Contacting faculty members

[aer621]

Hi All,

For those of you who are applying to Psy.D. programs, are you contacting faculty members whom you're interested in working with? Do you think that it will help? And if so, what are you saying in these emails?

 

Thank you!

[t_ruth]

This is a common practice, generally considered helpful. There are *many* prior threads on this you might want to check out.

[brainwrangler]

For personal reasons* I haven't gotten started on this until very late (applications due on Dec 1st). Is it still worthwhile contacting potential POIs, or does this make me look sloppy and disorganized? I of course understand that faculty are extremely busy.

*limited computer access at home

[PokePsych]

no I think it's OK, some people make the short list quite late I'd say haha.

[aer621]

On 11/5/2018 at 7:05 PM, t_ruth said:

This is a common practice, generally considered helpful. There are *many* prior threads on this you might want to check out.

This is common practice for Psy.D programs too? I haven't seen any other threads about Psy.D faculty. Thanks!

[t_ruth]

3 minutes ago, aer621 said:

This is common practice for Psy.D programs too? I haven't seen any other threads about Psy.D faculty. Thanks!

It might be less common for those given the non-research nature of many. Do you know any current students in the programs you are interested in?

[PsyDuck90]

It depends largely on the PsyD. I am in a more research intensive PsyD (people commit anywhere from 5-20 hours a week to a lab), and I contacted my POI during application season (I applied to a mix of balanced PhD and PsyD programs). PsyDs that don't emphasize research might be surprised at a student contacting them.