Undergraduate conference question?

Question

I'm attending an undergrad. conference at my university in a few weeks. I'm not presenting (I found out too late to submit a paper), but I'm wondering if merely attending will still look good on a grad school application. It will be a while before I graduate, so I'm sure I'll have more opportunities to present, but for now, this is all I have.

What do you think?

Answer 1

I would have to disagree with Professor X. I'm a graduate program coordinator, and I sit in all of the interviews for my program. While it isn't necessary to put that you simply attended a conference on a resume/application you should mention it in your application essay or interview. It is very impressive if you have attended a conference because not many know that certain associations/conferences exist. It shows you have some knowledge about the field.

Answer 2

I recently finished applying to grad schools, and most of them allowed limited space to put information of this nature. You should have too many more impressive accomplishments to be able to fit just attending a conference in, because plenty of other applicants will.

If you can present a paper at a conference, I highly recommend it, both for the experience of it and how it will look on your applications.

Answer 3

I am going to be very frank with you here.

Please do not put attending a conference on a graduate school application.

Presenting at a conference is meaningful. Attending one is not.

Answer 4

I'm not sure I'd put it on a grad school application. Unless they ask you for a meaningful experience of your undergraduate career. Then maybe if it is a really good conference and you learned something unique/it changed your perspective on something...otherwise, leave it off.