Please help!!

[Generic_Applicant]

I have a certain faculty member that I currently work with who wants to take me on as a PhD clinical psych student since he does not want to lose me and stop the work we are doing together. Only thing for us is that our funding in our lab right now has been crap (owing to staff transition before I started here, we were in deficit but we are slowly getting better). 

 

He wants to know if he does take me on, if I can continue to work as RA in his lab and with his research projects. I know PhD clinical psych is research based so I would be spending a lot of time doing research anyway. But do you think I would be able to commit to 3 days a week for research given course work and clinical work also need to be done? We both want to make this work but the only thing is we want to figure out a way we can afford it, funding wise, and also so that I can actually continue to stay committed to our projects here.

Would someone please provide some insight? Would greatly appreciate!

Edited November 3, 2015 by Syedahum

[clinicalapplicant]

I advise contacting doctoral students to get a feel for the course work in the program. Does your supervisor have any doctoral students? If so, they could help clarify how much research work you would realistically be able to do within your first year of the program. As you don't have a clinical Master's degree, I assume you'll be making up some courses thus your course workload may be more similar to an MA1 than a PhD1, so that's important to take into account. 

In my program, I have had very little time to commit to my own research with minimal work done on my supervisor's research projects. I'm in my first semester, and it's insanely busy due to the demanding courses. 

Again, base your decision on the students in your program. It's difficult for anyone else here (unless they're in your program) to give you insight as programs vary. 

Edited November 3, 2015 by clinicalapplicant

[Generic_Applicant]

1 hour ago, clinicalapplicant said:

I advise contacting doctoral students to get a feel for the course work in the program. Does your supervisor have any doctoral students? If so, they could help clarify how much research work you would realistically be able to do within your first year of the program. As you don't have a clinical Master's degree, I assume you'll be making up some courses thus your course workload may be more similar to an MA1 than a PhD1, so that's important to take into account. 

In my program, I have had very little time to commit to my own research with minimal work done on my supervisor's research projects. I'm in my first semester, and it's insanely busy due to the demanding courses. 

Again, base your decision on the students in your program. It's difficult for anyone else here (unless they're in your program) to give you insight as programs vary. 

Excellent advice... Not sure why I didn't think of this straightforward answer!

Thanks!

[Mystic_Fog]

To be honest, if you know who you are working with and the type of research you'll be doing already, this puts you at a huge advantage funding wise. Since you already have a project together, applying for outside funding (e.g., NHS) could be a very lucrative investment. 

[Generic_Applicant]

Just now, Mystic_Fog said:

To be honest, if you know who you are working with and the type of research you'll be doing already, this puts you at a huge advantage funding wise. Since you already have a project together, applying for outside funding (e.g., NHS) could be a very lucrative investment. 

Thanks, Mystic_Fog. Not sure which scholarship NHS is but I've already applied fro the CIHR DRA with the lab but used a smaller project- maybe could've used one of our bigger projects in retrospect. Either way, that's excellent advice. I'm not too optimistic on my chances, but atleast I applied!

[Mystic_Fog]

On 11/5/2015, 5:44:47, Syedahum said:

Thanks, Mystic_Fog. Not sure which scholarship NHS is but I've already applied fro the CIHR DRA with the lab but used a smaller project- maybe could've used one of our bigger projects in retrospect. Either way, that's excellent advice. I'm not too optimistic on my chances, but atleast I applied!

Whoops Thats a big typo. I meant NSF. The NSF is the National Science Foundation - they supply competitive funding for research projects and provide funding for grad students. They are very competitive but it can be done - when my adviser was applying to her Ph.D. program. she already knew who she would be working with and had a planned project with her adviser, so they were able to apply for funding and she got it. It can definitely be done!