Thoughts on an atypical approach to Experimental/Social Psychology Ph.D.

[captjosh]

Howdy,

I am a prospective Experimental/Social Psychology Ph.D. student with the required grades, educational background, research/publication, and assistantship backgrounds that exceed the admission requirements for the programs to which I have applied.  However, I took quite a few years off in between my undergraduate and masters, and my masters and Ph.D. applications, to cultivate a career in operations and marketing high-end corporate jet aircraft.

I am not concerned about my age.  I do, however, wonder how a graduate program might look at my life experience - specifically, as a benefit or detriment?  The former, because I have certain skillsets and intuition that can only come from being a professional with many years of experience, conducting "business-level field work," or the latter because I might be "too far removed" from academia.

I would be interested in anybody's thoughts on this issue. I am DEEPLY passionate about reentering academia and then staying there, teaching and/or researching, until I'm not "mentally there" anymore.

Thank you so much in advance!

Josh

Edited November 20, 2017 by captjosh

[sc9an]

I think the way schools evaluate the background and life experience parts of the application is very much dependent on the way candidates present them. In my opinion life (professional) experiences could be referred to by the applicant as either proof of capability and dedication to the specific field of interests, or rationales and motivations for the applicant to pursuing the field of interests. It could be fair to assume that your industry experiences are so developed it has to be accounted for in your application (statement of purpose and interviews mostly), but as long as you are able to tell a story of how your professional experiences have prepared, prompted and/or contributed to your decision to re-enter academia, that would be equally convincing as other applications. It might be even more convincing because I am sure this is a well thought-out decision.

I remember seeing a NYC-based psychology graduate student who once worked in private equity. Nilam Ram, a professor in quantitative psychology, used to work as a currency trader. I guess their applications had to stretch as well

Edited November 21, 2017 by schenar