved in the research design&experiment process. Hopefully it wasn’t heavy editing by mom & dad. I don’t want to deter the occasional high achiever out there though

I interview *high school* students applying to Rice and every now and then I meet one who already has a co-author credit to their name. So glad that when I was applying back in the day we were all such pathetic under-achievers. It’s kind of cutthroat out there.

This is unhealthy and is/will be to the detriment of Academia and society in general. in which ways can we change the model so that the mental health of everyone involved is less impacted? I get being in a creative cauldron and being full of ideas, but people deserve lives.

I was talking to a friend in my undergrad physics program who is a very good student and wants to do a research-based grad program but doesn't think he'll get in anywhere because he doesn't have any papers yet. It feels a little bleak.

I’m curious about the quality or novelty of those papers?

that’s way more than i have and i’m a whole ass post-doc. WHAT IS HAPPENING???

The system is wrong. People should look at quality of papers, not the number of them!

Wow...also what how? There's no way I could have done that as an undergrad. Or even now. That must be 3 papers in what like 1-2 years? While taking classes full time? That sounds exhausting

🤔