How To Become A Doctoral Research Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a doctoral research assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Ben Brown,

Daniel Patten Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a doctoral research assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $27.14 an hour? That's $56,458 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 17% and produce 20,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a doctoral research assistant?

Ben Brown

Professor, Ohio State University

There are a lot of good jobs out there, and people are hiring. The job market just looks a little different because most of it is virtual. This may mean that the applicant has to source out employers instead of the employers coming to the student in the form of career fairs.

ScoreDoctoral Research AssistantUS Average

Salary

4.4

Avg. Salary $56,458

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.5

Growth rate 17%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.03%

Asian 16.79%

Black or African American 8.59%

Hispanic or Latino 15.31%

Unknown 6.02%

White 52.26%

Gender

female 46.91%

male 53.09%

Age - 35

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 35

Stress level

4.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.8

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

10.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a doctoral research assistant

Explore doctoral research assistant education requirements

Most common doctoral research assistant degrees

Bachelor's

55.7 %

Master's

22.5 %

Doctorate

18.5 %

Start to develop specific doctoral research assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Data Collection	11.83%
Research Projects	11.21%
PI	8.64%
Data Analysis	5.86%
Molecular Biology	5.24%

Complete relevant doctoral research assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New doctoral research assistants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a doctoral research assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real doctoral research assistant resumes.

Research doctoral research assistant duties and responsibilities

Process and manage GIS databases to contribute towards research in human transportation behavior.
Receive additional training in SAS.
Used electronic and structure evaluations using quantum chemistry packages such as GAUSSIAN.
Prepare and implement unique proposals for the synthesis of polymer and small molecule targets.

Prepare your doctoral research assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your doctoral research assistant resume.

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