POI - Do they have to be from the same program?

[kmeredithc]

I am applying to counseling and clinical PhD programs this coming fall and have been doing a lot of research trying to find good faculty matches (POI). However, I have noticed that my research interests are often with faculty who are not in the program I want to apply to. For example, I am planning to apply to SUNY Albany for a counseling psych PhD (since I think I have a better chance of being accepted into counseling over their clinical) but I prefer the research that the clinical profs are doing. For another example, I am planning to apply to the clinical psych PhD at Temple (because I want to be able to do therapy and academia in the future), but the developmental faculty's research is much more appealing to me.

 

Any thoughts?

Could I apply to lets say a counseling program but have a developmental or clinical POI?? Thanks!!

[iphi]

You are going to have to prove that you belong in X program working with Prof Y because their research Z is related to yours. If you can't support applying to a Counseling program because your research interests aren't aligned (or are aligned with Clinical, not Counseling) you will not be a successful candidate.

 

The way to get around this is to apply to Counseling and then once accepted/at the university, reach out to do work with profs in Clinical. DO NOT try it before you are accepted; it will most likely backfire.

[Jay's Brain]

I think I answered a similar question to this before, but take a look at whether some of the professors at the universities are cross-appointed to multiple programs. Counselling and Clinical psychology are often very close together, so the POIs in the programs could very much do both.

Another thing to consider is how you'll be able to describe your research interests when applying to a Counselling psychology program if your interests align more with Clinical research. What kind of research/volunteer experiences have you had? Are they more aligned with one field over the other? Even if the program is competitive, you may also want to consider applying to Clinical programs too especially if the research is much more interesting for you. Clinical programs provide opportunities for both assessment and intervention, with the latter being ideally very close to what counselling psychology does.