PhD/PsyD Question about dissertation

[crazypsychstudent]

A psychologist told me my dissertation should NOT be on a topic I want my career to revolve around because I will be "burnt out." I always assumed the opposite. Which is true? I am starting a clinical psyd program and want to go after a forensic post-doc. Does this mean my dissertation be forensic related? I want to remain as competitive as I can.

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[WisNeuro]

What ridiculous advice. On the internship and selection committees I have served on, we've looked at applicant's narratives, and their trajectory. Someone who is all over the place looks weird and it hurts their ranking. Likewise, you should have experience in the area that you want to practice career-wise. You'd be surprised how many people apply to neuropsych postdocs with almost 0 neuropsych experience. We don't rank those people.

 

[psych844]

What ridiculous advice. On the internship and selection committees I have served on, we've looked at applicant's narratives, and their trajectory. Someone who is all over the place looks weird and it hurts their ranking. Likewise, you should have experience in the area that you want to practice career-wise. You'd be surprised how many people apply to neuropsych postdocs with almost 0 neuropsych experience. We don't rank those people.

Any insight if it is useful to have undergrad/or research experience in neuropsych to be able to do a Phd dissertation/masters thesis with a faculty member who does that? Are you right away excluded if your past research doesn't line up?

 

[psych844]

I wrote that weird. I meant can you get accepted into a Phd program, if you didn't do research relevant to the faculty member you want to work with?

 

[WisNeuro]

I wrote that weird. I meant can you get accepted into a Phd program, if you didn't do research relevant to the faculty member you want to work with?

Yes, much more leeway in pre-grad work. It's understood that options may be limited to what is available at the institution. It's just important to have exposure to research at the undergrad level. Once you're in grad school, though, you should be able to tell a coherent story about your training and how it's getting you to where you want to be career-wise.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Agree with WisNeuro that 1) at the undergrad level, it's generally not expected for you to have significant experience in your ultimate area(s) of research interest; and 2) it makes little to no sense to suggest that you should actively try to avoid completing a dissertation in your area(s) of interest in order to avoid burning out.

Does your dissertation absolutely need to be in an area in which you'd like to continue doing research? No, although particularly for academic-track folks, it's certainly helpful. But having your dissertation be in the general realm of your areas of practice and interest (e.g., something neuropsych-related for a neuropsych person, or forensics-related for a forensics person) is generally expected.

Beyond that, an interesting dissertation topic can start all sorts of random conversations. Anecdotal case in point: I'm a few years out from defending mine, and one of the psychiatrists where I currently work actually pulled and read it prior to my starting because he wanted to ask me more about it once I got here.

 

[Ollie123]

That is fantastically bizarre advice for several reasons.

For one, it absolutely can impact your competitiveness. Certainly not every person does a dissertation in their eventual specialty area and its probably more the norm to end up switching than to stay consistent across one's career (at least for non-academics)...but it certainly doesn't hurt to establish a trajectory early on and it almost assuredly will help when it comes to internship/post-doc/first job. Its important to have a "story." Note that no one's story is perfect and in fact nearly everyone's ends up doing a very post-hoc "carving out" a story from a bunch of tangentially related things...particularly for ECPs, but even senior faculty have told me the same thing. Deliberately avoiding any kind of clear relationship between your educational and professional goals is just bizarre though.

For two, if a dissertation is enough to burn you out than how on earth would you manage 30+ years of that topic? Dissertations are generally small starts that barely scratch the surface of a topic. Even at clinical science programs, let alone a PsyD. They are almost always quite small relative to the sort of projects you'll be expected to tackle as a professional.

 

[LAPsyGuy]

A psychologist told me my dissertation should NOT be on a topic I want my career to revolve around because I will be "burnt out." I always assumed the opposite. Which is true? I am starting a clinical psyd program and want to go after a forensic post-doc. Does this mean my dissertation be forensic related? I want to remain as competitive as I can.

I've heard this advice before. I was told not to take on a specific topic because of the burn out. The adviser didn't mean an area of study such as forensics or a given population, but to avoid a specific question you might otherwise be passionate about. I understand the advice, and if taken correctly, it won't impact your career. Ultimately, I don't think it matters either way.