Stony Brook or Minnesota for Political Psychology

[Fred12345]

Hi guys. This question is actually hypothetical; I’m currently on the waitlist at Minnesota, but I’ve gotten an indication that I may he admitted soon. In that event, I’ll be choosing between there and Stony Brook, as I’ve already declined my other offers. I’m specializing in political psychology and have an intense interest in behavior genetics and personality psychology, both of which Minnesota’s psychology department excels at, and the potential for inter-departmental collaboration there is immense. However, Stony Brook appears to have a much better per capita placement record, it’s lower USNWR ranking notwithstanding. I’m getting this information from a paper published in 2007, so things may have changed. 
 

Holding both departments equal in these more essential categories, Minnesota just seems like a much better place to live. My (potentially totally wrong) impression is that Stony Brook is isolated, expensive, and bleak.
 

If anybody can comment on these topics it would be much appreciated!

[Dwar]

2 hours ago, Fred12345 said:

I’m getting this information from a paper published in 2007, so things may have changed. 

So I know nothing about political psychology, but I just wanted to say that going off a report published in 2007 is super risky. While it does take a while for things to change in academia, 13 years is a pretty long time. I’d check the placement for the last 5-6 years and go off that, anything over that mark is kinda unusable as too many factors changed. 

That’s even more so with data from 07, which is just before the recession. The market before the financial crisis is waaaaaaaaaaay different then the market after it.

[uchenyy]

 

5 hours ago, Dwar said:

So I know nothing about political psychology, but I just wanted to say that going off a report published in 2007 is super risky. While it does take a while for things to change in academia, 13 years is a pretty long time. I’d check the placement for the last 5-6 years and go off that, anything over that mark is kinda unusable as too many factors changed. 

That’s even more so with data from 07, which is just before the recession. The market before the financial crisis is waaaaaaaaaaay different then the market after it.

I agree. Also, how committed are you to political psychology? Your interests may change, and at least at Minnesota you'd have a more diverse set of faculty to work with.

[needanoffersobad]

i think stony brook is a great place for political psychology. I took class on experiment taught by two professors from stony brook. excellent faculty there! and I am sure you will have great resources and network if you are committed to this subfield. 

[sloth_girl]

Both are good for political psychology. I'd say focus more on living situation and specific faculty of interest. I know Stony Brook can be difficult on their stipend I've heard, whereas Twin Cities is more affordable. 

[Fred12345]

On 4/3/2020 at 3:49 AM, Dwar said:

So I know nothing about political psychology, but I just wanted to say that going off a report published in 2007 is super risky. While it does take a while for things to change in academia, 13 years is a pretty long time. I’d check the placement for the last 5-6 years and go off that, anything over that mark is kinda unusable as too many factors changed. 

That’s even more so with data from 07, which is just before the recession. The market before the financial crisis is waaaaaaaaaaay different then the market after it.

That is a very good point. Based on some back of the envelope calculations Stony Brook's placement rate still looks very good (about 60%, assuming average cohort size hasn't changed drastically since 2014). Meanwhile, Minnesota doesn't even list their placement history on their website--just destinations with no names or years.

As far as faculty goes, both are excellent and some are working on almost identical projects, so that doesn't guide my decision much. Neither does Minnesota's broader focus; I'm about as committed to the psychology aspect of political psychology as a person can be. In fact this makes Minnesota even more attractive due to its excellent and very interdisciplinary psychology department. 

At this point I'm trying to decide how heavily to weigh Stony Brook's apparently more solid placement record against Minnesota's much better location (which matters a lot to me) and much lower cost of living. 

[Fred12345]

Also thank you everybody for the advice!