PhD programs in smaller towns?

[Grimnir]

Yeah so I'm from a small town, and to be honest, not a huge fan of big cities. 1) Because the cost of living is higher and 2) because tons of people and high crime rates grate on me.

 

Are there any respectable PhD programs in (cognitive) psychology that are in smaller cities? All I really know is Cornell  and Penn State. 

 

Any input is appreciated!

[when]

I don't know if this link helps, but apparently these are all in small cities. Maybe play around with the search criteria.

 

https://colleges.niche.com/search/cs-sm-city/m-psychology-and-counseling/d-doctoral/

[lewin]

Consider Canada? Many universities in smaller cities (100-300k) and there's much less crime than the United States. I don't know cognitive programs though, sorry. 

[juilletmercredi]

If you are still at the application stage, I don't think you should rule out any places on the basis of location (unless you think you will be utterly miserable).  I thought I was a big city girl and could never imagine myself in a small college town.  I'm doing a postdoc in a small college town, and I really love it.

 

You never know what a place might be like - you might carve yourself a little enclave in a large city.

 

Also, big cities don't necessarily have high crime rates.  Many large cities in the U.S. are very safe.  I did my PhD in a large city that has a popular reputation for being unsafe based on media conceptions that come from the 1970s and 1980s (when most cities were undergoing blight).  In reality it's one of the safest urban areas in the U.S.  On the other hand, one of the most dangerous towns in America is not much larger than the small college town I currently live in.  The 100 most dangerous places (take with a grain of salt) have a mix of large cities, small cities and small towns on it.  The very, very large metropolis in which I did my PhD is not on the list.

[mlannie]

Iowa State in Ames, IA has a fully-funded R1 cognitive program.

[Tolman's Rat]

UConn in Storrs?

[gellert]

UNC Chapel Hill, University of Iowa, UC Boulder, University of Kansas, Rutgers, University of Alabama all come to mind as R1s in small towns.  You'd have to do research on their cog psych programs though for purposes of fit with professors etc.

Edited November 18, 2014 by gellert