<p>Hello all, I'm posting because I think you can all shed some insight upon my very confused mid-college crisis.</p>
<p>I am an incoming junior at Michigan double-majoring in Psychology and Creative Writing/literature. I should have 4 years working in a prestigious social psych lab upon graduation, three of those years being a lab manager. On top of this, I have been in an intensive german program in which I did a short fellowship in Munich and a volunteer course in Berlin. This coming year I will be a peer advisor for the undergrad research opportunity program (UROP) and also did an internship this summer with the Survey Research Center. My GPA is pretty high and I'm not too nervous about getting good rec's.</p>
<p>In other words, (I think?) I am on a really good path! Here's the problem: I am suddenly completely lost about what to do after graduation. I originally just figured I'd go for a phD in social psych, but I am realizing that perhaps social science research is REALLY not the life for me - from what I have observed, it is really stressful and there's never a guarantee that your hard work will be published. </p>
<p>On top of that, I have many, many other passions beyond psychology. My plan right now is to take a year off but still apply to programs senior year: programs ranging from Literature phD programs, to social psych ones, to psy d programs...</p>
<p>What do you guys think? What are your experiences with programs I stated above/do you have any other recommendations? Also, is it acceptable to apply to such a wide range of programs at the same time??</p>
<p>Thank ya thank ya!</p>
<p>edit: forgot to add something important: one of my other reasons for being unsure about psych is that while I have done well with research, I am already have issues with my psych courses. I haven't taken many yet but I got an A in Intro, a B in cognitive, and a C+ in stats. I'm a little worried that psych just isn't where my intellectual strengths lie.</p>
<p>Do NOT apply unless you <em>KNOW</em> exactly what you want to study. If you still don’t by your senior year, don’t even be tempted. Your professors will say no if you show them a list of programs in literature, sociology, social psych, whatever, because it demonstrates that you’re not really ready.</p>
<p>Take a good luck at the people around you at Michigan, especially the professors and TAs/grad students. Is that the kind of life you want? If not, then DO NOT go to graduate school. You will be miserable. I’ve met new students/first years who come to Michigan and get in the grind of graduate school… one day, usually sometimes by mid-October, they all go “Oh c@#$! This is graduate school?” Michigan IS tough academically but what the professors, researchers, and graduate students do is for real. As an undergrad there, you’re lucky to see it first-hand and save yourself the trouble finding out the reality while in graduate school.</p>
<p>Did you enjoy any of the activities you did in Germany? Try to use some of that plus any student clubs you’re in to launch some kind of opportunities for you after graduation. It’s okay to take time off after graduation. Graduate school will always be there and if you really want to go, you will. Take the time to explore the world around you after graduation. You will feel much more settled after you’ve had your little freedom/independence.</p>
<p>I understand how you feel. I’m also an incoming junior with many interests and considering grad school, but don’t feel sure about anything. My plan for now is to wait for a few years after I finish college and decide once I have a better idea of what I want my life to be like. Don’t feel pressured to decide right away.</p>
<p>Don’t apply to doctoral programs just because you don’t know what to do. First of all, the reasons that stress you out about social psychology programs will stress you out even <em>more</em> in literature programs. In the humanities, you’re not only not guaranteed publishing - you’re not even guaranteed a JOB, since there are far more people with PhDs in English literature than their are tenure-track professorships for them.</p>
<p>Most people have many other passions aside from the one they chose to focus their career on. You need to figure out which of these passions you want to make into a career, and which of these passions you want to keep as a hobby. I will concur and say that as a social psychologist, the idea of being an academic at a research 1 university sounds very frustrating to me. But there are other avenues you can take if you want to be a psychologist and don’t really give a rat’s ass about publishing. You can be a school psychologist or an industrial-organizational psychologist that works to help companies.</p>
<p>Personally my advice to students who are unsure about graduate school is to go get it out. Really - if you are unsure, you will be miserable. If you want to travel, teach abroad, have flings, work in a cubicle and make insane amounts of money, volunteer, whatever - do that first. There will not be as many opportunities do that stuff after you finish your PhD and are planning your academic career, unless of course like me you are planning to bail the minute you get your degree. The academic world is very unforgiving of gaps in your research training and publishing record.</p>
<p>If after you sow your wild oats and you still want to come back and get a doctoral degree, and you feel a burning passion within you to research something in particular within the field, then apply.</p>