The Summer Institute in Social Research Methods combines classroom instruction, workshops, and hands-on research experience for undergraduate and early-career graduate students.
Part-Time Research Assistantships
RA Interest Form
Booth provides RAs and prospective RAs with job opportunities, skills workshops, information sessions, and more. To sign up for our newsletter and hear about job opportunities that might interest you, fill out Students who for research but are in need of a faculty supervisor may contact Stephen Lamb directly at Stephen.Lamb@chicagobooth.edu.
Opportunities for University of Chicago Students
Booth Centers with Research Opportunities
Booth's Roman Family Center for Decision Research, which focuses on behavioral science, is looking for research assistants for their lab on campus, as well as for their Mindworks, virtual, and pop-up labs.
Stigler Center
The Stigler Center for Political Economy investigates regulatory capture, crony capitalism, and the various forms of subversion of competition by special-interest groups.
Stigler Center
The Tolan Center for Healthcare
The Tolan Center for Healthcare serves as a center of gravity for the diverse disciplines that engage in healthcare research at Booth and across the university.
The Tolan Center for HealthcareOpportunities for All Students
Pathways to Research and Doctoral Careers runs a part-time RA aggregator and gives its program participants the chance to join its resume repository, which it uses to help faculty all over the world find RAs.
The AEA Summer Program is a two-month residential program providing high-quality instruction to students interested in a research career.
Pathways to Science has a database of paid part-time Summer RA opportunities in a variety of social sciences, as well as STEM fields like computer science and applied mathematics.
The Leadership Alliance is a consortium of over 30 institutions aimed at training, mentoring, and inspiring students to pursue doctoral studies.
The Board's Internship Program provides valuable research experience for students in fields like economics, finance and accounting, information systems, and data analysis. Find even more opportunities at the
How to prepare
Research assistantships come in many different shapes and sizes, and all require different forms of preparation. Some RAships incorporate their own training, and don't require advanced skills in coding or math. RAships that focus on data entry and validation are a good example of this. Such RAships often lead to more advanced opportunities if one performs well. More advanced opportunities call for more advanced preparation, which will vary by discipline.
In the quantitative social sciences investigated at Chicago, the ability to code up statistical analysis is important. The most commonly used languages are R, STATA, and Python. Generally speaking, faculty are not overly concerned about which language you are most familiar with: if you have competence in one language, you can generally pick up the syntax of another if needed. RAships in economics and related fields may require knowledge of statistics, including regression analysis and causal inference. Coursework in statistical models and methods, or in econometrics, is good preparation.
Background coursework in particular fields is also useful preparation for RAships. Even introductory coursework in behavioral science, economics, finance, and other fields can prepare an RA to conduct literature reviews, an important and common assignment for RAs. A background in mathematics is especially important for economic theory. While advanced math coursework is rarely necessary for RAships, it is important to take advanced math courses if one is considering a PhD. Calculus, Linear Algebra, Introduction to Proofs, and Real Analysis are all valued courses. Real Analysis in particular is seen as an important signal for a potential graduate student's performance in the first-year coursework of the PhD.
Find RA Opportunities at Booth
Fill out this form to be notified of RA opportunities in fields that interest you. Faculty may also review your submission and reach out to you individually with research opportunities.