How to Get Research Experience as an Undergraduate (Psychology, Neuroscience, STEM)

Need undergraduate research experience? This is a step-by-step guide to joining a lab, for students interested in pursuing careers in (or near) science. Especially for students who plan to apply for graduate school.

Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:27 1. How to Find a Lab
1:40 2. Who to Contact
3:07 3. What to Say
4:07 Email Tips
4:53 Interview
5:07 How to Get the Most out of Your Lab Experience
5:53 Run Your Own Study
7:36 Presenting Research at a Conference
8:28 Applying for Grad School
9:22 Summary

(Note: Clinical and Medical programs may also require internships, and professors may be less likely to be involved in research. Consult your professors and other YouTube people for advice on clinical psych grad programs and med school.)

Elliott was a research assistant in three labs studying psychology and neuroscience at Northern Illinois University. He has hired and supervised dozens of research assistants at UC Santa Barbara, where he got his PhD in Psychological and Brain Sciences.

[notdeku]

will you make a video on applying to PhDs?

[alexlandry]

I can honestly say that my experience working with Elliott as an RA was the best decision I ever made in my professional academic career. Thanks so much for all the guidance and support, man!

[margarita]

thank you! its great, i started thinking about working as a research assistant and didnt know HOW to take first step, now i am less afraid and i will start acting

[dawsonhicks]

Thank you for making this video! In the fall semester, I am hoping to work as an RA in one of the research labs at my university. This was a lot of help

[JoniniTheChickenNugget]

Please don't stop making videos! This was very helpful :)

[livkaczynska]

please never delete this, very helpful advice!!

[NockyLucky]

This was very helpful :)
Thank you for making these!

[TheBillNye]

Your channel is going to blow up. The videos are really well made

[calmingnature]

THIS IS REALLY HELPFUL 🤲🏻 THANKYOU SO MUCH ❤

[jas]

This was so helpful man. I go to a large university and research is impossible to get around here 😭

[pattyihm]

Great information! Exquisite delivery! Thank you for putting this out there. I wonder how many times a rat would scratch itself.

[fog]

Great video. Very concise and to the point. Really appreciate this

[Venomxdrool]

This was all incredible advice. Wow. Thanks so much!

[amiram]

This is the most helpful video, thank u so much for your

[anthonymedina]

“Some guy tried to sell me pills outside my hotel in San Francisco” 🤣

[ericksouza]

Im "working" as a researcher at my university, sadly there's nothing really big happening on the lab. Im now trying to find a lab that I could work remotely to improve my academic career.

[alantristam]

I recently graduated with a AA in CS from my community college and continuing my education with a local state university, but I was told I might be too late to apply for research since labs don't have enough time to train me. Is there any way around this?

[yaboighandiyo]

Wonderful video. I just showed it to my PIs because of how useful it was!

Question: I'm from a different university (example: Uni X) and I live closer to another (example: Uni Y). I'm interested in research being done in Uni Y. Am I able to engage in research labs with Uni Y despite not being a tuition-paying student? I realize there's also the question of whether it's paid or not in this hypothetical. I'm wondering about unpaid research experience. Is it possible to get such research experience, purely just for experience with no monetary pay-out, or would these positions be reserved strictly for students of that university?

Thank you!

[starcatria]

I'm a cs undergrad doing core cs but my interests lie in combining my skills with brain neurons and neuroscience in general. I haven't studied bio since 10th grade so do I still stand a chance to become a RA ?

[honkhonk]

I only follow ur stuff cus I thought the neuroscience stuff is cool even tho i have zero idea whats happening half the time lol