Master's Thesis topic and Doctoral Program Admittance

[NigelS]

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I am currently in my second semester of a two-year Clinical Psych Masters program. I am beginning to work on my thesis and have a question pertaining to the importance of the topic of my Master's Thesis regarding admittance to a Clinical doctoral program. Originally, I was interested in examining memory functioning, but every idea that I was interested in required access to a clinical population (which I do not have) for data collection.

So I began to re-examine my thoughts, to find a topic that I was passionate about and was feasible. Throughout my undergraduate experience, I always wondered about the psychological factors that contributed to credit card debt among undergraduates, as well as the psychological strain that students with credit card debt experience and how this strain affects performance in other areas of their lives. I feel that this is a topic that I am passionate about and one where data collection is feasible, but I am concerned that writing my thesis on a topic that is not exactly clinical could possibly hinder my chances of admittance to a clinical doctoral program.

I'd greatly appreciate any advice. Especially from those of you that completed a terminal masters degree before applying to doctoral programs.

 

[KillerDiller]

My thesis topic, although arguably applicable to clinical work (if I stretched) had nothing to do with my current research, and it didn't impact my ability to get into a Ph.D program. Ideally you would do your thesis on the same topic you would be applying to pursue at the doctoral level, but that is often impractical.

My best advice is to choose a thesis topic that is close to what a professor at your current university is doing so that you can have a mentor who will work closely with you, guide you through the research process, and hopefully help you come up with something publishable. That, plus a good letter of rec from your thesis mentor, will look very good when you apply to Ph.D programs.

 

[HeartSteps]

I think your topic is great and very doable, given the undergraduate population. When you examine your clinical interests, are you interested in working with adults (hence, your undergrad population of interest). Are you interested in anxiety or depression or another variable that you could add to your research that is also related to the research that you would want to study in grad school. You can really make this work for you if you have are in fact still developing your topic and have room to add or take away a variable. If it's too late, don't sweat it. There really is NO cookie cutter equation for getting into PHD programs. Program look at the entire package. For each school, you will have to modify your essay based on the program's emphasis or your POI research, so you'll be able to make that link, whether you are starting in general terms that you have had much research experience or more specifically interest in adults and psychopathology is evident in your master's thesis on undergraduates' credit card debt and anxiety symptoms. You'll find away to show the relevance of your experiences. Good luck!

I am currently in my second semester of a two-year Clinical Psych Masters program. I am beginning to work on my thesis and have a question pertaining to the importance of the topic of my Master's Thesis regarding admittance to a Clinical doctoral program. Originally, I was interested in examining memory functioning, but every idea that I was interested in required access to a clinical population (which I do not have) for data collection.

So I began to re-examine my thoughts, to find a topic that I was passionate about and was feasible. Throughout my undergraduate experience, I always wondered about the psychological factors that contributed to credit card debt among undergraduates, as well as the psychological strain that students with credit card debt experience and how this strain affects performance in other areas of their lives. I feel that this is a topic that I am passionate about and one where data collection is feasible, but I am concerned that writing my thesis on a topic that is not exactly clinical could possibly hinder my chances of admittance to a clinical doctoral program.

I'd greatly appreciate any advice. Especially from those of you that completed a terminal masters degree before applying to doctoral programs.

 

[NigelS]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm really in the beginning stages so I'm going to review the literature more before decided on specific variables, but I had to have a general topic by today.