Thank you for the pointers. How do PhD admissions look at self-publications? What are your thoughts on below two situations evaluated by the admissions committee at a good university(say MIT/Caltech)?
1. A strong LOR from a PI managing a known lab(but with few moderate pubs on my name) vs.
2. No great LORs but self-publishing one or two good papers(quantified with good number of citations and overall quality)
1. A strong LOR from a PI managing a known lab(but with few moderate pubs on my name) vs. 2. No great LORs but self-publishing one or two good papers(quantified with good number of citations and overall quality)