PhD/PsyD Advice for Incoming Clinical Psychology PhD Students?

[Coffee_and_Psychology96]

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Any recommendations/advice for transitioning to grad school? What supplies will I need? How to manage budget before/during grad school? Time management advice (for research, clinical duties, courses, etc.)? Any general advice? Thanks in advance!

 

[Temperance]

Congratulations on starting graduate school! I would strongly advise setting aside money in preparation starting now, as moving, first month's rent, and security deposit will set you back. You may also not see your first paycheck for 1-2 months, depending on how your institution handles onboarding and payroll, so you will also need to save enough for one to two months of expenses. This ties into your question about budgeting.

Track now how much you spend each month on necessities (rent, bills, medications, food) so you have a rough idea of what expenses are fixed and what can be adjusted. Once you figure out what your fixed expenses are, you can figure out how much rent you can afford and how much you're willing to pay relative to your other expenses, which can then inform where you'd like to rent.

Ask current students what the housing market is like. Even during a pandemic, I heard of areas where apartment rentals were booked solid; my own area had plenty of vacancies when I moved. I signed my lease a couple of months in advance.

 

[summerbabe]

Since you likely won't have clinical duties during your 1st year, you'll have extra time to adjust before hitting years 2-4+, which will be jam packed.

Most programs don't place an emphasis on coursework so get some advice from older students in your program on how to be successful. You need to get A's (since many programs have fairly restrictive remediation/academic probation/termination policies for poor grades; see your handbook) but courses should be designed to be easily passed with efficient effort (e.g., no reason to spend 10 hours studying for a test if you can pass with half the study time because nobody will care if you get a 91 or a 99).

I'd recommend allotting a good chunk of time year 1 to make progress on your thesis and any additional research projects. A major part of success throughout the PhD is hitting your academic benchmarks (propose thesis--> defend thesis --> propose dissertation --> pass comps --> apply for internship --> defend dissertation --> complete internship) and delays along the way could keep you in school for longer. And all of these things take time and can't be done with shortcuts so plan ahead.

My advisor was very supportive but also blunt in laying out exactly what I needed to do to be successful and when I should ideally have everything completed. If your advisor is not equally blunt/transparent, I'd recommend initiating these conversations early to avoid surprises. Congrats and good luck!

 

[Spydra]

Never put anything before your self-care.

 

[Sanman]

Don't forget to build in time/ money for some fun.

 

[Justanothergrad]

+1 to the fun and self-care.

Also, be open to learning opportunities throughout your graduate career, including those to reconsider how you might approach your career to maximize your long term effectiveness as a professional. Do not assume you know everything about what you want in a career at this stage, and resist the urge to agree with those who urge you to have it all figured out. My advice, hold onto it loosely.

 

[Boston2k]

Some things that either benefitted me or I wish that I did, starting at the outset of grad school:

• Set goals - For example, X pubs/year (or X pubs by time done with the program, etc.) - make them feasible but also ambitious enough that you can get to the next stage (e.g., postdoc at a place you want to be - on that note, look up the CVs of people in the place you want to be, and then you can look to match them when seeking opportunities).
• Look around and see who among upper year students in the program seems friendly and willing to give advice. They will tell you the unwritten history of the department, including things to do and avoid.
• Look around and see who among your same-level peers seems friendly and willing to be a buddy. You will share info over the years that will help advance what you do and avoid problems. Plus, it's a lot of fun to go on the ride with them.
• You can say no, and you can switch advisors. It's not plan A, but it's remarkably hard to kick a student out once they are accepted into the program (if you don't believe me, eventually get to know the DCT and find out stories of some of the things they deal with). I say this because people often feel pressure to do unreasonable things because they fear it will hurt them in the program - you will need to pay some dues and of course don't be an entitled jerk, but you should not be exploited. Consider what you are getting out of each thing that you are doing for faculty and others and if the answer is "barely anything," consider cutting it out. The prior two bullets about having connections to upper years and peers at the same level will help as they can give you a gauge of what is generally accepted in your program and what is extreme and you can more easily say no to - likely you will not be the first to have the problems that you experience (e.g., everyone knows that advisor X or rotation Y is problematic) and you can avoid many of them this way.
• Try to kill two birds with one stone when possible (e.g., take a clinical rotation where you get paid at the same time or are more likely to get a publication opportunity from it).
• To the degree possible, treat it like a regular job. Show up in the morning, work a full day at a reasonable pace, then leave. People often get into trouble with irregular hours. If you don't know what to do during unscheduled time, look at the goals you set and brainstorm ways to make contributions towards those. Sometimes you have to run over time (and can take extra vacation later on to compensate), but make a good faith effort to adhere to this. Being professional and visible smooths out the highs and the lows, and coincidentally goes a long way with the faculty (if they respect you as a reliable and disciplined adult, they are more likely to help you prevent and/or fix problems that might arise).
• Early on, read a completed APPI internship application, and watch Prinstein's videos on internship - this might take a few hours, get a coffee on a slow morning and just have a look, no need to memorize or take everything to heart - this will give more of a sense of what is required for the internship process, and over the years you'll naturally identify opportunities that come up that you can use to fulfill these requirements
• While to some degree you have to compromise on what you study to match your advisor/collaborators, try to find at least one project or opportunity you really believe in that's "yours" - this helps with personal fulfillment, and also when you go to get a job later on, you can say you have your own program of research/specialty that is independent and belongs to you, that you want to develop further with your next employer

In grad school, I worked like heck, had a lot of great times with a lot of great people, and had a few rough patches. Many things were good then, and they're even better now that I'm on the other side (it's nice to be paid a lot more while being pulled in fewer directions). You have a lot to look forward to.

 

[Coffee_and_Psychology96]

Thanks everyone! This advice has been incredibly helpful. How many pubs should I aim to have by the time I’m out of grad school? The school I’m admitted to said the average is 1-2 pubs, but I wonder if I should aim to do more? Right now I have 2 posters (1 as first author) and I’m submitting another 1st-author abstract for another poster soon. I’m also currently working on a manuscript as second author. I see myself either working in academia (but I realize it’s extremely competitive) or working as a clinical professor (conducting supervision, seeing clients, teaching, etc).

 

[Boston2k]

Thanks everyone! This advice has been incredibly helpful. How many pubs should I aim to have by the time I’m out of grad school? The school I’m admitted to said the average is 1-2 pubs, but I wonder if I should aim to do more? Right now I have 2 posters (1 as first author) and I’m submitting another 1st-author abstract for another poster soon. I’m also currently working on a manuscript as second author. I see myself either working in academia (but I realize it’s extremely competitive) or working as a clinical professor (conducting supervision, seeing clients, teaching, etc).

TBH a lot is dependent on the lab you're in - if they publish a lot, it's much, much easier to get more pubs. If they don't, it's often not realistic to start a super productive line of work on your own, as you don't have the shared resources (e.g., clinical recruiting). After establishing a good relationship with your POI, if another lab is more productive might start a collaboration (could make both faculty authors on an article as a concession), or even move to the more productive lab altogether if appropriate.

The school average probably also shows a lot of variability - I bet there's a lot with 0-1, then a few people with more.

Personally, I'd say look at the CVs of postdocs/new faculty at places where you want to be, and decide based on what they look like. And regardless, connect with really productive groups, it's much easier to hit targets this way.

 

[Coffee_and_Psychology96]

TBH a lot is dependent on the lab you're in - if they publish a lot, it's much, much easier to get more pubs. If they don't, it's often not realistic to start a super productive line of work on your own, as you don't have the shared resources (e.g., clinical recruiting). After establishing a good relationship with your POI, if another lab is more productive might start a collaboration (could make both faculty authors on an article as a concession), or even move to the more productive lab altogether if appropriate.

The school average probably also shows a lot of variability - I bet there's a lot with 0-1, then a few people with more.

Personally, I'd say look at the CVs of postdocs/new faculty at places where you want to be, and decide based on what they look like. And regardless, connect with really productive groups, it's much easier to hit targets this way.

Thanks for responding! You're right, this number does seem to vary in the program. My PI has published ~10 articles in the last year, with most of these as first or last author, so I think there's ample opportunity to get involved. He also frequently collaborates with other professors within the department and encourages his students to collaborate with other professors/graduate students as well. And thanks for the advice, I'm definitely going to look for CVs of postdocs/new faculty and connect with productive groups. 🙂