Any grad students members of APA?

[livetosail]

I was just wondering, has anyone joined the APA as a student affiliate? $53 just seems a bit steep for a student membership, and I was wondering if the benefits are worth it?

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Members don't see this ad.

 

[kapinkkidowski]

I did, and its just one more thing to list on my CV...however some phd programs require you purchase additional malpractice insurance before begining practicum training (which the APA offers to doctoral students for something inconsequetial like 35 or 50 dollars a year). You have to be a member to get it, so in that case, you would need to join.

Other than that, honestly, I can't tell you what a student membership is good for. Insider's Guide said being in various psychological organizations can show comittment to the field while applying, but idk if any of those admissions committees considered that in any way while looking at my app; its such a small thing compared to GPA or GREs or rsrch experience, so who knows?

 

[AcronymAllergy]

$53 is about par for the course in terms of student membership to psychological societies. Both of the ones of which I'm a member ran in the ~$60/year range, and include student discounts on conferences and distance learning, subscriptions to the appropriate journals, and regular email newsletter updates.

 

[erg923]

we have to be as we have to have their insurance.....

 

[PsychScience]

In our program we also have to join for insurance purposes. However, as an APAGS member I was also able to present a poster at the APA conference and the conference fee was waived (this may only apply to first author on the poster, not sure?). The conference fee was definitely greater than my APA membership fee, so in the end, if you plan on presenting at APA it's worth it.

The other benefit I might see is that APAGS is one of the largest bodies within APA- so if you are interested in the future of the field and the direction of APA its a great place to get involved at the upper levels.

 

[PsychPhDone]

I was just wondering, has anyone joined the APA as a student affiliate? $53 just seems a bit steep for a student membership, and I was wondering if the benefits are worth it?

That's a pretty typical student fee. Depends on what you're looking for in an organization. I'm not currently a member (was in undergrad) since I've decided other organizations currently offer me more of what I'd like. You can also join certain divisions of APA without being a member.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

That's a pretty typical student fee. Depends on what you're looking for in an organization. I'm not currently a member (was in undergrad) since I've decided other organizations currently offer me more of what I'd like. You can also join certain divisions of APA without being a member.

This is what I do. Unfortunately I don't believe the APA is representative of my beliefs, but I do have a sub-division that does, so I support them.

 

[livetosail]

I've decided other organizations currently offer me more of what I'd like.

Such as?

 

[buzzworm]

This is what I do. Unfortunately I don't believe the APA is representative of my beliefs, but I do have a sub-division that does, so I support them.

Would you mind expanding on this a little? I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

 

[cara susanna]

I did not renew my membership at APA this year. I have just too many issues with them to support them that way. When I need the insurance, I'll become a member again.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Would you mind expanding on this a little? I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

There is general APA membership, and then there is division membership. The general APA membership goes to support the APA as an organization, gets you a copy of the APA Monitor, sometimes a discount on certain publications/events, etc.

The division memberships encompass different "topic" areas within psychology. For instance Division 22 is Rehabiliation Psychology and Division 40 is Neuropsychology. These divisions each have elected officials and the purpose is to support that "topic" within the great psychology landscape. Each division has a seperate membership fee and associated benefits.

There are some people who are very active within their divisions, but they are less active and/or less supportive of the APA as an organization. It can be quite political when you look at who supports what, but suffice to say that many people don't agree with one or more things the APA supports. It happens in most every association/organization, but it seems to be more prominant as of late for the APA.

A third area of "support" is the political action committee that was developed to lobby on behalf of the APA. People can donate money direct to the PAC to support various causes. Most/All associations have some sort of PAC, and they are used to get legislation passed and/or influence people in positions of power.

Sadly I haven't found an association that fits everything I'm looking for, but I try and support the groups that are doing good things in certain areas (Div 22, ASCIP, etc). One of psychology's biggest problems is apathy, in addition to being cheap. These two factors have negatively impacted our profession and added to the marginalization of our field. I'll just there before going completely off topic....😀

 

[23542]

Is anyone a member of the American Evaluation Association or the American Educational Research Association? Is membership excluded to individuals who are not students, practicing psychologists (organizational or clinical psychologists), or in academia? I do not fit into any of these categories at this time, but would like to return to school and pursue either a Masters or Ed.D in program evaluation.

Anyone studying program evaluation in graduate school or education and evaluation within psychology?

 

[Psleepless]

Is anyone a member of the American Evaluation Association or the American Educational Research Association? Is membership excluded to individuals who are not students, practicing psychologists (organizational or clinical psychologists), or in academia? I do not fit into any of these categories at this time, but would like to return to school and pursue either a Masters or Ed.D in program evaluation.

Anyone studying program evaluation in graduate school or education and evaluation within psychology?

not a member of AEA or AERA, am a student member of APA, APS and some regional &divisional groups. studied program eval in two grad courses and would like to learn a lot more at doctoral level. one of my grad profs does state-level program eval. happy to give you more info if youd like; pm me any time.

 

[bmedclinic]

Just as an FYI, when I became a grad student, I used my APA membership to get myself insurance through APAIT. I've kept my insurance with APAIT and my membership with APA for 4 years, now. Just last week I got something from APA telling me to renew. I thought it was odd (knowing my insurance was up in Nov.) and called them. They told me that you no longer need to be a APA member to get APAIT. I'm still going to renew. I like the journals, the gradPSYCH magazine that come with it, as well as checking out the books I could buy.

As for other divisions/memberships- 12 = Clinical.
Make sure to join your state org. wherever you end up going to grad school; I always present there (or my work goes and I stay and lecture).

For personal research interests, I also am a member of Society of Behavioral Medcine (which I feel represents me pretty well) and am looking to joining Sleep Research Society as soon as I can muster up the $$ for it.

I HIGHLY reccomend figuring out your nitche research orgs in addition, and plugging into them asap (for me, that's bmed, anxiety, and sleep). Just getting the journals from those few areas helps me keep coming up wtih ideas and challenging myself. Also keeps me aware of when things are happening.

 

[whypsy]

The two advantages I can see are

1) if and when you're required to have insurance, you have to have an APA membership anyway.

2) you get access to physical journals for a discount. If you don't like journals, then it's not for you. But with membership you get American Psychologist and the Monitor. You can also pay to get an APA journal of interest or two.