Psy.D. after Ph.D.?

[Thrak]

I have a friend who has a Ph.D. in Sociology. After a number of years working in the health sector as a researcher, she has decided she wants a Psy.D.

Putting everything else aside (GRE, LOR, SOP), do you think the process of applying will be any different for her? Besides being a career-change, is it possible the process would either be significantly easier or significantly harder for her? I'm thinking she'd be able to teach courses instead of TA (she's taught courses before), and be a great resource for anyone doing research (her stats skills are extremely solid, and she's been published before).

Any thoughts?

 

[Sarahanne]

This may or may not be an option, as I don't know if a Ph.D. is in sociology is closely related enough to psychology, but could she just enroll in/apply for a respecialization program?

 

[psychwanabe]

There is someone in my program who already has a Ph.D. in a basically unrelated field. She was conditionally accepted into the program w/o having to retake GREs or anything (she was already an adjunct at the Univ.), but she had no psych background and had to take a lot of summer classes to catch up and be ready come the fall start date. She was basically on probation for a year until she proved she would be able to make it in the program and was officially accepted in the spring of her first year. I hesitate to speak for her, but I think she has found it challenging to "go back" to being a student. Having said that she's a great addition to class discussions because she always takes them to the next level and brings in a point of view that no one else does.

It sounds like your friend would do fine...soc is such a closely related field, and the stats courses were what my classmate found the most difficult, I think. She'd be starting off on a good foot there.

 

[toby jones]

I suspect sociology is probably about as broad a field as psychology is. I think it would be hard to say about whether her background would be an advantage or not. Sometimes... People like to take students who approximate 'blank slates' all the better to absorb their way of doing things. Othertimes... People appreciate a little life experience / diversity.

Sociology can be related to social psychology in some respects, but it depends on what the person was working on, I guess...

One concern that they might have is whether a person with an academic research background would really be happy doing a fairly applied degree... I'd imagine that she could give a speel to alleviate potential concerns.