- Joined
- Mar 9, 2006
- Messages
- 12
- Reaction score
- 0
Does every PhD student have to do a postdoc after graduation? Why would someone choose not to do one?
splendid said:Does every PhD student have to do a postdoc after graduation? Why would someone choose not to do one?
joetro said:I think it depends. If you get external funding, like through the NRSA grant, then probably lots of people would be happy to have you. If you want to go on your own, then you'd probably be looking for people who generally have post-docs and can fund them. I think it depends on your connections and networking, as well as your interests.
Also, many internships have a post-doc component to them, obligating you to a two year committment (1 year internship, 1 post-doc).
Jon Snow said:No, a long as you are a licensed psychologist, you can practice neuropsychology.
psy330 said:Yes, practice neuropsychology. But I think the title "neuropsychologist" is reserved for those who have satisified the Houston Guidelines. Is that incorrect?.
Dr.JT said:The guidelines are recommendations thought to reflect adequate training. Basically any licensed clinical psychologist can call themselves a neuropsychologist or "practice" neuropsychology, but to prove they have the proper training they would want to be able to back it up by saying their training is consistent with the Houston Guidelines. The "highest level" of proof is the ABPP in clinical neuropsychology which follows the Houston Guidelines. Not having the proper training is particularly problematic in court where a lawyer will jump all over this issue, and if you are practicing neuropsych, you are bound to end up in court at some point. It is also ethically questionable since it may be a case of practicing outside your scope of expertise if you have no training in neuropsych.
Mell-Dogg said:Are post-docs in traditional psychology department settings more difficult to attain than those in medical centers? I did a google search for clinical psychology post-docs and it does seem like more of them are in medical centers. Is the nature of these med ctr post-docs similar to ones in psychology departments?
psychgeek said:No, they are not the same, and they serve different functions.
I think there may be some confusion stemming from different meanings of the words "post doc." For licensure you need a certain number of supervised clinical post-doctoral hours after you have completed your internship. Some get these hours through formal clinical post-doctoral fellowships which are typically affiliated with medical centers or other large treatment providers. Some get these post doc hours through an ad-hoc post-doc (in which you see your own paying clients while being supervised). Some get hired by treatment centers (i.e. college counseling centers, CMHCs) and are provided supervision until they have accumulated enough hours to get a license. In all of these cases the hours involve clinical contact.
Research post-doctoral fellowships are offered through universities and government institutions. These do not involve clinical hours and do not fulfill licensure requirements though they are a great way to make yourself more competitive for a faculty position. Confusingly enough, they are still called "post-docs." I suspect the post-docs you found associated with traditional psychology departments were mostly research post-docs. You can still get licensed if you take a research fellowship (or go directly into academia) but you need to get clinical post-doc hours using one of the methods above.
Mell-Dogg said:If one were to get lucky enough to attain an NIH F32 Postdoctoral research fellowship (or any other type of postdoc funding external to a specific educational institution), can you take this funding pretty much anywhere or are there only certiain fellowhip sites/psych departments to which NIH funded post-docs typically go to. I would think just about any University would be happy to have an F32-funded postdoc on campus since they're pretty much there free of charge!
LM02 said:Actually, half of the F32 application is focused on the environment and the sponsor (i.e., your advisor). So you need to provide a strong and elaborate justification in the grant as to why your advisor is the best person to mentor your proposed research, and why the institution is the best place to conduct the study. So the grant is written to stay at the place you wrote it for. Of course, there are some exceptions, and if your plans changed, you might be able to work out a deal where it will transfer... but you can't just write it generically for any institution.
Also, it's not actually "free" for the university to sponsor an F32. Grant budgets are typically split between "direct" and "indirect" costs. The indirect costs go to such things as office space, electricity, benefits, etc. For most large NIH grants, a rather high percentage of the proposed direct cost is added as indirect cost to the overall budget in order to support the research. Unfortunately, F32s carry almost no indirect costs, meaning that the institution has to "eat up" the overhead on you. As such, a lot of institutions don't want to sponsor these kinds of grants.
Just an FYI...
Mell-Dogg said:If one were to get lucky enough to attain an NIH F32 Postdoctoral research fellowship (or any other type of postdoc funding external to a specific educational institution), can you take this funding pretty much anywhere or are there only certiain fellowhip sites/psych departments to which NIH funded post-docs typically go to. I would think just about any University would be happy to have an F32-funded postdoc on campus since they're pretty much there free of charge!