Undergraduate research opportunities are important for students to experience before graduation. Recently, students in Jim Tanoos’ classes had the chance to present research at the Purdue University Spring Undergraduate Research Conference (see pictures of students below).
The opportunity for undergraduate students to engage in research is vital for their degree pursuits and career trajectories because it produces measurable, statistically significant improvements in their achievement, including higher retention and graduate rates, improved GPA, increased likelihood of graduate school enrollment, and enhanced skill development. The following key statistics help explain why these experiences matter. My six (6) reasons why undergraduate research experiences are important for students before graduation
1. Higher retention and graduation rates
Multiple large-scale studies show that undergraduates who participate in research are 10–20% more likely to persist to graduation than peers who do not. For example, institutional data from U.S. research universities indicate graduation rates of 75–85% for research participants, compared with 55–65% for nonparticipants, even after controlling for prior GPA and socioeconomic background. Retention gains are particularly strong for first-generation and underrepresented students.
2. Improved academic performance (GPA)
Students who engage in research typically experience average GPA increases of 0.2–0.4 points over comparable students. Longitudinal analyses show that these gains are not short-term; GPAs remain higher in subsequent semesters, suggesting that research participation strengthens skills such as problem-solving, data analysis, and scientific writing that transfer directly to coursework.
3. Increased likelihood of graduate and professional school enrollment
Undergraduate research has one of the strongest predictive effects on post-baccalaureate education, with double (or more) graduate school entry rates, particularly in STEM and social science fields. Roughly 35–45% of research-active undergraduates enroll in graduate or professional programs, but only 15–20% of non-research peers do so.
4. Skill development measured by standardized assessments
Pre/post assessments of research skills show statistically significant gains: critical thinking scores increase by ~15–25%, quantitative reasoning scores increase by ~10–20%, and scientific communication proficiency improves by ~20–30%. These gains are larger than those associated with traditional lecture-based courses alone.
5. Workforce and earnings advantages
Survey and labor-market data indicate that students with undergraduate research experience are 1.3–1.6x more likely to secure full-time employment within six months of graduation and earn 5–10% higher starting salaries on average, particularly in technical and analytical roles. Employers report that research-experienced graduates require 20–30% less onboarding, reflecting stronger independent work and data interpretation skills.
6. Disproportionate benefits for underrepresented students
Statistically, the impact is even greater for students from historically underrepresented groups, including retention gains of 15–25% and graduate school enrollment rates 2–3x higher than those of comparable peers without research experience. These numbers suggest undergraduate research is a high-impact practice for reducing achievement gaps.
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In a Spring 2026 class at Purdue University on business-to-business selling, students were provided with a research question related to a fictional businessperson located within two hours of West Lafayette who exhibited impulse buying behavior toward a batch of tickets for a Purdue men’s home basketball game at Mackey Arena for some work colleagues during the week leading up to the game.
In their methodology, students considered variables such as the home sellout streak of the Purdue Boilermakers men’s basketball, the availability of ticket batches, the opponent, the tipoff time and day of the week in relation to time constraints, and the digital platform SeatGeek as the athletic department’s official ticket reseller.
Harshini Hariprakash Kanmihalli, Gabrielle Susan Druger, Quinn David McCormick, & Pohsun Ho, on the topic “Optimal Ticket Purchase Timing for Purdue Men’s Basketball Games: A Price and Availability Analysis“
L-R (Ho, McCormick, Kanmihalli, & Druger)
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Hazel Viral Shah, Johnny Andy Tan, Evan Liam Orton, & Oscar Julio Pages, on the topic “Evaluating Timing and Seat Location Effects on Purdue Basketball Ticket Prices“
L-R (Tan, Orton, Pages, Shah)
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Noah Elliott Dreibelbeis, Mia Angela Abragan, Simon Randel Beazly, & Nykolas A Chung, on the topic “Ticket Prices at Purdue Basketball Games Rows 42-46“
L-R (Abragan, Dreibelbeis, Chung, Beazly)
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In another Spring 2026 class at Purdue University related to industrial sales, students were given an assignment focused on recent innovations and developments in global supply chains based on reporting from reputable news sources. Based on their findings, students were placed into groups with classmates who had identified similar themes.
Building on these themes, the teams were then tasked with a research question that required them to provide recommendations for a fictional Upper Midwest organization specializing in the identified trend that was seeking to expand both domestically and globally.
Jeeranun Poopanead, Qirui Zhou, Bryant Alexander Flint, Hazel Viral Shah, & Katherine Barrett Reeves, on the topic “Supply Chain Visibility“
L-R (Flint, Reeves, Zhou, Shah, Poopanead)
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Laila Betancourt, Pranavi Pothuganti, Kyle M Yi, & Fanyang Meng, on the topic, “Digital Supply Chain”
L-R (Pothuganti, Meng, Yi, Betancourt
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Tyler J Konz, Brooklynn Eve Fugate, Christian Gabriel Angelos Ampil, & Micah Noel Stonecipher, on the topic “Supply Chain Resilience“
L-R (Konz, Ampil, Fugate, & Stonecipher)
Tin Shun Ng, River McKenzie Bolden, Rodrigo Lopez Rodriguez, Alexander Joseph Meyer, & Pohsun Ho, oral presentation on the topic “Supply Chain Expansion in an Era of Geopolitical Fragmentation: Strategic Market Selection in a Multipolar Global Economy”
L-R (Ho, Ng, Rodriguez, Meyer, Bolden))
OUR Scholars students Mark S Altman (Purdue College of Engineering) Jin Guo (Purdue College of Agriculture), oral presentation on the topic “A Determination of Air Emissions and Air Quality Impacts from Production in Indiana USA’s Paper and Fabricated Metals Industries“
Undergraduate research is impactful for students. Students who conduct research before graduation see a 23% increase in academic performance and a 33% increase in retention, and 70% of undergraduate students involved in research indicated that their research experience helped them decide on a potential career. Further, 43% of undergraduate researchers pursue graduate studies (versus 23% of non-participants). Undergraduate research participation at U.S. colleges has grown substantially over the past few decades: fewer than 15% of undergraduates participated in the 1980s–1990s, but today roughly 30–40% of students report engaging in research during college, with some universities reporting participation rates of 40–80%. This shift reflects a major expansion of undergraduate research programs and institutional initiatives to integrate research into the undergraduate curriculum, and Purdue University’s Office of Undergraduate Research plays a key role in this key initiative.