Applying to a Developmental Psych program, with mostly Social research?

[kksho]

Hi there. I was wondering if anyone had some advice. I'm currently a Junior possibly looking to apply to Developmental Psychology Ph.D. programs in the future.

 

I'm currently ia research assistant Cognitive Developmental lab, focusing on the cognitive psychology of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, etc.). However, though I do regular routine lab work, and help the graduate students in their collection of data, the lab itself doesn't give me enough opportunities to expand on my own research, publish along with the graduate students, etc.

 

So this Spring, I've been accepted to a Social psychology laboratory. I have a prospective promise to have the professor help me in forming an Honors Thesis in the lab, the topic most likely being on one of the Social Psychology experiments in his lab. In addition, I'm close with one of the grad students and it is likely I'll be able to work with a social psychology project with her, with a possible chance of being able to work with her and get my name published in her research, which doesn't hurt at all. So I'm assuming that I'm going to get some good actual Social Psychology research out of this lab by the end of the Spring

 

1. However, I'm just wondering on what the scope is on Developmental psychology programs. Do they smile upon the fact that you have research experience in social and cognitive psychology? Or is it just still not as important as having research in the exact subfield of Developmental psychology? I'm really interested in the social and cognitive aspects of children and adolescents. But I'm just wondering just how competitive Developmental Psycholog programs are, and whether other competitors will just chew me over by having more experience in exactly developmental psych research?

 

2. Also, how much does it help if your Honors Thesis is in the field you are applying to? Is it a crucial necessity? Is it a bit off-place if your thesis is not in the subfield you are applying to?

 

3. Lastly, I was wondering if anyone out there who has been accepted to developmental or social psych Ph.D. programs could kindly send me a sample of their resume? So I could just gain realistic outlooks for myself.

 

Thank you so much! I appreciate any help you can give!

 

[kksho]

I also had one more question in mind.

 

4. Say you had a research area of interest in, persay, the social communication in infants. And you emailed a professor at a prospected graduate school saying, "I have an interest in this certain field of developmental psych". 

 

However, you've had no actual research in the topic area yourself. Does it make sense to say this, or not? Do they require you to be interested in something you've done? Does it make sense to say you're interested in a certain topic, when you haven't engrossed in research in it?

[Socially Awkward]

Seeing as how I can't sleep due to anxiety before an exam tomorrow, I'll be proactive and try to answer your questions (sorry in advance that they will not be bullet points, instead an overall response)

 

It is my understanding that many programs in psychology do admit the occasional student from a different field altogether. In your case I would say that all research experience is great experience. Limiting it to the field of psychology, of course (physics research, although helpful, may not be helpful for developmental )

 

Also, keep in mind that many programs are actually not only multidisciplinary, but they collaborate within the field of psych also. I know of a professor at Notre Dame who is pretty big in developmental, but she publishes social psych work, too. 

 

As for your honors thesis, I would say it doesn't matter to a great extent. Programs would mostly want to see that you can actually conduct your own research and that you can write. Writing is so important. In addition, consider that fit is really important. I'll use myself as an example. I love political psychology, but my school does not offer anything remotely associated with political psych apart from social psych. So in my case, I wrote to professors informing them of my research experience (not poli psych) and included what I really had a passion for studying. 4 out of 6 replied with very positive notes. In the end it really is what you want to do... which leads to your last question.

 

Best advice I can give you on this is, it doesn't matter that you haven't had the opportunity to research this yourself first hand. What matters is that you do read up on this topic before considering even writing to that professor. I remember emailing a professor with what I thought was a great idea, only to have her email me back saying, read Blah & Blah, 2001, they did that. If it is someone you'd like to work with, be sure you have some knowledge of the specific things being tested  

 

All in all I would say you are in great shape. You have research experience in two labs, and you will extend that to a thesis and possible publications. I doubt that would be a deal breaker. "Oh darn, this kid is so great but he has a pub in social psych... DENIED!"

 

Just keep engaging in research and be sure to remain focus on your goal. When it comes time to write your SOP, you'll bring a diverse view to a specific topic that is important to you regardless of your previous research. 

 

Hope my sleep deprived, delusional ranting helps somewhat. 

[bathingintheneon]

As someone currently applying to developmental psych programs (and doing pretty well from the looks of it!), I'd love to give you some insight on my experiences.

 

1. Any research experience is good research experience. I thought I wanted to go to clinical psychology programs up until I graduated last May. So in addition to conducting research in an infant language development lab, I also volunteered in two clinical psych labs (I also had a brief job at a clinical psych company before I realized I wanted to do developmental). Furthermore, I think it's great that you've had experience working with infants. From my experience, going from working with infants to working with other populations (children, adolescents, adults) is much easier. You would probably not be admitted to work in an baby lab in grad school if you had never worked in one as an undergrad. What's key for you is that you make a strong case in your personal statement for why you want to research what you want to research. Having research experience in your graduate research area is helpful, but not necessary. For example, I'm really interested in using EEG and other brain measures with infants. I have absolutely no experience in neuroscience/bio psych (either classroom or research), but I made a strong case in my personal statement for why I wanted to learn that method.

 

 

2. I wrote on Honors Thesis in developmental psychology. Luckily, what I wrote in my thesis is essentially what I want to study in graduate school. I think writing a thesis is a great exercise, regardless of if it's in developmental or social psychology. In our lab, we've even had a few pre-med students do theses (and medical schools don't really care about research experience). You will be able to attach your thesis to your application, which will show off your writing skills and your critical thinking skills. And like the above post, you will demonstrate your ability to run a research project independently (which is really important for grad programs!). On the other hand, one of our graduate students didn't write a thesis, and she got into the program (but she took a gap semester and worked as a lab coordinator, so she did have leadership experience).

 

 

3. No problem! My website is sites.duke.edu/ashleyruba. You can download my CV there. If you look at my lab's website (the link is also on my website), you'll find links to our graduate students' CVs as well. (Note: I'm not trying to brag, but I'm considered a competitive applicant, so my CV may not be above the "norm". Right now I stand a good chance of getting interviews to all/most of the schools I've applied to.)

 

4. I would look at my answer to question #1. Also, before I applied to graduate programs, I emailed every professor I was thinking about applying to and said "I'm interested in your work on this, because I'm also interested in researching this other thing in graduate school." At that point, professors can tell you if they're not interested in your research topic, not taking graduate students, etc. By doing this, I think I increased my success rate for getting interviews.

 

Feel free to message me or respond to this post if you have any other questions! 

[kksho]

S.A. and bathingintheneon, thank you! Those were such good replies! Thank you both for taking your time to answer me.

 

I'm beginning to get the scope that Personal Statements are very important. I feel like getting accepted to graduate school is largely epitomized in the connection you make with the POI and your research interest in joint with the professor. Of course, everything else on your CV is important as well.

 

If anyone else has any words on this topic, I would be very happy to hear more!

[osculations]

One thing you want to think about is when you'd like to apply to graduate programs. If you want to send in applications senior fall, then you will not be able to showcase your thesis because in all likelihood, you'll still be working on it then!

 

I echo the above-- any intensive research experience is beneficial, but specifically you want to seek out an environment that values your opinion and trusts you with independent work. Of course, it would be nice to work on questions that you want to pursue after undergrad, but I think it's more important to form strong working relationships with faculty and grad students. Once you demonstrate your ability to think like a scientist and interest in continuing your training, your mentors will support you all along the way.

[lewin]

Pre-graduate school publications are so rare that I'm sure a publication in any discipline would be a credit to your application even if it's in social.  I just mean, don't necessarily run to a new lab just because this new lab has the potential for publications. Most studies don't produce usable data--so you might need to run 20 studies to get enough for one significant paper--and then most papers get rejected a few times. I recently had a paper published that took four years from ideas to acceptance, which is not uncommon. I suspect 99% of honours theses are never published. Mine was and it still took 3 years for the paper to come out (i.e., I was mid grad school).

 

I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, I just mean to emphasize that you should focus on the place with the best experience--and that will provide the best reference letter--and if a publication comes out of it then it's icing on the cake.

[sparrowbirdie]

reviving an old thread, but this topic resonated with me.

 

during undergrad, practically all of my courses (with the exception of a couple of cognitive psych courses) were in social psych. my research experience was all social psych. my curernt grad (MA) program is social psych, and i don't have any publications, just 7 posters, also all in social psych.

 

i've applied to dev psych programs this year, and i have received invitations from a couple of first-tier schools.

 

sometimes it's a matter of being competent and capable of conducting research in your topics of interest. my supervisory committee wrote me great recs, and i was sure and passionate about the dev psych research i want to do (in my SOP).

 

the moral of the story is that there are always possibilities. i hope you find success in your applications! (it's a bit early, but regardless.)