How to find programs/good matches

[neuroal]

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Hi all! I'm new to the boards and am impressed by the wealth of knowledge shared here by the posters. It makes me think of aspects of pursuing a PhD I hadn't considered before.

I'm interested in Clinical Neuropsychology and have done research in TBI and brain tumors (currently work in neurosurgery assisting surgeons during surgery). I'm also interested in PTSD. I'm planning on attending a Clinical Psychology Master's program in the fall. My advisor will be a NP there and we're writing a grant to assess the cognitive impact from a NP perspective of a new brain radiation protocol for the treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme. We're working with a neurosurgeon I currently scrub in with in the OR and a radiologic oncologist. I would be listed as the Co-PI. This is my thesis work.

I'm being told two different things by people when it comes to matching for PhD programs. One camp says it doesn't matter what your research topic is and if you match to a program but that you have training that can assist that program in advancing whether you're a match or not. The other says I should pursue topics I plan to follow in a PhD program and I should match as much as I can to the school's research interests. So which is right?

If I'm supposed to follow the research interests, what is the best way to find schools who are matches?

Thanks for your time!

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Hi all! I'm new to the boards and am impressed by the wealth of knowledge shared here by the posters. It makes me think of aspects of pursuing a PhD I hadn't considered before.

I'm interested in Clinical Neuropsychology and have done research in TBI and brain tumors (currently work in neurosurgery assisting surgeons during surgery). I'm also interested in PTSD. I'm planning on attending a Clinical Psychology Master's program in the fall. My advisor will be a NP there and we're writing a grant to assess the cognitive impact from a NP perspective of a new brain radiation protocol for the treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme. We're working with a neurosurgeon I currently scrub in with in the OR and a radiologic oncologist. I would be listed as the Co-PI. This is my thesis work.

I'm being told two different things by people when it comes to matching for PhD programs. One camp says it doesn't matter what your research topic is and if you match to a program but that you have training that can assist that program in advancing whether you're a match or not. The other says I should pursue topics I plan to follow in a PhD program and I should match as much as I can to the school's research interests. So which is right?

If I'm supposed to follow the research interests, what is the best way to find schools who are matches?

Thanks for your time!

If you already know what your research interests are and have the opportunity to follow them prior to admittance to a doctoral program, I would say by all means do so. Having any kind of research experience, regardless of topic, in the social sciences is definitely preferred to having none; however, if your experiences have allowed you to identify a specific area on which you'd like to focus, all the better. Just keep in mind that as you progress in your graduate training, your interests may change.

As for how to find schools that are good matches, the best way is simply to choose a handful of programs, visit the website of each, and read up on the posted research interests and recent work/publications of individual faculty members.

 

[jexa]

I think it's kind of both of these.

Your research experience should match somewhat with the sort of work you plan to do in grad school, but mainly because you want to be able to "sell" your experience easily in a personal statement and on interviews in a way that gets you into a lab where you can follow your research interests. It doesn't have to match up perfectly, but it should be relevant enough that it intrigues your POI, is something they can talk with you about on a deeper academic level, and shows them you have skills that they want to incorporate in their lab.

Neuropsych isn't my field of interest, but I am interested in psychotherapy process and outcome research. So in my field, say you have experience working with kids with social anxiety in a treatment outcome lab. This experience will be most useful for someone applying to child anxiety treatment outcome labs. It will be fairly useful for someone applying to child treatment outcome labs more broadly, or a child anxiety psychopathology lab. It will also be fairly useful for someone applying to adult anxiety treatment outcome labs. It will be somewhat useful for someone applying to adult anxiety psychopathology labs. It will be a stretch for someone applying to adult treatment outcome labs more broadly.

If you have a clear interest, I would look up articles that relate to your interest -- see who wrote them, see if there's anyone in a clinical program. The other option is to do what I did and go through the entire list of APA-accredited PhD programs and look at faculty research interests at each one. This is more than a little time-intensive though 🙂

 

[kea2115]

I looked through the list of accredited programs, wrote down all of those that I wouldn't have minded attending (location-wise) and then researched each program online. Eventually, I narrowed down programs by looking for objectives that matched with my goals and research areas and professors that matched with my interests, among other various factors. Granted, I applied to counseling programs, so there was a ton less to have to weed through, but I found that to be the best method as I applied to programs that I really felt I fit with.

Another way to go about it is word-of-mouth. I am sure that those professors/researchers that you are working with are aware of programs that do research that is along the same lines as your interests. I would just ask them. Academia is a smaller world than you might think, and I am sure they can rattle off a list of programs that might be a good match for you.

Lastly, as someone else said, get familiar with the literature in the topic areas that you are interested in and see where the authors are employed.

 

[AgapeBlue]

Lastly, as someone else said, get familiar with the literature in the topic areas that you are interested in and see where the authors are employed.

This is how I have researched possible POI's.

 

[futureapppsy2]

This is how I have researched possible POI's.

Everyone always recommends this, and it probably works well for many, but personally, I didn't have much luck with it, on account of nearly everyone I found via publications worked in medical schools or other settings where they wouldn't be taking grad students. I was stuck for a bit until I randomly happened on a school psych program website and noticed that there were, to my surprise, a lot of school psych researching my topic of interest. From there, I looked through every APA accredited school psych doctoral program's website to find faculty that might fit. So, my search for mentors actually lead me into a different subfield. 🙂

As for having related prior research experience, it may not be absolutely necessary, but it definitely helps. esp. if you can tie it together with your POI's research. For example, even though my undergrad research was with adults and school psych programs are obviously child-focused, there was a lot of commonality between to two in terms of population and topic, which I think helped me app. That being said, I've known people to get into clinical/school/counseling psych PhD programs without prior experience in their topic of interest--it can be done, but it can also be a real uphill battle, perhaps esp. as research-focused, heavily mentor-model programs. JMHO.

 

[AgapeBlue]

Everyone always recommends this, and it probably works well for many, but personally, I didn't have much luck with it, on account of nearly everyone I found via publications worked in medical schools or other settings where they wouldn't be taking grad students. I was stuck for a bit until I randomly happened on a school psych program website and noticed that there were, to my surprise, a lot of school psych researching my topic of interest. From there, I looked through every APA accredited school psych doctoral program's website to find faculty that might fit. So, my search for mentors actually lead me into a different subfield. 🙂

Initially, I was focused on clinical psych and it wasn't working for me...but fortunately my research advisor is very knowledgeable on the topic and helped guide me in my article choices and I found several researchers who are doing work I was really interested in. I changed my subfield to one that really suited my interests as well! Funny how that works 🙂

Reading through bibliographies was also helpful...but in the end it does take some time combing through websites to find a program that really works...but the articles were a great way to start.

 

[neuroal]

I really appreciate all the sharing of your experiences. Thanks so much!

I did do some initial literature reviews and, unfortunately, most of the profs weren't taking students or were actually retiring. I will do it again however as it's been some months since I completed the search.

I was told to use conferences to network as well. This can be an expensive way to network! Any thought on that?

 

[nononora]

I really appreciate all the sharing of your experiences. Thanks so much!

I did do some initial literature reviews and, unfortunately, most of the profs weren't taking students or were actually retiring. I will do it again however as it's been some months since I completed the search.

I was told to use conferences to network as well. This can be an expensive way to network! Any thought on that?

If you live in/near a major metropolitan city, it may actually be quite affordable to attend a conference. Look at your regional psych association's website to determine any upcoming conferences.

Poster sessions are a great way to connect with potential professors. You get to see some of the research they are involved in and also get to speak to some of their graduate students. Meeting face-to-face definitely beats an email, and you have a chance to make a great initial impression by the questions you ask and the interest you portray.

Some divisions also have graduate student poster awards which may offer a great way to subsidize travel/lodging costs too.