What is a Graduate Research Student?

A graduate research student is someone who is conducting research while working towards a master's degree or doctorate. They can specialize in a variety of subjects, from medicine to Victorian literature. Graduate research students often work with the assistance of tenured professors to design and conduct their research studies. They use the research tools at their disposal, from library archives to laboratory equipment to SAS statistical software, to conduct research that they will use in their dissertation. Depending on their university, graduate research students may also need to help their supervisors with their own research or teach and supervise undergraduate students.

By definition, a graduate research student needs to be enrolled in a graduate degree program. They have to complete a bachelor's degree (and sometimes relevant internships) before pursuing additional education.

The stipend graduate research students receive depends on their institution or department. However, their average salary is $32,119 a year.

What Does a Graduate Research Student Do

There are certain skills that many graduate research students have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, communication skills and detail oriented.

Learn more about what a Graduate Research Student does

How To Become a Graduate Research Student

If you're interested in becoming a graduate research student, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 76.3% of graduate research students have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 12.3% of graduate research students have master's degrees. Even though most graduate research students have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Graduate Research Student

Top Graduate Research Student Jobs Near You

Graduate Research Student Career Paths

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a graduate research student can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as tutor, progress to a title such as team leader and then eventually end up with the title project director.

Average Salary for a Graduate Research Student

Graduate Research Students in America make an average salary of $34,658 per year or $17 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $60,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $19,000 per year.

Average Graduate Research Student Salary

$34,658 Yearly

$16.66 hourly

$19,00010%

$34,000Median

$60,00090%

See More Salary Information

What Am I Worth?

Roles and Types of Graduate Research Student

There are several types of graduate research student, including:

Researcher

Role:

A researcher is someone who studies how to apply the scientific method within their chosen field.

Their primary responsibilities can be performing systemic investigations, overseeing internal research, or serving as the lead author on reports or articles. They are often tasked with things like collecting data (either quantitative or qualitative) and using that data to solve problems.

They can work in academic settings or in areas like the industrial, government, or private sectors. They need to have exceptional attention to detail and be both accurate and specific in their findings. They also need to ensure that their research is complete and thorough.

It is also important for a researcher to have a curious mind and to question why things are the way they are. Soft skills that can be important for a researcher include communication, leadership, and moderation. They must be able to lead project teams, moderate discussions, and communicate their knowledge clearly and persuasively.

To become a researcher, you will typically need to have a Ph.D. or similar degree. Researchers can work in a wide array of areas including sociology, medicine, and psychology. There are also researchers who work in the sciences like biology, chemistry, and physics.

Average Salary: $67,145
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Overview How To Become Job Description Jobs

Research Fellow

Role:

As the name implies, as a Research Fellow, you will be conducting research and analysis of comprehensive results, literature, and data. You will be supervising research assistants and recruiting study participants for specific studies.

For the educational requirement, a Research Fellow needs to have a doctorate relevant to the discipline and should have published papers that are peer-reviewed. As a Research Fellow, you can be supervised or independent.

The top skills Research Fellow applicants include in their resumes include Molecular Biology, Data Analysis, Cell Culture, Research Projects, and Ph.D. You might want to brush up your knowledge on these things and make sure you are knowledgeable in the field you will be applying to.

You can earn an average annual salary of $49,120 with a job growth rate of 8%. You can also explore other careers like being a Research Scientist, a Scientist, and a Senior Scientist.

Average Salary: $53,823
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Overview How To Become Job Description Jobs

Research Technician

Role:

If you have a passion for science and enjoy the challenges of solving scientific research, analysis, and investigation, then you might consider a career as a research technician.

Generally, a research technician or research scientist is a person who helps scientists with their research and experiments in a laboratory. Research technician is a job that offers you job satisfaction, the flexibility of work, high salaries, variable tasks, and a stable employment market.

A technician position may bring a satisfying role as the key member of a laboratory or may act as a stepping stone to a Ph.D., medical, or other job opportunities.

Average Salary: $43,034
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Overview How To Become Job Description Jobs

States With The Most Graduate Research Student Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active graduate research student jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where graduate research students earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Graduate Research Student Jobs By State

Rank	State	Number of Jobs	Average Salary
1	California	4,433	$36,092
2	Texas	1,728	$36,927
3	Massachusetts	1,594	$46,911
4	Pennsylvania	1,563	$48,842
5	Florida	1,424	$27,011
6	Illinois	1,284	$36,825
7	New Jersey	1,059	$43,402
8	New York	979	$39,612
9	Ohio	937	$38,409
10	Virginia	909	$34,356
11	North Carolina	854	$29,169
12	Michigan	840	$39,037
13	Georgia	794	$28,036
14	Minnesota	770	$33,234
15	Oregon	720	$34,589
16	Colorado	714	$34,839
17	Washington	678	$32,076
18	Missouri	657	$28,888
19	Tennessee	640	$29,178
20	Arizona	596	$29,697
21	Indiana	578	$40,381
22	Wisconsin	449	$41,548
23	Maryland	437	$46,087
24	Iowa	368	$27,893
25	Connecticut	333	$43,399
26	Utah	307	$26,053
27	Nebraska	289	$26,349
28	Kentucky	266	$28,236
29	Oklahoma	253	$28,363
30	Alabama	250	$35,280
31	Kansas	236	$32,662
32	New Mexico	231	$32,327
33	South Carolina	222	$30,027
34	Arkansas	199	$26,168
35	New Hampshire	198	$35,561
36	Louisiana	196	$31,199
37	Rhode Island	165	$35,392
38	Mississippi	158	$32,627
39	Delaware	145	$36,299
40	Nevada	140	$32,129
41	Idaho	138	$35,026
42	West Virginia	134	$32,544
43	Maine	130	$42,775
44	Montana	114	$29,991
45	Vermont	109	$33,134
46	South Dakota	99	$31,634
47	North Dakota	87	$29,759
48	Alaska	85	$32,030
49	Hawaii	82	$37,111
50	Wyoming	73	$28,639

Graduate Research Student Education

Graduate Research Student Majors

Biology

21.9 %

Chemistry

11.2 %

Psychology

9.7 %

Graduate Research Student Degrees

Bachelors

76.3 %

Masters

12.3 %

Associate

4.3 %

Top Colleges for Graduate Research Students

1. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

2. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$50,420

Enrollment

7,582

3. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

4. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI • Private

In-State Tuition

$15,262

Enrollment

30,079

5. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,188

Enrollment

15,105

6. University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$14,184

Enrollment

30,845

7. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

8. Georgetown University

Washington, DC • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,104

Enrollment

7,089

9. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,740

Enrollment

5,567

10. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$59,430

Enrollment

8,216

Top Skills For a Graduate Research Student

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 10.7% of graduate research students listed lab equipment on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and communication skills are important as well.

Lab Equipment, 10.7%

Laboratory Equipment, 6.2%

Python, 5.8%

C++, 4.8%

Chemistry, 4.7%

Other Skills, 67.8%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Graduate Research Student Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Graduate Research Student templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Graduate Research Student resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

Graduate Research Student diversity

Graduate Research Student Gender Distribution

Female

53%

Male

47%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

Among graduate research students, 52.8% of them are women, while 47.2% are men.

The most common race/ethnicity among graduate research students is White, which makes up 54.0% of all graduate research students.

The most common foreign language among graduate research students is Spanish at 41.8%.

Online Courses For Graduate Research Student That You May Like

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This course presents critical concepts and practical methods to support planning, collection, storage, and dissemination of data in clinical research. Understanding and implementing solid data management principles is critical for any scientific domain. Regardless of your current (or anticipated) role in the research enterprise, a strong working knowledge and skill set in data management principles and practice will increase your productivity and improve your science. Our goal is to use these...

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Best States For a Graduate Research Student

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a graduate research student. The best states for people in this position are Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, and New Jersey. Graduate research students make the most in Pennsylvania with an average salary of $48,842. Whereas in Massachusetts and Maryland, they would average $46,911 and $46,087, respectively. While graduate research students would only make an average of $43,402 in New Jersey, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Pennsylvania

Total Graduate Research Student Jobs: 1,563

Highest 10% Earn:

$86,000

Location Quotient:

1.29

$48,842

Avg. Salary

View 1,563 Graduate Research Student Jobs In PA

2. Massachusetts

Total Graduate Research Student Jobs: 1,594

Highest 10% Earn:

$79,000

Location Quotient:

1.66

$46,911

Avg. Salary

View 1,594 Graduate Research Student Jobs In MA

3. New Jersey

Total Graduate Research Student Jobs: 1,059

Highest 10% Earn:

$76,000

Location Quotient:

1.28

$43,402

Avg. Salary

View 1,059 Graduate Research Student Jobs In NJ

Full List Of Best States For Graduate Research Students

How Do Graduate Research Students Rate Their Jobs?

Top Graduate Research Student Employers

Most Common Employers For Graduate Research Student

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
1	NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration	$63,230	$30.40	42
2	California State University	$58,411	$28.08	48
3	Rutgers University	$55,295	$26.58	43
4	Morgan State University	$45,856	$22.05	31
5	University of California Press	$45,605	$21.93	114
6	University of Wisconsin System	$44,927	$21.60	34
7	University of Washington	$44,291	$21.29	42
8	Cleveland Clinic	$43,990	$21.15	34
9	University of Illinois System	$43,987	$21.15	34
10	Clemson University	$41,664	$20.03	33

Graduate Research Student Videos

CAREERS IN B.Sc MICROBIOLOGY - M.Sc,DEGREE,Job Opportunities,Salary Package

CAREERS IN BA PHILOSOPHY MA,P.Hd,Consultant,Research,Job Opportunities,Salary Package

Updated April 6, 2023

What is a Graduate Research Student?

What Does a Graduate Research Student Do

How To Become a Graduate Research Student

Graduate Research Student Career Paths

Average Salary for a Graduate Research Student

Roles and Types of Graduate Research Student

Researcher

Role:

Research Fellow

Role:

Research Technician

Role:

States With The Most Graduate Research Student Jobs

Number Of Graduate Research Student Jobs By State

Graduate Research Student Education

Graduate Research Student Majors

Graduate Research Student Degrees

Top Colleges for Graduate Research Students

1. Stanford University

2. Harvard University

3. University of Pennsylvania

4. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

5. Cornell University

6. University of California, Berkeley

7. Northwestern University

8. Georgetown University

9. Johns Hopkins University

10. Columbia University in the City of New York

Top Skills For a Graduate Research Student

Choose From 10+ Customizable Graduate Research Student Resume templates

Graduate Research Student diversity

Graduate Research Student Gender Distribution

Online Courses For Graduate Research Student That You May Like

Best States For a Graduate Research Student

How Do Graduate Research Students Rate Their Jobs?

Top Graduate Research Student Employers

Most Common Employers For Graduate Research Student

Graduate Research Student Videos

Graduate Research Student Related Careers

Graduate Research Student Related Jobs

What Similar Roles Do

Resume For Related Jobs