Make Sure You Get Amazing Research Experience

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Want to know how to secure meaningful research experience for your grad school application? These are four key tips to ensure your opportunities will give you the best chance at boosting your applications for grad school!

If you are interested entering a doctoral-level program in Psychology, you will likely need to have quite a bit of research experience under your belt to ensure that your application is competitive. It is important that you get involved in research soon after you determine that you want to pursue a doctoral-level degree.

In this post you are going to learn four key things to keep in mind when looking for research experiences for grad school.

After making note of these research experience tips you will be ready to find a research experience that works for you and your future goals!

This post is all about what you need to know to get great research experience.

Make Sure You Have Amazing Research Experience With These 4 Key Steps

1. Find a research lab

To find a research lab you may want to start by looking into the faculty that are a part of your college or university’s Psychology Department. Often, there will be a website and department profile page that will describe their research area. When you find a faculty member whose work your find interesting, check to see if they have a lab website and whether or not they are accepting research assistants. Sometimes labs require a formal application, and other times you may have to reach out via email to express interest.

2. Remember what is considered research experience

A meaningful undergraduate research experience in Psychology should expose you to the measures and protocols used in that particular niche of clinical psychological science. You should also gain exposure to what it takes to run a study. You may even have the opportunity to work with a particular patient population. This is important experience because in graduate school you will likely be running a study on your own.

Good undergraduate research experience will also lend opportunities to conduct or help with a project on your own. This may lead to a poster presentation at a conference or even a publication! This is the type of experience that makes you competitive for a PhD program in Clinical Psychology. You will want to make sure that any lab that you choose to join will allow for these types of opportunities.

3. Seek continuity when you can

What you start out researching in undergrad does not necessarily have to be what you end up studying in graduate school. However, something close allows for you to build continuity within your work and eventually start building a name for yourself! No need to get too caught up in continuity though—some schools have fewer psychology faculty than others so there may not be a breadth of options for you to choose from. That’s ok! Getting the experience is what is most important.

4. Work hard and show initiative!

Finally, it is essential to work hard, be curious and show initiative! This will show your work ethic and may even allow for more opportunities to come your way!

This post was all about the 4 key tips you need to remember to get good research experience for your grad school applications.

It may take time for you to get connected with a lab because some labs may or may not be recruiting students. Be patient and persistent in seeking out opportunities!

What has been your experience looking for a research lab? I would love to hear all about it below!