Dilemma: Health or Neuropsych!

[TBIdoc]

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Hello all! I am having a major dilemma. While applying to doctorate programs, most require that you apply for specific labs. My current research interests are broad and I really enjoy both Health and Neuropsych. As such, should I just tweak my interests in the SOP and apply to labs with Health or Neuro?; or just be upfront, note my interests are broad and choose a POI I'm most interested in? Does anyone know if there is a better shot of getting into a Health psych program as opposed to Neuro or vice versa? Any feedback would be great!

 

[loveoforganic]

Biased, probably unhelpful opinion: Health psych is amazing.

 

[stigmata]

Both are great fields. I say go with the flow and see where you land. Life and practice begins after grad school, not ends.

 

[KillerDiller]

I recommend tweaking your SOP to display your fit with each lab/school you apply to. If you apply everywhere saying you have a broad interest in neuropsych and health psych, professors are going to look at that and say "well, I do neuroimaging of facial recognition, so how exactly would this person fit into my lab?"

That being said, don't take that too far and say you are interested in something you are not just to get your foot in the door .

 

[stigmata]

I recommend tweaking your SOP to display your fit with each lab/school you apply to. If you apply everywhere saying you have a broad interest in neuropsych and health psych, professors are going to look at that and say "well, I do neuroimaging of facial recognition, so how exactly would this person fit into my lab?"

That being said, don't take that too far and say you are interested in something you are not just to get your foot in the door .

And this is exactly why psychology needs to free itself of the academic BS, and adopt a medical school-like model.

 

[KayJay85]

I think you should definitely focus on and sell your interest in the particular lab at hand when applying to programs that select by mentor (which, I think is how most programs operate). Perhaps just mention your other interests and draw links between in commonalities, cause health and neuro are related. If you completely ignore/hide your other interests then you run the risk of getting stuck. The whole issue of "fit" is really only meaningful with complete honesty. The programs should be honest about what they offer and you should be honest about what you want. If a program passes you up because you actually like more than one area of psych then they don't deserve you to begin with. I know it is kind of late in the game for this, but there are more generalist doctoral programs. Perhaps you can add some to your list.


Good luck!

 

[KillerDiller]

And this is exactly why psychology needs to free itself of the academic BS, and adopt a medical school-like model.

Why? I certainly don't want to give up having control over the research I do and who I work with.

 

[erg923]

There is much BS in psychology and in high level academic research, but not within the scientist-practitioner, mentorship model, IMHO. I love the fact that I work very closely with one person in a large, productive lab. Not just for the development of my skills as a researcher, but also because of the close clinical supervision we get within it (due to the clinical nature of our research). I dont see much BS here at all...