Research is something that everyone seems to push you to try when you are in college, especially when you go to a school that is as highly focused on research as USF is. So why do it? And if you are pursuing a career in something that isn’t in STEM is it still worth your time? Here are some reasons why I think every college student should at the very least try research during their college careers.

1. It’s a completely different skill set.

A lot of people assume that because they are good students in school that they will be good researchers, but a lot of times this isn’t the case. The skill set that is required for research (depending on what kind of research you are doing can be completely different from the skill set that is required to be a good student. For example, some research labs require you to be able to work well with your hands and learn how to adapt to and solve problems in a way that no class setting ever would.

2. It teaches you patience.

Due to movies and T.V shows some people have been lead to believe that research is a fast process when that couldn’t be less true. Research is something that not only takes a lot of time but also a lot of patience. Research studies can range from months to years in length and the truth is that even after all of that time and work, there is no guarantee that you will get the results you want or even really learn anything that you didn’t already know. Because of this research is one of the best ways to learn patience and perseverance.

3. It is so diverse.

When people think of research most of the time they think of a bunch of scientists in a lab working with chemicals, and while there are many labs like this if that is what interests you, that isn’t the only kind of research that is out there. Regardless of what you are interested in or what field of study you are going into there is definitely some kind of research going on that will interest you. There are projects in business, psychology, international studies, communications, and countless other areas of study that are just waiting for you to get involved.

4. Take an active role in your learning.

For most students learning just means memorizing information or reading it out of a textbook, and while this might work well enough for most people, doing research gives you the opportunity to learn beyond that. All the information that is in your textbooks had to be discovered through research at some point, so why not be part of creating new knowledge instead of simply consuming it?