Questions When Choosing a PhD Program in Psych
Questions to Ask: PhD in Clinical Psychology
If you are planning to apply to a PhD programs in Psychology, you should know that these are located in what are called "Research 1" institutions. There are 115 of these institutions, indicating the highest level of research activity. In thinking about applying to a PhD program, we would argue that there are four critical questions that you need to consider:
1) Are you and the location a match? Keep in mind that wherever you go to graduate school you are going to be living in a certain place for at least five years so it needs to be a place where you will be happy.
2) Will you get any financial assistance? When you apply to a school you need to check out if a school offers a tuition waiver and a stipend (i.e., a fixed salary) for all the years you will be in school. Of course, you want to try your best not to incur any debt when you are in Psychology graduate school. An important issue here is that when you graduate with your PhD the salary you will not be huge. T
3) What do you want to study? This question goes beyond a program in one of the major sub-areas of psychology: clinical, cognitive, developmental, social, or neuropsychology. You need to think about what topic area you want to be researching during your time in graduate school and possibly long after you graduate. Remember, you can always change your research focus but at least when you apply you should have some idea about what you are going to study.
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