How are you finding grad school programs to apply for?

[Wildcat06]

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Hello all!

I haven't posted in a long time, but am working on a project for my advisor that I think your great minds will be able to help me with.

So, the major question is what sources are you using to generate your list of potential grad schools? Internet searches? Facebook? Faculty recommendations? Advertisements at your psychology departments?

I ask because my school is starting up a new PhD program in public policy with a concentration in psychology and they are trying to figure out the best way to market it to psych undergrads.

Any advice from clinical or non-clinical applicants (or even current undergrads) would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mewtoo]

I've been looking by searching the literature relevant to my research interesting and looking up authors. I've found professors by looking at universities whose programs I liked and were in a certain geographic area and by asking around here on SDN. SDN has been the most helpful.

 

[applyingtograd]

mostly looking at faculty's research interests on schools webpages and then using psychinfo to find some of their papers. also, getting recommendations from professors I am working with currently.

 

[Soon2BPhd3]

Someone recommended that I look at a list of APA accredited programs, so I have been looking there. Additionally, a faculty member at my school gave me some suggestions of programs I should look into.

Before I decided on psychology, I attended some of the graduate fairs (I think one was advertised/sponsored by Idealist).

Good luck with your project!

Hello all!

I haven't posted in a long time, but am working on a project for my advisor that I think your great minds will be able to help me with.

So, the major question is what sources are you using to generate your list of potential grad schools? Internet searches? Facebook? Faculty recommendations? Advertisements at your psychology departments?

I ask because my school is starting up a new PhD program in public policy with a concentration in psychology and they are trying to figure out the best way to market it to psych undergrads.

Any advice from clinical or non-clinical applicants (or even current undergrads) would be greatly appreciated.

 

[wigflip]

I ask because my school is starting up a new PhD program in public policy with a concentration in psychology and they are trying to figure out the best way to market it to psych undergrads.

Most of the psych UGs I knew went into psych (grad school), social work (professional school), or simply went to work in the field of "business." I wonder whether the public policy doctorate might be worth marketing to policy/social welfare/social work/urban planning type UGs? I guess I'm just having trouble figuring out why someone interested in psych and dedicated enough to pursue a doctorate would would take a chance on a new degree rather than a licensable clinical psych doctorate or an established subfield of psych such as cognitive or social.

 

[fallen625]

I am applying to Clinical so I am not sure if this will be helpful, but I used the Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology to make my preliminary list and then going to school websites and looking up faculty members.

 

[Psychadelic2012]

Most of the psych UGs I knew went into psych (grad school), social work (professional school), or simply went to work in the field of "business." I wonder whether the public policy doctorate might be worth marketing to policy/social welfare/social work/urban planning type UGs? I guess I'm just having trouble figuring out why someone interested in psych and dedicated enough to pursue a doctorate would would take a chance on a new degree rather than a licensable clinical psych doctorate or an established subfield of psych such as cognitive or social.

Part of me thinks that it's actually a good idea--we need policy advocates in our field, because it's not a popular role to aspire to, quite frankly, and our field needs to be represented. Social work has plenty of that, but they obviously aren't advocating for psychology! Psych departments aren't hammering policy at ALL and this may be a way to stay in the loop.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Part of me thinks that it's actually a good idea--we need policy advocates in our field, because it's not a popular role to aspire to, quite frankly, and our field needs to be represented. Social work has plenty of that, but they obviously aren't advocating for psychology! Psych departments aren't hammering policy at ALL and this may be a way to stay in the loop.

+1(million)

I keep seeing notices about scope creep, declining reimbursement, etc.; this type of degree/focus seems like it'd be perfect for psychology, and is something our field should strongly embrace.

 

[wigflip]

+1(million)

I keep seeing notices about scope creep, declining reimbursement, etc.; this type of degree/focus seems like it'd be perfect for psychology, and is something our field should strongly embrace.

I'm not contesting that there's a need for psych-focused policy folks. I think my "criticism" (If you want to call it that) is founded on several things:

1. Seeing firsthand how folks with novel degrees flop on the academic job market.

2. Reading (mostly on the masters forum) posts from folks who took on debt to get unlicensable degrees and seemed unaware that they would be unable to practice after graduation until it was too late.

3. Thinking beyond the hypothetical to which actual human beings would be interested. For example, even though AA & Psychadelic both think it's a good idea in the abstract, neither of you said, "Nuts! I wish that degree would have been available back when I was applying!" Not poking fun, just genuinely interested in who the prospective applicant pool would be, and a little skeptical that it will draw heavily on psych UGs without there being some kind of articulated dual degree ala UMichigan:http://www.lsa.umich.edu/psych/areas/women/about/