My son will be graduating fall 2025 as Bio major with Neuroscience concentration. He has been doing research on campus since sophomore year. Junior year a new electro neuroscience professor came to campus and he helped set up her lab and did research with her that summer. He thinks he would like to be a professor, but wants to take a year off to see how he would like working as a research assistant. He has not worked off campus doing research because he has a very close relationship with his professors and enjoys being on campus. How important is it that he get a research position outside of his school before he graduates?
I assume he wants to get a PhD?
academia is still a field where pedigree matters. Top Bio doctoral programs are extremely competitive.
If your kid attends a tippy top school for bio, on campus research is excellent, and the rec will carry some weight. But if your kid attends directional state U, he might consider trying to get a Research position at a higher ranked school after graduation.
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Yes, how important is it that he has worked outside his college for grad school applications?
He attends Williams College. Just wondering how important it is for grad school applications that he find a research position outside the college this summer.
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none. The only reason to look outside of Wiliams is if he has an interest in something that Williams does not research.
But again, PhD programs are brutally competitive. Even someone from Williams might not be successful right out of college.
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Williams College is superb. Graduate school admissions will be well aware of how strong it is. Being a small school it is also likely to be easier for your son to get to know his professors, and it sounds like he has done this very well. Their references are going to matter, and I expect are going to help him.
And this is very good also.
Very much so. This is definitely what we saw when our daughter was applying to PhD programs in a sub-field of biology this last time around (she is in her first year). “Harder than undergraduate admissions to Harvard” might be one way to describe what we saw.
Good grades are important. Strong research experience, strong references, and a solid understanding of what you want to do, where you want to do it, and why, might be even more important.
However, I do not see any problem with your son getting his research experience on campus.
Our daughter graduated from university and worked in research for private companies for 2 or 3 years before applying to PhD programs. Her first job at a private company sounded to me to be very similar to what she had already been doing on campus (I think that was part of why she got the job). Both the research that she did on campus while an undergraduate student and her work experience were important in applying to PhD positions (and her references came from both).
There is one thing that my daughter did that your son will probably also want to do (or perhaps will need to do). Before applying to any PhD positions, she did her homework to understand what specific professors were doing in terms of research at each university she was considering. She read their papers. In her statements of purpose for various applications and in other essays she was able to discuss the research that she was interested in doing and how this relates to the research that is already being done at each school. Before interviews she found out which professors she would be talking to, and re-read their papers before the interviews. This meant that she was able to talk to each professor about the research that the professor had done and is doing. She told me that she went into each interview with at least one question in mind for her to ask each professor about the professor’s research.
This amount of homework before applying might seem like a lot to do. However, apparently PhD positions in the best programs really are that competitive.
It might be relatively easy to name 10 or 20 universities that are very good for biology and neuroscience. It might be a lot more difficult and a lot more work to figure out which of these schools and which specific professors are the best fit for any particular student. The schools and the professors are looking for a good fit. The student can help them find this fit.
This makes sense to me.
If a student does not get into an appropriate PhD program, then there are two options. One is to look for an appropriate job or continue at the job that you already have and try again in a year or two or three. Another possible option is to consider a master’s degree program. One potential issue is that master’s degree programs are typically not funded and can be expensive. It is not necessary to have a master’s to get into a very good PhD program (for example most of the students in my daughter’s program do not have a master’s degree). If my daughter had not been accepted into an appropriate PhD program then I really do not know whether it would have been more helpful to a future application to get a master’s, or to just keep working at her job for another year and then reapply.
For someone without work experience to me it makes quite a bit of sense to get a year or two or three of (research-related) work experience before applying to PhD programs.
To me it sounds like your son is doing very well. Admission to PhD positions is very competitive.
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Thank you to everyone that replied. This is great news. Lots of reasons to stay on campus, his professors want him to stay, he can work on his senior thesis, he can take a family vacation, as his professors encourage it. The only reason not to stay would be the opportunity to work in a different research environment.
Thank you also for the tip on interviewing, that sounds right up his alley. Congrats to your daughter!!
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Not important at all. What is important is serious research and recommendations along with targeted outreach. If your child has an opportunity, have him attend a national meeting and present a poster and start networking. Paging @ColdWombat for more input.
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I agree with what has already been said. Being at Williams will not hinder him in the least. He will get into fully funded PhD programs (and yes, he should skip the masters).
Pedigree matters in academic neuroscience, yes. But in a different way than people might think. So he doesn’t need to drive himself nuts trying to go for the super fanciest schools. Far more important is the reputation for a given advisor and school for his ultimate subfield. It’s not always the schools you might think that are the strongest. And it’s likely too early to predict what his niche will be.
He should apply to a group of solid schools (including publics) that have a variety of people working in topics of interest for him. I encourage a program that allows him to do rotations before choosing a lab, unless he’s really focused on one particular person who wants him and can pay him.
The bigger issue is his career goal. Neuro PhDs (and many other PhDs) are basically a pyramid scheme. I could write about this for a LONG time, but he needs to think carefully about this goal and how to attain it. I don’t want to discourage him from pursuing it, and it may be a great path for him. That’s a topic for another day, perhaps.
As for going to grad school, he sounds well prepared and should apply with confidence. The more experience he can get working in a lab the better. Not for the purposes of improving his application, but rather to give him insight into the work, careers, etc.
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Thank you @1dadinNC and @ColdWombat for your insight. Very much appreciated!!
Well, he accepted a position outside his school lab. Thanks everyone for their input.
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Please . . . Write about this topic for a LONG time. I love to read about pyramid schemes. 
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