Research Focus vs. Interest

[xyz212]

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Hi everyone!

I applied to clinical psychology PhD programs this year and was pretty successful. Right now, I am holding an offer from school A and am the first alternate at school B. I don't know if I will get accepted into school B, but I'm struggling to decide which one I would attend if that happened.

I loved both schools, so either way, I will be ok! But I'm not sure what I should decide if I get a choice. Both schools are fully funded with reasonable stipends, I don't prefer either location over the other, etc. My only focus now is on the research.

I want a research focused career after I graduate. School A is more research focused, and the professor whose lab I would be in has a number of big grants. He seems like he would be an incredible mentor for a research career, both from talking with him and his current students. However, I am less interested in his specific lines of research than that at school B, but I do still think his research is very interested. I was fascinated by the research at school B, but the program is definitely less research focused and the professor I applied to work with has no grants (although she has had a lot in the past, she is just later in her career now and it seems to be lower priority). Most of her students seemed more focused on a clinical career, and although she would be supportive of a research career, it sounds like it would not be something I would be encouraged/pushed to focus on. I could focus on it, but it's not like at school A where projects and writing opportunities are apparently abundant and the professor pushes students to find opportunities.

Does anyone have any thoughts about what I should do if I have a choice? Right after leaving school B, I was thinking I needed to go there; I was so interested in the research and was thinking of a lot of ideas. But then after taking some time, I started thinking that despite my interest, going to work with a more research focused mentor who has much more research/manuscript writing/grant writing going on and who will push me to be as prepared as I can for a research career would be a better choice. Obviously there might not end up being a choice at all since I'm only accepted at school A, but I want to figure out if I should keep waiting as an alternate or go ahead an accept. Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[NeonNoire]

Congrats on your acceptance! Just from what you've described, it sounds like you would get better research mentoring at School A. And maybe be more encouraging of you to do research, present at conferences etc. I think most grad students who work with professors with larger grants don't get to do *exactly* what you they want to do. It might depend on how far what his line of work is from what you want to do. I.e. if he's studying schizophrenia and you're more interested in social anxiety that would be a pretty big gap. If it feels like it would be painful to work on his projects for 4+ years then that may be a red flag.

Also keep in mind that *exactly* what you want to do research-wise right now could easily change over and evolve once you're in school and gaining some actual clinical experience. I know it definitely did for me. So although professor B seems like her line of research is lined up with your interests right now, that could change. On the other hand, maybe this is exactly what you want to be doing and you have a really clear vision. I think if that is more of the case, you could probably make it work at with a less research-focused mentor/program- but you're probably going to have to prepare to take on more initiative and be pretty self-motivated.

There are other factors to consider that you didn't mention as well- internship match rate, practicum opportunities, teaching opportunities/responsibilities etc. Those are all very important things to consider even if you are more research focused.

I don't feel like I offered a solution- sorry- just some other things to consider/think about. Ultimately, as you know, it's a really personal decision and comes down to just how important certain variables are and how important do you think they will be not just right now but a few years down the road. None of that is certain of course. And here is the first of many tests of how you handle ambiguity that you will experience throughout your career...

 

[deleted343839]

+1 to NeonNoire's comment. If you are seriously interested in a research/academic career it does help to work with someone who is a bit more active on the funding scene and who still regularly presents research at national conferences, etc. Simply put, it's just easier to get your students' names out there if you are still aggressively publishing and presenting new work. If you look at the CVs of the current graduate students in each of the labs you're considering, you may see differences in their publications, posters, research awards, etc. Also, if the faculty member at school B hasn't had any major funding in a long time (i.e., since the late 90s/early 00s) they may not be an ideal mentor to navigate the brutal funding climate that exists today.

All that being said, you still need to feel comfortable working with professor A and have some sense of how you can align your interests with the scope of that person's work. It may not be a perfect fit but if you can make it work it's probably the best choice in the long run, all other things being equal.

 

[Ollie123]

Agree with the above. I hadn't thought about it much at that stage, but it can make a huge difference in the doors that are open to you if you are working for a mentor with significant funding. Also - it is possible that research topic #2 is less "fundable" in general, which you may or may not be well poised to judge. This was less of an issue ten years ago when funding lines were higher, but now it is more and more important to be studying the "right" topics to have any chance of success. Which kind of stinks, but that's life. That matters somewhat less if you are exclusively interested in psychology department jobs (vs. academic medicine), but even then the big departments will want to see you pulling in significant grant funding.

 

[xyz212]

Thanks for the replies! Your responses have confirmed what I've been wondering! I actually am glad that I'm an alternate at school B because I think I may have accepted too fast if they had offered me a spot without really thinking through the differences just based on how much I had loved it at the interview.

NeonNoire, you're right, I should have mentioned those other factors. I only applied to programs that had great match rates, so there is basically no difference between the two programs. On other factors they are pretty close (both have good practicum opportunities, teaching, etc). The biggest difference is the research mentors.

I think I most likely am going to accept at school A. Although I am more interested in school B's specific research focus, school A isn't THAT far off and I still think it would be very interesting (and is way closer to my interests than my current RA position, which I still really enjoy despite it being far off from my interests). I think what helped push me over the edge is that I realized if I accepted at school A, I think I will feel confident that it was a good move for my future career, whereas if I got into and then accepted at school B, I would be excited about the research but would have a lot of doubts about how that would work for my future career.

 

[smalltownpsych]

Also, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. 😉

 

[EmotRegulation]

If the research topic isn't THAT far off from what is being done at School A, perhaps you can take *your* work in that direction. It's good to work on your mentor's projects, get a sense of grant-funded work, and serve as co-author on publications. If you want a research career, you will also need to develop your own line of work. There is probably a way you can follow what you're really interested in for your own projects, as long as it's close enough for your mentor to be comfortable advising you on it. 🙂