Research- Grade or no Grade

[shiaben]

Hi all. This is my very first thread/post.

I'm an undergraduate student at University of California, Irvine. It usually has strong undergraduate research programs.

Now I know research is vital to any graduate school program just like internships, volunteer, and other facets of experience.

What I wanted to ask was does it make a HUGE difference if you take part in research that doesn't have a letter grade attached to it, in contrast to research where you are awarded a letter grade in addition to units???

I raised this question because sometimes students take courses or work for pass/no pass (which is indicative of units only), while others select grades. So will graduate programs be angry/upset if you were to voluntarily took part in research courses without a letter grade attached to them???

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[spctle342]

I highly doubt it. My (limited) understanding is that grades are rarely attached to research experiences. I think the research itself is what's important, not any corresponding letter grade. Of course, I would qualify that by saying that the research advisor's evaluation of your work is probably extremely relevant to your qualifications for grad school, but that can be accomplished through letters of recommendation, even if your transcript doesn't show a specific grade.

 

[shiaben]

Thanks for the response mate.

Yeah some graduate students told me as long as you have research experience of any kind or form, it's invaluable.

I talked to a professor today. He told me, if you're taking some kind of research opportunity that's designated through a course format, it's best to take it for a grade instead of pass/no pass. He said, the advantage of the grade looks very good on transcripts, but more importantly significant for LORs.

 

[snowwoman]

I would say go for a combination of both no-grade and grade. And it won't hurt if you made sure the graded one you go all out and get a nice grade!

I have two labs that I got graded for, two others that I volunteered for and one that I worked for. I averaged three labs a year (no, not five, I'm not 'crazy' 😛), two of which were graded. So in the end, my resume/CV says I was with 5 different labs and I have experience ranging from developmental, social, cognition, and neurobehavioural.

Hope that helps!

 

[Ollie123]

Can't speak for others, but here the variability in grading is small enough that it doesn't matter (i.e. unless you are a total disaster of an RA, you get an A for the research credits).

In general, I really doubt anyone would care. It may matter more for master's programs where I think decisions are likely a little heavier based on basic credentials (GPA, GRE, transcripts) rather than the elusive "fit", etc.

At doctoral programs, I find it hard to imagine the folks who get to decide admissions would even notice this, let alone care. If anything, they might assume that P/F is the only option for research credits at your school.

That said, if you are planning to put in any less than 100% it is likely not worth your time to do this. Can't speak for others, but I think here people would rather see people with a decent split of A's and B's in psychology courses who had letters making it clear they REALLY busted their butt in the lab than vice versa. The purpose of being an RA is usually to get a letter - these letters are usually infinitely better than what a professor for a class can write, as the information they provide is often far more relevant to what graduate admissions folks will care about than coursework. A "meh" letter from a professor you did research with could actually hurt your application. Again - if you plan on going for the doctorate eventually (or even a non-clinical master's), research will actually be THE thing they are looking for. Volunteering, etc. is nice, but even your GPA and GREs are distant seconds compared to your research experience as long as they are over a pretty reasonable cutoff (usually ~3.5 and GRE > ~1200 for doctoral programs).

 

[futureapppsy2]

Can't speak for others, but here the variability in grading is small enough that it doesn't matter (i.e. unless you are a total disaster of an RA, you get an A for the research credits).

In general, I really doubt anyone would care. It may matter more for master's programs where I think decisions are likely a little heavier based on basic credentials (GPA, GRE, transcripts) rather than the elusive "fit", etc.

At doctoral programs, I find it hard to imagine the folks who get to decide admissions would even notice this, let alone care. If anything, they might assume that P/F is the only option for research credits at your school.

That said, if you are planning to put in any less than 100% it is likely not worth your time to do this. Can't speak for others, but I think here people would rather see people with a decent split of A's and B's in psychology courses who had letters making it clear they REALLY busted their butt in the lab than vice versa. The purpose of being an RA is usually to get a letter - these letters are usually infinitely better than what a professor for a class can write, as the information they provide is often far more relevant to what graduate admissions folks will care about than coursework. A "meh" letter from a professor you did research with could actually hurt your application. Again - if you plan on going for the doctorate eventually (or even a non-clinical master's), research will actually be THE thing they are looking for. Volunteering, etc. is nice, but even your GPA and GREs are distant seconds compared to your research experience as long as they are over a pretty reasonable cutoff (usually ~3.5 and GRE > ~1200 for doctoral programs).

I'm seconding everything Ollie said but would also like to note that not every research experience will necessarily net a letter. If you have multiple options for research letters, pick the best--the lab you were most involved in or perhaps the one closest to your interests. A lab where you just did a semester or two of data entry may not necessarily net the best letter, especially if you have labs where you were, say, involved in presentations or publications to choose instead.