[Social Psychology Fall 2017 Applicants]

On 2017-3-23 at 8:21 PM, C is for Caps Locks said:

University of Michigan is at perhaps to international a less known one, but historically they're probably one (if not the best) in social psychology. You obviously have the classic listing of Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, UCLA, UC-Berkeley, U of Michigan and NYU for social psychology.

University of Illinois—Urbana Campaign have a strong program (although they are most known for their personality researchers) and University of Texas - Austin is also well-regarded. Off the top of my head other universities Ohio State University is always considered very good for social psychology (although mostly for work related to attitudes). University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill has a couple of really interesting/good researchers (Kurt Gray/Keith Payne).

In general, I sort of combined official rankings (such as US News), Nosek's 2010 paper (http://people.virginia.edu/~rsf4ah/papers/NGLKHHSMJFT2010.pdf), looking at what places people at various R1 universities had degrees from, and talking to professors I work with to create some idea of the "rank" of universities I applied.

What makes it hard is that sometimes the value of a university hinges on what they research, like say if you really like moral psychology, there are some universities that might not be considered top 5 in general (or in social psychology), that are considered really good in moral psychology. Like, University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, to my knowledge if you're a moral psychologist trained by Kurt Gray, you're in a pretty solid place.

The paper you linked is really useful! Such interesting findings. Do you think the best schools for social psychology differ to the best schools for developmental psychology or are they about the same? My SO is applying for developmental psychology this fall.

[Social Psychology Fall 2017 Applicants]

Quick question: is there a way of finding out what kind of placements graduates from a particular college have gone onto, if the school themselves doesn't publish it. Trying to decide between 2 choices and neither of them have it on their website...

[Please help me decide where to go!]

On 17/03/2017 at 3:12 PM, almondicecream said:

In my opinion I actually think the clear choice is #1. Typically people are stuck between deciding to go to a better school with moderate research fit versus a worse school with a perfect research fit. I don't think #1's research being out of date matters enough. If #1's entire research career is coming under fire from replications, that is a NO-NO (although it's not).

Thank you for the advice. And it is definitely is not under fire, it's really solid and valuable work, just perhaps a little less technologically advanced than a lot of the work I'm seeing published at the moment. I suppose I need to look into whether I can change that while I am there, be a trendsetter.

1 hour ago, transfatfree said:

I think it depends on how bearable you find staying at School #1. Of course it's true that potentially the brand name and your adviser's network can get you somewhere after graduation, but you cannot ignore the 5-7 years you're gonna spend on working toward your PhD. It can be difficult to endure without passion for what you do or where you stay for that matter.

I also agree that the adviser at School #2 is both an opportunity and a risk. You never know what may happen. So obviously School #1 is the safer choice, but if you want to experience something new, School #2 won't be a wrong choice either, especially when diverse experiences are valued

Thank you for this as well! I think with this advice ultimately it comes down to pragmatism. School #1 on paper is the better bet on paper, for a myriad of factors but ultimately that's not what a decision made by a human and not a robot needs to be solely about. I need to think about that. Shame April 15th is coming round fast!

[Please help me decide where to go!]

Hi, thanks for the comments hh0505, that's really helpful. I appreciate you taking the time out to do that.

RE: School #1 , it's purely change of scenery reasons, I feel like I did that and am reticent to go back, it doesn't excite me or feel like progress even though the rational part of my brain says I should be really happy about it. My adviser was my undergraduate adviser and we get along really well. If I had a slight criticism it's that he is maybe a little too hands off? He definitely would be open for me branching into more relevant work and I'm not sure about tenure track positions, that's a great thing to ask. The honest answer about the financial issues, which are also great points, is I don't know why the budget is low. I don't know if it's an issue with this school or this adviser. I need to look into that.

RE: School #2, the first time adviser to me seems like a double-edged sword. On one hand, he has little experience and few contacts, on the other hand, being his first ever student and he is pre-tenure, surely how I do as a student will impact his tenure in the future and he would be motivated to do his best for me? His area of research is currently very niche but I am certain by the time I graduate it will no longer be, and it has lots of transferable skills. And yes, School #1 is in a super high COL area. There is no doubt that #1 prestigious... but #2 excites me more. I don't know which matters more.

[Please help me decide where to go!]

Hi everyone, looking for advice on which graduate school to pick... I've been very blessed (and extremely lucky) to be accepted to two schools, but I have no idea where to go. I don't know anyone doing a PhD at all, don't know anyone outside of my professors who have ever done a PhD and all my knowledge of PhDs is from this website! So I would love your advice. My field is social psychology and my long-term plan is to stay in academia.

School #1

- Top 5 in the world, top 5 in psychology, household name

- Well known, well-established adviser

- Where I did my undergrad and I am not excited at the idea of going back

- Research topic I personally find interesting, but one that is no longer very relevant or popular

- Low research budget and stipend. I can live on it, but only just

School #2

- Top 25 in the world, top 10 in psychology, still very good but not as well-known, especially internationally

- Really enjoyed my recruitment visit, loved the city and the students, had a great time

- First time adviser who has never studied a student before. Which to me is not ideal in terms of connections but possibly a good thing as he is incredibly enthusiastic for me to be there

- Research topic is not currently my personal preference, although it is very cutting edge

- Great research budget and reasonable, although not high, stipend