<p>If so, what subfield? I'll be applying to mostly (if not all) School Psychology PhD programs next year.</p>
<p>I am also applying to School Psych programs, masters and PhD. I don’t think I have enough research experience for a PhD, but I’ve heard from other students, not a lot of them did either. Maybe in School Psych vs clinical it isn’t as needed. One female student at Penn State did some her senior year and worked with children with special needs over the summer. Who knows, admissions is never something that has a definite blueprint.
What got you interested in School Psych?</p>
<p>I want to research disability psych, with a multicultural lens (which means focusing disabilities with relatively early onset), and most of the faculty who do research in this area are in School Psych, so… Plus, I like the idea of being able to do a split school/outside practice, hence my interest in a PhD over an EdS (is that what mean by “Masters” programs… or our you talking about something else?), as PhD’s can practice in non-school settings and be licensed as full psychologists in most states. Plus, I like the more research-intensive focus of PhD programs and the somewhat better opportunities for funding. I may apply to a few EdS programs as well, depending on how many of my POIs are taking students next year, but we’ll see.</p>
<p>What sort of research experience do you have? I have pretty good clinical and research experience (no publications or major presentations yet, however), but I’m worried I’ll be hurt by a lack of child experience–I’ll have some but not a lot.</p>
<p>I meant a specialist degree, some schools near me call it that, others a “masters” with an extra year.
I also am also interested in disabilities, finished a project on Dyscalculia and hopefully can land a job this summer with children with autism. (I have to wait to interview when I get home)I have done 1 research project this year that I’m just finishing and will do another next year and an honors thesis. I have to work and contribute to my tuiton over the summer, so unpaid internships/volunteering can’t take up more hours than paid work. I go to a small LAC so the opportunities are not as prevalent.
I know talking to some professors, that your individual case is looked at, but of course the bottom line is the bottom line. If it hurts me not to have done more, I will apply again later. I can’t take out any more loans for undergrad than I am already. I might apply to a few PhD programs and some Specialist and see what happens. I know funding is slim, but some have help or scholarships you can apply for.
I just have to decide with certain programs, if they have both, Masters and PhD which to apply too…you can’t do both. I talked to a student at Penn State and she came from a small univ. and applied to masters and PhD programs and was surprised to get into the PhD. She said funding for her, wasn’t an issue,but to be honest, some students, the second year, had some trouble finding funding…it’s not always guaranteed, especially today.</p>
<p>It sounds like you have awesome experience–more so than mine!</p>
<p>Where are you considering applying?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say “awesome” but it was okay. I don’t know what will pan out next year, but I wil have my thesis to work on and my summer job isn’t set yet. If that doesn’t work out, I will work at a store I worked at last year and do some volunteer work where I can. You have to be flexible. : )
I don’t know where yet, but will apply to a couple in CT where I live and NY and probably PA or MA…a lot depends on funds…how about you?
I’m home for a couple of days (unexpectedly)and got some info on UConn and St John’s and Fordham.</p>
<p>Looks like we may be competitors next year–UConn, Fordham, and St. John’s are all on my potential list (though I’ve heard iffy things about Fordham’s funding). Also on my list are Central Michigan, Arizona State, Montana, South Florida (if I can get them to allow a missing pre-req that my university doesn’t offer), North Carolina, NC State, Syracuse, Minnesota, Wisconsin-Madison, LSU, Michigan State, Kent State, and others. Research match, not geography, is my main criterion (well that and funding!). I have a list of 30 or so schools that have good potential research matches and then wittle it down best on who’s accepting or not accepting applicants and correspondance with the faculty. I’m hoping to apply to 20+ PhD programs (as long as there’s a solid research match across) and maybe a few specialiast programs. I’ll be paying a small fortune in application fees!</p>
<p>I was just thinking that about the application fees…worse than high school!
I heard bad things about Fordham’s funding and Yeshiva’s (although they dropped some programs) St John’s PsyD isn’t great with funding, but has some. I think Rutgers is the same way. It bothers me when students say year to year it varied, I would like them to say, “funded all years” : ) I wish funding wasn’t an issue, but it is.
In my state,UConn has a good program for both specialist and PhD and Southern Ct has just specialist and I’ll probably apply to both. I like Kent and someone on another forum told me Univ. of Delaware had great funding for Specialist and PhD. Year to year though, I don’t know what will change. I have to study for the GRE and will probably take it the end of the summer, so much to do! Are you taking the subject test too?</p>
<p>I think a couple of the programs on my list require the psych subject GRE, so I’ll take it in the fall, and I’ll probably take the General GRE early this summer.</p>
<p>I’ll be applying to Behavior Analysis and Quantitative Psych programs next year–mainly looking at faculty interested in behavioral decision-making/behavioral economics. The programs I’ll be applying to are mostly PhD’s and my school’s 1-year MA program as a backup.</p>
<p>I applied to a mixture of PhD programs including developmental psych for fall '09 and was accepted 6 of the 9 schools, so let me know if you guys have any psych questions. :)</p>
<p>So, I applied to work with a professor in HomeState, basically doing what I thought would be a traditional RAship. This past week, the professor emailed me and said that she thinks that because I already have a lot of research experience, she thinks my time working with her would be best spent being the PI/lead author of my own project! She also sent me a month-by-month timeline of how she envisions things from conceptaulization to completion, including submission at national conferences and submission for publication. </p>
<p>Under this timeline, I have 5-6 weeks this summer where the professor is out of town and all my work (lit review and methodology) can be done remotely. I have two options:</p>
<p>1) Return to UniversityCity and work for my PI here.</p>
<p>Pros:
-Get paid (pay will cover food and rent plus a bit of extra cash)
-I can volunteer while I’m here, which is relevant to my application (school psych–I don’t have a lot of child-related experience)
-I adore my PI and her research, which is very much in the niche of what I would actually want to do.
-I could work with my thesis adviser on my honors senior thesis, possibly even defending my prospectus (though unlikely), which would be nice, seeing as I want to start data collection ASAP in the fall.</p>
<p>Cons:
-This isn’t a PI(ish) position, just an RAship (it’s likely but not guaranteed that I’ll get my name on some things from this work, but likely not in time to help with grad school apps.
-My PI will actually be gone for two of those weeks, so I’ll be working with our graduate research assistant and by myself (not like there will be any lack of work to do!)
-I would feel really bad to turning down OtherState professor</p>
<p>2) Go to OtherState and work with a professor there.</p>
<p>Pros:
-This professor’s plan is to have me analyze and write-up some of his already collected data into something to be submitted for publication, possibly this Fall (in time to impact grad school apps).
-He does work in child psych -> good for school psych apps?</p>
<p>Cons:
-No pay (I would have to pay for food/housing, so I would actually lose money)
-No way to volunteer while I’m in other state</p>
<p>Thoughts? I need to decide ASAP and am having an extraordinarily difficult time. Both are great options.</p>
<p>I’m a graduate student in psychology. My area is social psychology, and I’m actually completing a joint program in social psychology and sociomedical sciences at Columbia. I just finished up my first year in the Ph.D program here.</p>
<p>From what you have posted, psych_, it looks like your opportunity in your home state is better. First of all, you’ll be getting paid – at this point taking unpaid work is kind of…well, why would you take work that’s unpaid when you’re getting virtually the same benefit from paid work? Better not to lose money. But in addition to that, your PI at home is doing research in the niche that you’d like to do research in and you can volunteer to round out the other parts of your application.</p>
<p>Getting PI experience is nice, but you’re not expected to be the PI of your own study before graduate school, nor are you expected to have publications. It’s nice, but not required. Besides, you don’t want to worry about how you’re going to be getting by over the summer without getting paid! Don’t feel bad about turning down the professor in the other state; professors understand that students get more than one offer all the time. Just explain that you won’t be able to make it this summer, but you would love to keep the lines of communication open now and in the future.</p>
<p>I’m a psych student beginning a Ph.D. program this fall in Biomedical Behavior (Health Psych).
I had a similar situation–okay not exactly similar but sometimes you’ve got to be like ‘show me the money!’ because in the long run, you’ll be happier (at least this is my rationale) going to school and getting paid for it and learning really cool things that will enhance your experience.
Doing your own research and being the type of leader you described would just be more meaningful (for me) and have probably longer-ranging potential since the research is something you are passionate about.
Writing up some results and working on someone else’s data is just not going to give you the great comprehensive expeperience you would get if you dig right into your own PI-type project.</p>
<p>Yes and I agree with Juillet–it’s okay to cancel on an offer from another professor. If you felt bad about it, just call them up (or call when you know they will be out of the office and leave a nice voicemail, ha!) and explain and say you love the school, and it’s an awesome opportunity, and it was a realy hard decision, but you’re going to have to pursue something else.
If they ask, tell them it’s about money. Sometimes I’ve heard of people/departments ponying up some $$ when they think they are losing a candidate.</p>