How much does being published help in college admissions?

Applying to College
1

I have two papers published as first author in the Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis (e-EROS), which is published by Wiley, about a few organometallic catalysts/ligands. To write the papers, I bought all the literature on the reagents, wrote about all the applications that they had, and analyzed their strengths and weaknesses. I did not actually do any real “research” to write these papers, so I don’t know if colleges will take this seriously. However, the publication is a well known publication in organic chemistry.

How will colleges weight these papers? The papers have a lot of advanced undergraduate and some graduate level chemistry (organic and organometallic). I had to learn a ton of chemistry to even understand the literature. Will colleges consider this as showing significant interest in chemistry?

2

Yes, sure, it shows a significant interest and is a solid accomplishment.

3

Yeah, my friend had one major publication for something research-related and he got into Harvard with just average statistics. Your case is quite interesting though… It’s still a pretty great accomplishment so congrats. Yeah, colleges will consider that as you demonstrating interest and I’m sure this would boost your application. In the end, they look your contributions and how you worded it in your common app.

4

It’s something you accomplished, not a tip. It shows you pursued an interest, but they’ll be looking at your whole picture. And that means other activities, as well, including those that involve teamwork. And more. (Take a hard look at what your college targets says they look for. It’s more than one or two neat things.)