<p>Situation: I have just recently graduated with my undergraduate degree and have planned to enter graduate study. I have taken the necessary tests and got letters of recommendation and so forth however I have very limited experience with research in which I did around a 3 month project which I spent around 10 hours a week on. Would it be a good idea to try and find a position which I could be a RA or some other position for say six months or more? Or would it be best to get into graduate school and pursue this? I have a very good idea of what field I would like to go into for graduate school. I just am having a little bit of trouble finding how I will get funding which is why I am working right now. As far as I know, in order to do this you can either go to an old professor and ask them what would be a good program to enter and who is a good professor to work with(etc). Or you can go online, go to a specific department and then look at the different professors. University websites will give current research projects in which you can read the abstract and then look into the paper and skim for interest. At least, this is all that I know right now. Has anyone done this?</p>
<p>You really need to specify your field before anyone can help you further. The amount of expected research experience varies a great deal. In the sciences and engineering, some research experience is basically required to get admitted at all. However, in fields like history or English undergraduate research is nearly nonexistent.</p>
<p>Did this in life sciences. If you are also in life science, I suggest you do it as well, but it all depends on what school and what program do you want to go to. But in general, you NEED experience because it’s great for the potential PIs and for yourself. I’d say that experience = much more than your GPA/GRE. Also, you need experience in research to know whether you like it enough (“love” it) that you really want to do research for your whole life.</p>
<p>I did 1 year in undergraduate research and 1 year research as tech, learned all kinds of stuff and got 3 papers out (co and 2nds), and now 5/6 labs that I’ve been interviewing with in various top 15 schools want me with full funding and the other one offer rotation immediately with some interest (because my work wasn’t really related, but not my top choice so meh). </p>
<p>My GPA barely cut it. My GRE is average. Research experience > all of those.</p>
<p>Looking at paper is a good start. Going to seminars also help. I mean, it isn’t really required that you know what is your topic will be (this is going to be worked in your first 1-2 years), but at least having general idea of field will greatly help in narrowing down your choices.</p>
<p>Another data point for the pot- I worked as a tech for a few years before I started my Phd. I was much more competitive than I would have been fresh out of college, and several publications didn’t hurt the matter. </p>
<p>We just did recruiting at my department and easily more than half of the recruits had worked as techs after college.</p>
<p>In my field (psychology) it is increasingly common for new grad students to have worked as a full-time lab coordinator/lab manager before they get admitted to PhD programs, especially in the more competitive fields like social and clinical. (Many cognitive psychologists can still get in straight from undergrad.) But across all subfields if one only has 3 months of experience, one cannot expect to get admitted. In my field you’d need at least 2 years of experience (whether that’s as a student, or full-time) to even be considered on the same level as other students.</p>
<p>My advice is always to do at least a year of research experience as a tech, lab monkey, data cruncher, research coordinator, etc., before grad school, especially if you don’t have more than a few months. First of all, you are much more competitive that way. Second of all, you actually know what to expect if you get into a doctoral program. Third of all, you know whether you actually <em>like</em> doing research all day and whether this is a viable career choice for you. I think it’s better than doing a master’s (at least in my field), because there aren’t many terminal master’s in psychology and you will have to start over at the beginning at about 90% of doctoral programs even if you have an MA/MS in psychology. In some fields, having a master’s will help in doctoral admissions.</p>
<p>If you are interested in just going to the MA/MS instead of a doctoral program, then I think you can apply directly now.</p>
<p>What do you mean by working as a tech? I understand what you mean by the phrases lab monkey/data cruncher/etc. but I don’t know what you mean by a tech. I am not very good with words.</p>
<p>Let me be more specific- I want to go into a computer-related field based upon the demand of the industry and the fields which are opening up. All of these schools ([About</a> the iSchools](<a href=“http://www.ischools.org/site/about/]About”>http://www.ischools.org/site/about/)) have a lot of programs which appeal to me. However, lots of public schools have programs similar to these in MS programs.</p>
<p>I don’t want to go into computer science(I know how to program, I just don’t want to study programming) so I am looking at all the other fields of study. I have spent three months as an intern in IT, three months doing a small research project, and I have wrote something similar to a thesis in which I did an abstract and found information. My experience is okay but I would really like to get more research experience.</p>
<p>Right now I am working in a full time salaried position which is fairly close to what I would like to study(I work in database configuration) and the experience is decent. I am wondering if I could do something else right now that would be more effective in admission to graduate study? As of right now I am happy I have found employment however I believe I was much more happy as a student(As in taking classes and then studying) than in the work force.</p>
<p>I know that I want to complete a MS degree, I am unsure of going for the PhD. I was just wondering how I would look for these types of positions(tech/research assistant/lab monkey and so forth).</p>
<p>Did it for 6 years and published half a dozen papers from where I used to work. I seem to be getting a lot of interview invites during this admissions process, some invites at top 10 schools for what I’m going for. Back in the day, work experience pretty much used to be a requirement before going to grad school in a lot of fields.</p>