Chances of doing a PhD Social Psychology - Econ Grad

[psychismylife]

I'm thinking of applying for a PhD in Social Psychology and it would be great to get some opinions on what my chances are.

I did a BA (hon.) in Economics at the University of Delhi and an MSc. in Economics for Development from the University of Oxford. Neither of them calculated GPAs but I think I did reasonably well at both. A First Class in my undergrad degree and a 2:1 at Oxford.

My GRE scores are: Quant:800 Verbal:660 Analytical:5.5

I've been working at the World Bank in Washington DC for the past two years as a researcher and am well versed in Quantitative methods of analysis as well as STATA.

My reason for wanting to do a PhD in Social Psychology is an increasing dissatisfaction with how we study issues like poverty and poverty alleviation programs. It seems to miss a basic understanding of the people themselves and just assumes that they behave rationally.

Anyway, there you have it. No background in Psychology per se, but plenty of research experience in Economics and I could bring something new to the table in terms of approaching Psychology is a different way.

What are the departments that I would stand a chance with such a profile?

[socialpsych]

Sadly, I think it may be difficult for you to have a shot at the top programs and maybe even lower-ranked ones. The reason is that adcoms will be unsure that you have enough understanding of the worldview of social psychology to believe that you could really spend the rest of your life in that field. Social psychology is more than just "people are not necessarily rational" and you will have to demonstrate that you understand that. (For a start, I would read the first couple chapters of Ross & Lepper's "The Person and the Situation" if you haven't done so already.)

What are you hoping to do with your PhD in psychology? As you have probably heard, psych adcoms will expect you to claim that you are hoping to become a professor of psychology. Even if you are not committed to this career path, there should be at least some possibility in your mind that you may decide to become a psych professor. Otherwise, there may be other ways to achieve your career goals. Adcoms are aware that getting a PhD is difficult (in psych more so than in econ, probably) -- pay is very low, funding is very tight, and the pressure can be pretty immense. They will be trying to make sure, when reading your application, that you are doing it for reasons that make sense and that will keep you productive and prevent you from leaving. That case will certainly be harder to make when you have no background in the subject.

My goal here is not to just be negative; the point is that your SOP will be really important, and that you should think hard about the reasons you want to do this. Not just for the SOP, but for yourself as well. If you are well informed and have thought a lot about it and still feel that this is the best decision for you, then include that thought process in your SOP.

Finally, unless you're in a hurry for some reason, you may benefit a lot from taking a year or two to work as a research assistant for a social psychology professor. Both because it will give you personally a lot of insight into the field and what exactly you want to do, and because it will dramatically increase your chances of getting in to a good program.

Edited September 7, 2011 by socialpsych

[Lox26]

Hi psychismylife,

Have you considered applied/development econ programs? Cornell, for example, has a great program: http://dyson.cornell.edu/grad/ . If you're more interested in policy, Harvard's Kennedy School offers a Ph.D. in social policy: http://www.hks.harva...rric/curric.htm . With your strong quantitative background, you should be a competitive applicant. Maybe you can reach out to these schools or research other interdisciplinary programs with faculty interested in development/poverty/inequality studies. Hope this helps!

I see that you already have an an MSc. in Economics for Development. Perhaps you can try to find out whether Ph.D. programs at different schools would take a different approach than the one you were exposed to in your masters. Also, if you feel that you can bring something different to the table, that may make for a compelling statement of purpose (SOP) to development econ or policy programs. If you can think of an example of one question you've studied that you think could be more effectively addressed, maybe you can elaborate on why/how you would approach the issue differently and with more insight.

Last, if you are set on social psych, make sure you can refine your research interests in you SOP. Studying the nature of irrational decisions in order to better understand geopolitical issues sounds cool, if nebulous. How would you actually do that from a social psych perspective? How would econ inform your research? Why is a psych program a better fit than an econ one? These are the questions you must anticipate and pre-emptively address to indicate that you have thought long and hard about your applications.

Edited September 8, 2011 by Lox26