Applied or research

[PsychLu]

I just finished a preliminary phone interview for grad school and one of the questions I was asked was if I was more interested in applied or research. I answered applied because it's the truth, and also I thought I made that clear in my personal statement when I talked about future goals. But now I'm second guessing myself. I know research is a heavy focus of PhD programs and I have quite a bit of research experience under my belt (and I did speak about research in the interview), but what if they think I'm not a good fit because I'm more interested in applied?

Am I over-thinking this or should I use a different approach in future interviews?

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[WisNeuro]

Depends on where you applied. The research heavy schools will want to admit people who want research, because it benefits them. The balanced or more clinically minded schools don't really care, for the most part. Most PhDs are working in primarily clinical positions.

 

[Ollie123]

Second the above. Really depends on the program. For most programs it is probably fine, but there is variability even among faculty mentors within programs in what they want to hear. For my graduate advisors, it would have pretty much been the kiss of death. For several others in my program? Completely normative.

In my experience, most places that really want to hear you are focused on research are abundantly clear about this on their websites and it is pretty damn obvious from looking at the faculty, their students, etc. So if that wasn't the case, I wouldn't stress about it too much.

 

[PsychLu]

Depends on where you applied. The research heavy schools will want to admit people who want research, because it benefits them. The balanced or more clinically minded schools don't really care, for the most part. Most PhDs are working in primarily clinical positions.

Second the above. Really depends on the program. For most programs it is probably fine, but there is variability even among faculty mentors within programs in what they want to hear. For my graduate advisors, it would have pretty much been the kiss of death. For several others in my program? Completely normative.

In my experience, most places that really want to hear you are focused on research are abundantly clear about this on their websites and it is pretty damn obvious from looking at the faculty, their students, etc. So if that wasn't the case, I wouldn't stress about it too much.

Thank you to both of you for responding. The school had an entire section of their website dedicated to their clinical training, so I feel it's probably more balanced. I just was really thrown by that question, especially after expressing interest in military psychology (I thought it was obvious that I'd be interested in applied). Your responses have led me to feel I'm probably just over-thinking things - it's such a stressful process that you second guess every single thing you do.

 

[Justanothergrad]

Thank you to both of you for responding. The school had an entire section of their website dedicated to their clinical training, so I feel it's probably more balanced. I just was really thrown by that question, especially after expressing interest in military psychology (I thought it was obvious that I'd be interested in applied). Your responses have led me to feel I'm probably just over-thinking things - it's such a stressful process that you second guess every single thing you do.

The job of the program is clinical training (thats what you are spending most of your time doing and what your classes are all about); however, the job of the faculty may not be in that same area (faculty may be pressured for grants and publications more - percentage of effort/time expected for research may be equal to or greater than teaching/service). As a result, the 'balance' of the program may not be exactly as straight forward as indicated by a section on the website and there will be a lot of variation by faculty member even within the same program. These pressures may also be more pronounced for junior faculty because of the 'publish or perish' mindset. The key to answering that question (in my mind, as a junior faculty at an R1) is not necessarily to have a research career planned out but to understand and be excited to be part of research during your training to assist faculty members and built that set of skills - even if you are going applied. I would, have, and will continue to admit students who don't plan for research careers. I still expect them to be part of publications and research.

As an aside because its fairly adjacent to my work, plenty of folks in military psych and related areas have research careers.

 

[PsychLu]

The job of the program is clinical training (thats what you are spending most of your time doing and what your classes are all about); however, the job of the faculty may not be in that same area (faculty may be pressured for grants and publications more - percentage of effort/time expected for research may be equal to or greater than teaching/service). As a result, the 'balance' of the program may not be exactly as straight forward as indicated by a section on the website and there will be a lot of variation by faculty member even within the same program. These pressures may also be more pronounced for junior faculty because of the 'publish or perish' mindset. The key to answering that question (in my mind, as a junior faculty at an R1) is not necessarily to have a research career planned out but to understand and be excited to be part of research during your training to assist faculty members and built that set of skills - even if you are going applied. I would, have, and will continue to admit students who don't plan for research careers. I still expect them to be part of publications and research.

As an aside because its fairly adjacent to my work, plenty of folks in military psych and related areas have research careers.

I did have ideas about how my research interests could be integrated into his lab (when he asked), so I'm sure it was clear that I will be willing to do research and had thought about it in-depth. It is interesting to hear about the disconnect between program statements vs. faculty interests in a student though.

I've only spoken with two military psychologists (it's really hard to find them to talk to), and they both had applied work. Plus the HPSP recruiter I spoke to made it sound like that's what I'd be doing, so I guess I just assumed...

Ah well, guess I'm going to just have to wait and see if I get an in-person interview invite.

Thanks everyone for replying and giving me your perspectives.

 

[Justanothergrad]

I did have ideas about how my research interests could be integrated into his lab (when he asked), so I'm sure it was clear that I will be willing to do research and had thought about it in-depth. It is interesting to hear about the disconnect between program statements vs. faculty interests in a student though.

I've only spoken with two military psychologists (it's really hard to find them to talk to), and they both had applied work. Plus the HPSP recruiter I spoke to made it sound like that's what I'd be doing, so I guess I just assumed...

Ah well, guess I'm going to just have to wait and see if I get an in-person interview invite.

Thanks everyone for replying and giving me your perspectives.

Yeh, if you are going the HPSP route then thats a different animal. Good luck. It sounds like you made it clear about the integration with the lab.