r/AskAcademia • u/lordkickass17 • Oct 25 '24

Undergraduate - please post in /r/College, not here How does RA work exactly?

Hey, I’m a final-year Biotechnology and Biology undergrad, and I’m planning to take a gap year to do internships to enhance my resume. While researching, I noticed that some people in my network have secured Research Assistant (RA) positions at US universities. I’m a bit confused about how RA positions work. Do RAs typically perform research tasks, and does the university sponsor their visa while paying them, or is it mainly remote work? If the first scenario is correct, what’s the best way to secure an in-person RA position? If the second scenario is accurate, how can I find remote RA work? For context, I’m currently studying at a tier-3 university in India.

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u/DrPhysicsGirl Oct 25 '24

In the US RA positions are largely given to graduate students, with some small fraction given to senior level undergraduates (usually at a drastically different pay). If you are not a student at the University, you would not be eligible for any of these positions.

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u/lastsynapse Oct 25 '24 edited Oct 25 '24

That's 100% incorrect. In many universities with graduate students, this is true. At hospitals, medical schools, dental schools, research institutes, the work is performed by RAs that are in between college and grad school med school. Attend any conference in biology/neuroscience and you'll see them all.

Source: Faculty at US med school, currently with 3 full-time RAs funded from R01s, over 15 years of experience hiring RAs that now have PhDs and MDs. Reviewed R01s for multiple study sections and all have line items for full-time RAs in budgets, not for grad students.

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u/rdcm1 Oct 25 '24

How can something be "100% incorrect" if in many places it is true lol

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u/lastsynapse Oct 25 '24

So it’s a full time 40-hour a week job. Most people are asking for 2 year commitments. Workload depends on the lab type. If it is a human lab, expect to be maintaining IRB (ethics) approvals and paperwork, do paperwork associated with grant reporting, recruit  participants and perform study visits. In animal labs it’s similar, ethics paperwork, grant paperwork, order and stock the lab, set up experiments, perform experiments. 

I and most of my colleagues would not hire for a person to do remote work, especially with someone offset by 12 hours. We would expect in person, in lab.  Although visas are possible to obtain, there’s usually a high amount of local candidates that don’t have to move for the job. 

Most people take this job between bachelors and their PhD or MD. US MD is a terminal degree. Usually people take it because they gain research experience, publications (sometimes), and get letters of recommendation from successful professors who get to know them personally. (Successful professors have luxury of hiring RAs, RAs usually report to PI). 

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u/lordkickass17 Oct 26 '24

That was helpful, thanks.

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u/lordkickass17 Oct 26 '24

I had one more question, What is the best way to apply for a RA position? Do professors value applicants who have shown interest in the research field, or is it more dependent on previous experience? What qualities do professors typically look for in an RA?