Do admissions consider undergraduate research experience?

[aghir]

I am a Psychology major and will have nearly 1.5 years of experience working as an undergraduate research assistant upon graduation. While these experiences were not directly applicable to social psychology or social services type work, they did involve direct interaction with participants and their children. Will these experiences aid my graduate application this upcoming fall?

Additionally, I will have 9 months experience working with foster youth through my field study placement. I am planning to work in a social service type position after graduating while I apply to graduate programs. I am just curious as to whether research experience is valued by admissions committees?

[Noegenesis]

2 hours ago, aghir said:

I am a Psychology major and will have nearly 1.5 years of experience working as an undergraduate research assistant upon graduation. While these experiences were not directly applicable to social psychology or social services type work, they did involve direct interaction with participants and their children. Will these experiences aid my graduate application this upcoming fall?

Additionally, I will have 9 months experience working with foster youth through my field study placement. I am planning to work in a social service type position after graduating while I apply to graduate programs. I am just curious as to whether research experience is valued by admissions committees?

Yes, research is an important part of graduate education in social work, and your experiences will certainly help your applications.

[bloome]

On 1/3/2019 at 5:43 PM, aghir said:

I am a Psychology major and will have nearly 1.5 years of experience working as an undergraduate research assistant upon graduation. While these experiences were not directly applicable to social psychology or social services type work, they did involve direct interaction with participants and their children. Will these experiences aid my graduate application this upcoming fall?

Additionally, I will have 9 months experience working with foster youth through my field study placement. I am planning to work in a social service type position after graduating while I apply to graduate programs. I am just curious as to whether research experience is valued by admissions committees?

yes! My GPA is so-so at 3.3 but I've had multiple research opportunities during undergrad that I think made my application stand out immensely. I would also make sure some of your letters of recommendations are from people from these field study placements and professors you did research with. Lots of people can study hard but not a ton of people participate in research. I wrote a lot about how my research experiences have fueled my passion for social work in my personal statements as well.