Choosing Programs (Long)

[JoRaven]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi Everyone!

I just registered for this forum after finding out that the APAGS listservs are not as active as I was hoping for. I am hoping to get 2 things out of this particular posting: to find grad students at the schools I am thinking of applying to, and to get some advice based on actual experience within different programs or applying to different programs.

A little background on me - I am 25, a nontraditional undergrad at UConn, I work full-time and go to school full-time at night. I will graduate in Dec 08, and will be applying to grad programs in the fall. It is my intention to go straight into a PhD program. My career interests are somewhat broad, because I want to have flexibility. My ultimate goal is to teach college and engage in research. But I also want to at least have the ability to have a counseling practice.

However, my research interest is somewhat more specific. I am focused on the study of gender, particularly with regard to the study of men and masculinity. My interest within this area spans several disciplines - clinical, social, counseling, and developmental. For example, one research question that is important to me is "Are women really more prone to depression than men, or is it just underreported due to the way that men are socialized?" This is where it gets tricky.

There are not many faculty members at schools with PhD programs that focus on this area. I have found them all. So my list of potential schools include Clinical, Social, and Counseling programs, depending on the faculty member at that particular school. The unofficial advice I have received thus far is that when you know what you want to research, the faculty member is more important than the actual discipline of the program. Would you all agree or disagree with that?

So here are the schools, programs, and faculty members that are on my potentials list. If any of you have applied to these schools, are going to these schools, have worked with or met the faculty member, please let me know. I have found that researching grad school is soooooo much more difficult than undergrad, because you're basically limited to what you can find out from their respective internet pages. Potential grad students don't get shiny pamphlets in the mail! Here it is:

Boston University, Clinical, Leslie Brody
Clark University, Clinical, Michael Addis
UMass Amherst, Clinical, Maureen Perry-Jenkins
UNC Chapel Hill, Clinical, Donald Baucom
Univ. of Rhode Island, Clinical, Henry Biller
Yale, Clinical/Social (undecided), Susan Nolen-Hoeksema & Marianne Lafrance
Boston College, Counseling, James Mahalik
U. of Florida, Counseling, Martin Heesacker
U of Houston, Counseling, Jonathan Schwartz
U of Texas Austin, Counseling, Aaron Rochlen
Northwestern, Social, Alice Eagly
Cornell, Social, Sandra Bem

Wow, my list looks smaller than it feels. Any thoughts on any of the above or any other advice you want to share?

 

[Ollie123]

Well, yes faculty is more important than discipline for the most part. However getting a social degree means you can't have a practice (well, there are some re-specialization programs you could do afterwards, but that would mean another 2 years in school beyond your doctorate that likely wouldn't be funded unless there are some respec programs I missed when looking at them, plus internship/postdoc after that). If you want to have the option of clinical work, I'd stick with counseling/clinical programs, but if you're willing to give that up than social is a possibility.

Only one of those I'm familiar with is Nolen-Hoeksema - haven't met her but I did apply with her last year. Everyone I know who has met her says she's a really nice person, and obviously, an absolutely incredible scientist.

As far as other potential faculty go, check out Kevin Thompson at USF - he edited a book "The muscular ideal" that might be of interest to you. Might also want to check out the editoral board of the "Men and masculinity" APA journal, and authors of recent articles that were published there.

 

[biogirl215]

Keep in mind, if you go for a social psych PhD, you won't be licensable to perform therapy/counseling (you mentioned you wanted a practice on the side, so that's why I brought this up).

ETA: Ollie beat me to it!

 

[JoRaven]

I know that I won't be able to counsel with a PhD in social, but I feel like the opportunity to work with Sandra Bem or Alice Eagly would be worth that compromise.

I'm also, I have to admit, still slightly drawn to the fact that social programs tend to be shorter than clinical and counseling because you don't have to do the internship.

I hate that the lines are drawn as they are within the disciplines, especially with something like gender which has relevance to all of the areas within psych. Personally, I think all programs should have the option within them for counseling training. Social, Developmental, and I/O are all areas that provide expertise in things that are completely relevant to counseling.

But alas, I am an undergrad, and my opinion counts for zip.

 

[deleted176373]

Hi Everyone!

I just registered for this forum after finding out that the APAGS listservs are not as active as I was hoping for. I am hoping to get 2 things out of this particular posting: to find grad students at the schools I am thinking of applying to, and to get some advice based on actual experience within different programs or applying to different programs.

There are not many faculty members at schools with PhD programs that focus on this area. I have found them all. The unofficial advice I have received thus far is that when you know what you want to research, the faculty member is more important than the actual discipline of the program. Would you all agree or disagree with that?

So here are the schools, programs, and faculty members that are on my potentials list. Here it is:

Boston University, Clinical, Leslie Brody
Clark University, Clinical, Michael Addis
UMass Amherst, Clinical, Maureen Perry-Jenkins
UNC Chapel Hill, Clinical, Donald Baucom
Univ. of Rhode Island, Clinical, Henry Biller
Yale, Clinical/Social (undecided), Susan Nolen-Hoeksema & Marianne Lafrance
Boston College, Counseling, James Mahalik
U. of Florida, Counseling, Martin Heesacker
U of Houston, Counseling, Jonathan Schwartz
U of Texas Austin, Counseling, Aaron Rochlen
Northwestern, Social, Alice Eagly
Cornell, Social, Sandra Bem

Wow, my list looks smaller than it feels. Any thoughts on any of the above or any other advice you want to share?

I have similar interests but slightly different. I think you may have missed a few schools. However that's immaterial at this point.

As others have stated, you want a counseling or clinical Ph.D. if practice is important to you and since you want to go into academia a Psy.D. really won't play well... even as much as I like Rutgers and Baylor's programs. It's a shame since there is faculty at Baylor that would otherwise be a good fit.

I would be prepared to have lots of research experience and great stats. None of those programs listed are easy to get into, actually I think you generated a list of some of the most competitive programs in the country. I applied to several of them and didn't get much action.

I applied to UT, UH, BU, Yale, and Clark. The only one that responded was UH.... My stats are about average for the field. Just a heads up. I hope you get into one of them though!

Mark

 

[Ollie123]

Well, realistically not everyone is interested in receiving clinical training and schools can't be expected to do everything. I mean, I actually think there are great intersections between clinical and I/O but I don't think its reasonable to expect every program to be able to provide every option. Not to mention some schools expressly do NOT want to provide clinical options because they are only interested in training researchers and consider the clinical work to just be a distraction from their goals. That was the reason I didn't apply to Stanford, which otherwise would likely have been my top choice. It sucks, but that's life sometimes.

One POTENTIAL option that might not work out, but is something to think about, is seeing whether you can enter the clinical program but be mentored or co-mentored with someone in the social program. Its not the norm, but nor is it unheard of.