Early Spring 2019
I continued applying whenever a position became available and kept emailing potential mentors despite feeling discouraged.
01 · Where it began
A research methods course made the work feel real.
In the winter of 2018, I was a junior Psychology major who had just completed the coursework and research project for my Research Methods in Psychology class. The class sparked my interest in hands-on research—from conceptualizing studies and designing materials to collecting and analyzing data and sharing findings with the local Lycoming community.
However, because Lycoming College did not yet have departmental research labs that closely aligned with my interests, I decided to take the initiative and search for research opportunities elsewhere in the United States.
02 · The search
Hundreds of emails, summer applications, and no clear path forward.
Motivated to gain more hands-on research experience, I sent hundreds of emails to professors whose work focused on Educational Psychology and the broader field of social cognition. I also applied to several summer research programs, but to no avail.
There were many possible reasons my emails did not receive a response. I may have been low on a professor’s list of priorities within an already busy schedule. I had very limited research experience. There may have been more competitive or local applicants, or I may simply not have been a good fit for the lab.
“What am I going to do during the summer without any research activities? How will the absence of research experience affect my goal of pursuing a PhD?”
Throughout the beginning and middle of the Spring 2019 semester, I became increasingly disheartened by my unsuccessful attempts to secure a summer internship. I felt anxious and uncertain about what I would do during the summer, and I began questioning my long-term goal of becoming a scientist and my chances of entering a PhD program immediately after college.
At the same time, several of my friends seemed to have already secured summer research placements. They were—and still are—kind and talented people, but social comparison felt inevitable, especially during that stage of emerging adulthood.
03 · The turning point
Strategic persistence eventually created an opening.
Late March 2019
I was invited to several interviews, but each ended in rejection. At the time, I was too afraid to ask for feedback, so I still did not know exactly where I needed to improve.
April 2019
I successfully interviewed for a research assistant position with the University of Maryland CogDev Lab, led by Dr. Lucas Butler.
I worked as a Research Assistant under the guidance of Dr. Hailey Gibbs and Dr. Karen Levush, and I remain deeply grateful for their support and encouragement.
Although my story may not be unusual among undergraduate students, I believe it may be especially meaningful for students from small liberal arts colleges who have limited research experience. To be clear, I love the Lycoming community and remain thankful for the support I received from the Psychology faculty. However, from my experience, finding research opportunities was still challenging.
04 · What I learned
The first opportunity does not need to be a perfect topical match.
If research engagement is your passion and becoming a scientist is one of your goals, I encourage you to take initiative and broaden your search strategy. Finding a first or second research experience can be difficult for many people, including me, but the payoff can be worthwhile.
These early experiences can help you build the skills and confidence needed to pursue more advanced opportunities beyond college. They can also help you discover that transferable research skills may matter more at the beginning than finding a lab whose topic perfectly matches your long-term interests.
05 · Advice for students
Three strategies that helped me keep moving forward
Think early and communicate your interests.
Expressing your interest early does not guarantee a position on a faculty member’s project, but it gives you more time to explore other opportunities if your initial request does not work out.
Practice strategic persistence.
Persistence mattered in my search, but strategy mattered too. Research the lab’s interests, ongoing projects, and the person you are contacting—whether a professor, lab manager, graduate student, or project coordinator.
Keep the email polite, specific, and concise. In my case, I usually wrote no more than three or four paragraphs and explained how my skills or interests could contribute to the lab.
Remain open to different opportunities.
Cognitive developmental research was not the first area that came to mind for me. At the time, I was more interested in Educational Psychology and higher-education learners. However, accepting the opportunity helped me realize that the skills I was developing were more important than finding a perfect topical match at the beginning.
The broader takeaway
Build the skills that can travel with you.
Across many areas of psychology, research experiences involve similar core skills: data collection, data analysis, literature reviews, participant recruitment, and familiarity with IRB procedures and human-subjects protections.
Although the content area and research interests of a prospective lab are important—and it is ideal when your interests align—I would also encourage students to think about the domain-general research skills they can build and later transfer to other projects.
You can often familiarize yourself with project-specific or domain-specific content independently to some extent. However, gaining hands-on experience with research design, participant recruitment, data collection, and IRB procedures is much more difficult to do on your own.