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Research Experience for Prospective PhD Candidates

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Most graduate schools will expect applicants to have practical experience in a lab. A strong application portfolio will most likely include participation in research throughout the undergraduate years, both during the academic year and the summers.

It's important that you pursue research opportunities during the academic year and summers (which provide full-time experience) to immerse yourself in a laboratory/project and to show your commitment and motivation for research. The letters of recommendation from your research mentors are a very important part of your graduate school application.

Making the most of your summer experiences

• Participate in research summer programs throughout the undergraduate years. These can be at your home institution or at other institutions.
• Identify and apply to several summer programs. This will give you a preview of the application process for graduate school.
• Apply to summer programs that take place at schools where you may be interested in pursuing your graduate degree.
• Complete and submit the application materials during the prior winter/spring.
• Become fully immersed in the research projects that you work on.
• Talk with advanced students and faculty advisors about graduate school and their experiences.
• Take advantage of other skill-building activities that the summer program offers.

Finding opportunities

• Summer Undergraduate Research Programs.
• NIH Summer Internship Program in Biomedical Research.
• NIH Undergraduate Scholarship Program.

Baylor College of Medicine/National Science Foundation brochure on the importance of summer research experience.

Helpful tools and information regarding medical MD-PhD programs.

Helpful tools for those applying to medical PhD programs

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• CAREER COLUMN
• 06 November 2018

Twenty things I wish I’d known when I started my PhD

• Lucy A. Taylor 0

Lucy A. Taylor earned her zoology PhD from the University of Oxford, UK. She is now a postdoctoral researcher at Save the Elephants in Nairobi, Kenya, and a visiting researcher in the Department of Zoology at Oxford.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Starting a PhD can be tough. Looking back, there are many things I wish I’d known at the beginning. Here, I have curated a list of advice from current PhD students and postdoctoral researchers from the Department of Zoology at my institution, the University of Oxford, UK, to aid new graduate students.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07332-x

This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged. You can get in touch with the editor at [email protected].

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Princeton Correspondents on Undergraduate Research

Tips for Writing about Your Research Experience (Even if You Don’t Think You Have Any)

If you’re someone who hasn’t yet done formal research in a university setting, one of the most intimidating parts of the process can be simply getting your foot in the door. Just like the way your options can seem very limited when applying for your first job, asking for a research position when you have no “experience” can seem discouraging — maybe even to the point of causing you to question whether you should apply in the first place. With that being said, there are some simple tips you can employ when applying for research positions to highlight the link between your existing interests and the work of the position for which you are applying.

First things first: tailor not just your cover letter (for applications that ask for it) but your resume to the position for which you are applying. Even if you’re just sending a casual email to a professor to ask about the research that they’re doing, as a rule, it never hurts to attach your resume. I also like to think that submitting a resume even without being asked to shows that you’re serious about doing research, and have taken the time to put together a thoughtful inquiry into a position. If you’ve never written a cover letter or resume before, don’t fret. The Center for Career Development has some great online resources to help you create one from scratch. If you are looking for more individualized help, you can also schedule an appointment to get one-on-one feedback on your application at any stage in the writing process.

One of the things that I’ve found, however, is that the single-page format of a resume often isn’t enough space to include all of the information about every single thing you’ve ever done. Rather than trying to jam as many impressive accomplishments as you can onto a page, your goal should be to create a resume that gives a cumulative sense of your interests and experiences as they relate to the position for which you are applying. One of my favorite ways to do this is to create a “Research” section. “But Kate, what if I don’t have any research experience?,” you ask. Remember that paper you wrote about a painting by Monet in your favorite class last semester? Write the title down, or even a sentence or two that summarizes your main argument. The art museum you’re hoping to do research at will love knowing that your interest in their current exhibition on Impressionism is rooted in classes you’ve taken and the projects you’ve done in them, no matter how new you may be to a topic. Your interest in a specific research position has to come from somewhere, and your resume is an important part of demonstrating this to others.

What I would like to reassure you of is that it’s normal to be an undergraduate with very little research experience. The people reading your application —whether it be for an official program or even if it’s just a friendly email with a few questions— know that you are a student and will probably be excited to offer you guidance on how to get involved with more specific research projects even if all you have to offer at this point is enthusiasm for the topic. Working in a lab or with a professor on a research project is an opportunity designed to help you learn above all else, so it’s ok if you don’t know what you’re doing! It goes without saying that having little experience will make the final result of your research experience all the more worthwhile because of the potential to gain knowledge in ways you haven’t even imagined.

— Kate Weseley-Jones, Humanities Correspondent

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Letters of Recommendation

• Research Experience
• Research experience can be very valuable before applying to PhD programs. It may also be helpful in deciding whether you would like to pursue a PhD.
• Again, taking courses that will expose you to research, such as Econ 191A-B and Econ 199, are valuable for learning about the research process.
• Faculty may have grants that allow them to hire undergraduates as Research Assistants (RA) and some years the department has funding to pay undergraduates to be RAs for our graduate students. An RA position with a professor or graduate student will help prepare you for graduate school and can help you gain letters of recommendation from professors or graduate students that will know you well by the end of your RA-ship. To apply, please submit your information here .  It is also possible to get an RA position with a professor at another institution and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) maintains a list of research assistant opportunities and we also post opportunities on our undergraduate blog .
• It is becoming more common to work as a Research Assistant (RA), also referred to as Pre-doctoral research assistant (pre-doc) after graduating from undergraduate but before applying to graduate school. For example, many successful applicants first work as RAs at the Federal Reserve before applying to graduate school. Working as a RA will also help develop skills that will be extremely useful as you start your own independent research. Applying to RA jobs is similar to applying to graduate school. To be a strong candidate you need to have good grades in challenging math and economics courses and strong letters of recommendation.
• A final way to get research experience is by earning a masters degree. Generally, these pre-doctoral masters programs are for two years, though sometimes they can be for a single year. The benefits are that you will likely learn useful skills and may be accepted to higher ranked graduate programs.  The downside is of course the time commitment and putting off your graduate studies for two years. Since many MA programs are relatively new, be sure to ask about the outcomes for recent graduates from these programs.
• Getting Useful Letters of Recommendation
• Writing Personal Statements

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

• Undergraduate
• Graduate Studies in Psychology

Research Experience

Research experience is very important for anyone considering graduate work in psychology. In many graduate programs, much of your time will be spent doing research. Admissions committees for such programs want to know that research is something you have already done, something you are good at, and also something you enjoy and want to continue. Remember, the people who decide which applicants to admit are the faculty members in the specific area to which you are applying. When they make admissions decisions, they are choosing people who will be not only their students, but also their research associates, for the next few years.

One plus of doing research as an undergraduate is that you can ask the faculty member for whom you work to write a letter of recommendation for you. A letter from someone who already views you as a valued member of his or her research team can be an important component of your application package.

Another plus of doing research as an undergraduate is that it lets you learn if this is something on which you would like to spend a lot of your time -- a good thing to find out before you choose a particular graduate school program! Some graduate psychology programs are less research-oriented than others. If you want to pursue graduate studies in psychology, but you would prefer not to spend a large proportion of your time on research, consider these options. Even for these programs, however, research experience as an undergraduate is likely to be an important credential. See the research opportunities section of our website to learn more about ways to get involved in research as an undergraduate psychology student.