Research Interests at Counseling PhD Programs

[summerssun]

Hi all,

I've been skulking around this (extremely helpful and pleasant!) forum for a while now, so I thought I'd begin posting questions...

I'm applying to counseling Phd programs right now, and currently work as a clinical research assistant in a prominent lab, after graduating from undergraduate this past year. I've been looking at the research areas of faculty at the schools I'm interested in and I have a few questions...

1. Is it wise to email faculty at every school one applies to? Or just one's top choices?

2. If so, if the faculty member one first emails is not taking any new students, is it alright to email another faculty with research in one's area of interest? Or to even email more than one faculty, right off the bat?

3. Should a dialogue be established (or not established) with a faculty member at a particular school, how does this hurt/help one's chances? Do you need a personal relationship with a professor to gain an interview?

4. Finally, I am more interested in the clinical side of things than the research area, although I have five years of research experience (I may be burnt out...). How does this relate to expressing interest in a faculty's research? Does it mean I shouldn't contact them? I had considered a Psyd, but funding issues are staying my hand.

Thank you so much in advance for any insights you could provide!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[KillerDiller]

I'm currently in a clinical program, but I applied to several counseling psych programs when I was going through that whole process a few years ago.

1. Yes, you should make sure the professor(s) you are interested in working with at each school are taking students. Otherwise, you could be wasting your application fee to any program that uses the mentor-match model. All the counseling programs I applied to used this approach, but I suppose there may be some that do not.

2. You can email multiple faculty members if they fit your interests, but I encourage you to be candid about doing so.

3. You do not need a personal relationship with a professor to get an interview, but dialogues are useful for seeing where the professor's work is going over the next few years. If you can get these professors to dialogue with you, great. If they are too busy, don't worry about it.

4. All mentor-match model programs will require you to be matched with a professor before you are granted admission, regardless of whether you eventually want to go into clinical work or academia. Thus it is best to contact professors to talk about their research. You can talk about your clinical interests in your personal statement, though, as this is an important part of "matching" with the program as a whole.

 

[jenn1015]

Hi all,

I've been skulking around this (extremely helpful and pleasant!) forum for a while now, so I thought I'd begin posting questions...

I'm applying to counseling Phd programs right now, and currently work as a clinical research assistant in a prominent lab, after graduating from undergraduate this past year. I've been looking at the research areas of faculty at the schools I'm interested in and I have a few questions...

1. Is it wise to email faculty at every school one applies to? Or just one's top choices?

2. If so, if the faculty member one first emails is not taking any new students, is it alright to email another faculty with research in one's area of interest? Or to even email more than one faculty, right off the bat?

3. Should a dialogue be established (or not established) with a faculty member at a particular school, how does this hurt/help one's chances? Do you need a personal relationship with a professor to gain an interview?

4. Finally, I am more interested in the clinical side of things than the research area, although I have five years of research experience (I may be burnt out...). How does this relate to expressing interest in a faculty's research? Does it mean I shouldn't contact them? I had considered a Psyd, but funding issues are staying my hand.

Thank you so much in advance for any insights you could provide!

I am in the exact same boat (minus the 5 years of research experience.. haha) and am wondering the same thing(s)- I'm meeting with a mentor of mine to talk about all that stuff next week so I will be sure and share what he says!!

 

[summerssun]

@killerdiller

Thanks for the insights! If you don't mind me asking, where did you apply that had the mentor-match model?


@jenn1015

Anything you could share from your advisor would be greatly appreciated! Mine is... rather uninvolved, unfortunately. Are you applying at counseling phd programs for fall 10?

 

[jenn1015]

Anything you could share from your advisor would be greatly appreciated! Mine is... rather uninvolved, unfortunately. Are you applying at counseling phd programs for fall 10?

Of course I'll definitely let you know. I've been really lucky to have had a great faculty support system at my undergrad school.

I'm applying clinical PhD I think. I thought about going the counseling route, but clinical seems better for me.

 

[KillerDiller]

@killerdiller

Thanks for the insights! If you don't mind me asking, where did you apply that had the mentor-match model?

I applied to NYU, BC, USC, and the University of Oregon....I feel as if there were more, but I'm not sure. It sounds stupid to say that I have forgotten where I applied, but I'm afraid it's true.

 

[summerssun]

@killerdiller

I'm very interested in the university of oregon... any particular insights there?

Thanks for your responses, also!!

 

[KillerDiller]

@killerdiller

I'm very interested in the university of oregon... any particular insights there?

Unfortunately, I can't be much help. I don't remember any particulars about their application process and didn't interview there. At the time I was very interested in doing research in multicultural psychology and they had a strong focus on that.

Oddly, what I remember most about applying there is that they sent me this large, detailed housing brochure. I was annoyed because it was clear my application hadn't even been reviewed yet--what a waste of paper on their part.