<p>My son came home from college for the winter break a few days ago and asked what I thought about him graduating from college in three years. He's a freshman at Rice and thinks it's the greatest place in the world so my immediate reaction was that he should stay for all eight semesters, don't even think of spending a semester abroad. How often will you have something that feels so right for you?</p>
<p>But, he explained that here's a good chance that he'll want to get a PhD in psychology and that can take five or six years. So assuming it's six years, maybe it makes more sense to do this university thing for a total of nine years rather than ten. Good point.</p>
<p>I added that if he could finish all the BA requirements in three years he could probably stay at Rice and take graduate courses and do research his senior year for which he could get credit at the next place, which might even be Rice. Also, his chances of getting into a great graduate program have to be better if he's applying after three full years than after just two full years.</p>
<p>Any other thoughts or experiences to report?</p>
<p>I essentially did Cornell in three years, though I did come in with college credit, and then went straight into a PhD program at Johns Hopkins at age 20. There are advantages and disadvantages. Disadvantages first: I very much regretted not being able to stay for my fourth year at Cornell with the people I’d come in with as a class. I found my undergraduate years far more enjoyable, intellectually and socially, than my graduate education, and I had to sacrifice the chance to take a major leadership position that I would otherwise have been qualified for in my extracurricular activity. My now-husband, who was in the same situation, did stay for the four years though he could have graduated in three, and was able to finish a triple major. I did not have the money for that option. </p>
<p>The advantage to shortening the undergraduate degree–apart from the financial one–is that it really is a long haul to the PhD. Although programs claim to be 5 or 6 years, in most programs the actual time to degree is more like 9 or 10. Dissertations can take quite a long time to complete, especially since most advanced grad students are teaching or assisting as researchers part-time to support themselves. And then, if your son has academia in his sights, he will typically do several postdocs or visiting positions at various places around the country before finally landing a tenure-track job (which can be more or less secure depending upon the institution). The effect is that a young academic often isn’t able to settle down anywhere for long until his/her mid-30s or even later, a problem compounded if he/she is in a relationship with another academic. I saw a lot of marriages fall apart, and a lot of people postpone starting a family so long that they were unable to do so. Because I got an early start and proceeded quickly through my PhD program, I had tenure by the time I was 32 and thus could start a family in relatively stable circumstances. </p>
<p>Your son’s best bet, I think, if Rice has a graduate program in psychology, would be your idea of his staying at Rice but doing some graduate work in his fourth year. I was actually just discussing this possibility with my own son, who came into UVA with a lot of advanced standing in his major but who loves it there and wants to stay for the 4 years. Many schools have this arrangement, either formally (working toward an MA) or informally on a case-by-case basis for outstanding advanced undergraduate students. Another advantage: your son would get a very good sense of whether he really wanted to go on to the PhD: graduate work in most fields can be quite different from undergraduate work. Presumably his letters of recommendation from faculty would also be stronger.</p>
<p>Generally students are not advised to do a PhD at their undergraduate institution. It’s good for them to go somewhere new and study with different faculty.</p>
<p>I’ve been having this rolling discussion with my son for over a year. He is a second year engineering student well into his major coursework. He has the following options:</p>
<ol>
<li> Graduate early and enter the work force.</li>
<li> Graduate on time and broaden his education by taking courses outside his major.</li>
<li> Earn his Masters in 4 years.</li>
</ol>
<p>
</p>
<p>What about an pursuing a master’s at their undergraduate university?</p>
<p>I think it’s different with the master’s. It’s not a long haul, and it isn’t prep for academia.
It’s the academic world that doesn’t like the “in-breeding.” ;)</p>
<p>In context, I’m a first year School Psych PhD student.</p>
<p>Your S will need as much research experience as possible (including publications and presentations, if at all possible) in order to make him competitive for grad school in psych. Thus, his main preparation, after getting solid grades and GRE scores, should focus on getting plentiful and meaningful research experience, and it’s even better if that experience relates directly to the type of research he’s applying to do in grad school (usually, you apply to work with particular faculty based on their research interests matching yours; this is usually vital to getting an interview and getting in). That said, your S has several options to do this (a) stay as a student and do research alongside classes (grad or undergrad), (b) graduate and a get a full-time job as an RA and then apply after two years (cavaet is that you usually need significant research experience in order to get such a job), (c) graduate and do volunteer or part-time research with the faculty he worked with as an undergrad (this could be combined with another job), or (d) get an experimental or general psych MA/MS and get research experience that way (downside is that this usually doesn’t save you all to much time in a PhD program, and there are relatively few funded psych MA programs). You’ll notice none of these options include actually applying during his third year; while it’s theoretically possible, he’ll be at a serious disadvantage do to a “lost” year of research experience, esp. considering that many, many applicants will have taken time off after undergrad in order to get even more research experience.</p>
<p>What subfield is he interested in? If it’s one of the ones that require interviews (nearly always clinical, counseling, and school, sometimes developmental and social) “taking off” the last year or semester to do volunteer or part-time research is an especially good idea, if anticipates a heavy interview schedule.</p>
<p>I graduated college early, worked for a year, and the went for PhD. For many years, I worked in academia at top places. I don’t foresee any problems.</p>
<p>Redwing - Have your son check if a semester of co-op (paid internship in industry) is a possibility. That would be an excellent way for him to refine his ideas about future options. My husband and I are both mechanical engineers, and we see great value to getting exposure to real jobs. </p>
<p>I had 2 summers or PreProfessional work with a major corporation, and it is the reason I have the job that I’ve had for 26 year (with same corp as my Dad, which I had assumed would not interest me.)</p>