Collect. Analyze. And repeat. A research internship is a great way to gain experience in the career you're heading into. It provides you with a lot of information related to that field and presents problems and real-life situations that you may have to deal with during your career.
The research internship is also a great way to impress any potential employers you might have. Plus, you'll see how the career you've been dreaming of really is day-to-day. You may even find out it's too boring for you. But you'll probably end up loving it, even more than before your research internship.
Typically, research interships are saved for students who are on their last year of school or those who recently graduated. Most internships are paid, so you won't be doing all of this work for nothing.
What is a Research Internship?
What Does a Research Internship Do
There are certain skills that many research interns 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, detail oriented and communication skills.
How To Become a Research Internship
If you're interested in becoming a research internship, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 74.4% of research interns have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 14.8% of research interns have master's degrees. Even though most research interns have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Research Internship 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 research internship 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 instructor and then eventually end up with the title senior analyst.
Average Salary for a Research Internship
What Am I Worth?
States With The Most Research Internship Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active research internship jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where research interns earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Research Internship Jobs By State
Top Colleges for Research Internships
1. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
2. University of Maryland - College Park
College Park, MD • Private
3. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD • Private
4. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
5. University of Georgia
Athens, GA • Private
6. Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
7. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
8. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
9. Ohio State University
Columbus, OH • Private
10. Cornell University
Ithaca, NY • Private
Top Skills For a Research Internship
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, 12.9% of research interns listed python on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and detail oriented are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Research Internship Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Research Internship templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Research Internship resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Research Internship Demographics
Research Internship Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among research interns, 52.1% of them are women, while 47.9% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among research interns is White, which makes up 69.2% of all research interns.
- The most common foreign language among research interns is Spanish at 34.2%.
Work Experience Programs For Research Internships
Virtual work experience programs replicate work at top companies and help you gain the skills to be successful when applying and working there. In only a few hours, learn the relevant tools necessary to complete a typical work day at that company. Virtual work experience programs are 100% free, open-access, and self-paced. No experience or application is required!
Company: Accenture North America
Cost: Free
Duration: 4-5 hours
Company: Tata
Cost: Free
Duration: 3.5-4.5 hours
Company: Two Sigma
Cost: Free
Duration: 5-6 hours
Company: BCG
Cost: Free
Duration: 5-6 hours
Company: Accenture North America
Cost: Free
Duration: 5-6 hours
Online Courses For Research Internship That You May Like
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...
The Market Research Specialisation focuses on the essentials of research and the research process. This Specialisation will teach you how to use qualitative and quantitative research methods, how to develop and manage a questionnaire development strategy, how to develop measurements, how to collect data and how to analyze and present them.\n\nOnce you have completed this Specialisation, you will have a good understanding of market research including:\n\nEssentials of market research Components...
SPSS data analysis made easy. Become an expert in advanced statistical analysis with SPSS...
Best States For a Research Internship
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a research internship. The best states for people in this position are New Jersey, Washington, California, and New York. Research interns make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $58,529. Whereas in Washington and California, they would average $55,734 and $53,525, respectively. While research interns would only make an average of $50,519 in New York, 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. New Jersey
$58,529
Avg. Salary
2. Massachusetts
$50,322
Avg. Salary
3. Delaware
$48,614
Avg. Salary
How Do Research Internship Rate Their Jobs?
Top Research Internship Employers
Most Common Employers For Research Internship
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft | $83,136 | $39.97 | 92 |
| 2 | IBM | $71,851 | $34.54 | 91 |
| 3 | Oak Ridge National Laboratory | $65,118 | $31.31 | 92 |
| 4 | Columbia University in the City of New York | $56,010 | $26.93 | 75 |
| 5 | Rutgers University | $55,101 | $26.49 | 56 |
| 6 | National Science Foundation | $53,125 | $25.54 | 60 |
| 7 | NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration | $53,055 | $25.51 | 202 |
| 8 | UC Davis | $49,496 | $23.80 | 53 |
| 9 | CSIS | $49,203 | $23.66 | 49 |
| 10 | National Institutes of Health | $48,778 | $23.45 | 152 |
Becoming a Research Internship FAQs
How Long Does It Take To Become A Research Internship?
It takes one year or less to become a research internship. That is the time it takes to learn specific research internship skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 4 to 6 years years to become a research internship.
Do Research Interns Get Paid?
Yes, research interns generally get paid. However, whether a research intern is paid or not largely depends on the specific company and internship.
In a research internship, a person will undertake research work for a company to work on. In most research work, the intern will work under a professor independently or in the R&D department of the company.
How Do I Get A Research Internship With No Experience?
Typically, by nature, internships do not require prior experience. But if you are applying for a competitive internship where there are likely many other qualified applicants, a person will need to stand out.
How Old Do You Have To Be To Be A Research Intern?
You have to be at least 18 years old to be a research intern. Typically companies hire research interns that are going into their junior and senior years of college.
These students typically have the career knowledge and soft skill sets needed to explore their career options through internships.
What Does A Research Intern At Microsoft Do?
Research interns at Microsoft contribute to the various research projects that Microsoft has available. These can include artificial intelligence, economics, and security, privacy, and cryptography -- whatever a person is interested in related to the product Microsoft produces.
What Skills Are Required For A Research Internship?
Research interns need a wide variety of skills to be successful, but the most important is the ability to learn and take correction and good listening skills. The goal in a research internship, at least for the intern, is to learn as much as possible about the company, role, and industry and assess whether it is a good fit.