I have managed to narrow down the list of masters programs to 20. That still seems like a really high number, though, doesn't it? It's sort of insane the amount of time and effort that went into getting down to 20, but there are a lot of masters programs in this country and given my lack of familiarity with them (relative to PhD programs), getting through the original list (hell, creating the list) in a systematic fashion was not an easy thing to accomplish. So I feel good about my progress.
The main criteria used so far are:
* Is not an MBA program/does not require a bunch of business school prereqs - I just can't do it.
* School does not have weird ass religious orientation (e.g. Catholic faith-oriented university or Brigham Young type creepiness)
* Specific coursework and thesis requirements - I want a thesis based, predoctoral program that has required classes that seem relevant and interesting (e.g. not a focus on clinical psychology, has a good number of quantitative classes). I also eliminated some psych programs that had minimal psychology prereqs since I do not need a masters program in psych to make up for having been something else as an undergrad.
* Compatibility with professors' research interests - I have not yet done an exhaustive analysis of this, but I have identified specific papers for each potential advisor at each school that I will read with an eye toward relevance to my future interests in a consumer psychology related field. (There were some that were very interesting, but in a completely different direction from where I see my PhD program/career going.) It took me two full days to look up publications for each professor on my list (and this is after I spent many days going through each program website to write down all professors who described research interests that were potentially compatible with mine, but did not give details). This is where a lot of schools got knocked out of the running.
* Location of the school - After doing all the items above, this evening I ran through the list with Robert and eliminated schools in places that seemed too small for him to easily find a job. There are two schools with programs that are sufficiently high quality/uniquely desirable that I have retained them despite their being sort of in the middle of nowhere.
The list contains 1 marketing program, 2 consumer behavior programs, 1 quantitative methods program, and 16 psychology programs. (16? Isn't that a familiar number. I swear I did not do this on purpose, even if 16 is my third favorite number, following 4 and 10.)
Locations include: California (7), North Carolina (2), Virginia (2), Connecticut (1), Florida (1), Arizona (1), Pennsylvania (1), Illinois (1), Ohio (1), Texas (1), Indiana (1), New York (1).
Next steps:
* I need to read those papers and make sure that what sounded like a research compatibility truly is one. I can also rate the closeness of the fit (e.g. great, moderate, or okay fit).
* I am going to look more closely at characteristics of the potential advisors that survive the journal article reading process. For example, a full professor who has an active research lab, appears to regularly take on grad students, and continues to publish is ideal. A new assistant professor without much of a track record or someone who hasn't published anything recently would be less desirable. But there are a lot of factors involved, some of which cannot be easily articulated. It's not clear that I will truly eliminate anyone at this stage, but it is helpful to categorize programs that have a single potential advisor versus many. Obviously it's better to have a back up in case the person you picked turns out to be too hard to work with, jumps ship to another program, etc. Many schools encourage you to talk to faculty prior to applying, so I will have another opportunity to remove bad fits later on in this process.
* I need to get a handle on the financial side of things. So far, I know I have a very wide range of costs in the programs on my list. The Texas one would be really cheap, due to in-state tuition, while the private school in NYC charges over $33,000 on tuition alone and offers no aid through the program (though we are encouraged to find our own sources of aid - thanks, guys).
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9 comments:
Fantastic. That sounds like quite an arduous process, but it should result in you being in a program you really want to be in. Too cool.
But hey, where's the Colorado love??
Also, I assume cost of living is a factor - i.e., an expensive school in Indiana might end up cheaper than a cheap school in San Francisco.
Don't forget that one of your criteria should be great birding! Oh, that's not an academic requirement. Darn.
Tam, Colorado just wasn't working for me for masters programs, BUT Colorado-Boulder remains on both the psychology & marketing PhD lists. So maybe eventually...
Mom, I'm sure Robert will be happy if we end up someplace with good birding. (Though perhaps not the Tuscon Option - excellent birding at the cost of 120 degree weather.)
You commonly read that a key error students make in picking a grad school is to choose somewhere fun to live (see: Colorado) while not taking into consideration the fact that they will be too damned busy to take advantage of all this fun anyway.
Tam - yes, good point re: cost of living. Something Robert and I will both have to consider in terms of how much school will cost me and how much purchasing power various job offers for him will have in the different regions.
Various job offers? Ah, optimism.
For a while I was looking into graduate programs in social psychology. It was the kind of program where the job you get when you get out is teaching the next batch of students.
I learned that people did most of their hiring from just a tiny subset of the schools, and those were the exact schools that had financial aid available.
I don't know if the correlation between financial aid and status (or whatever) is true in your search, too, but it's something to keep in mind.
Debbie, interesting - were those PhD or masters programs you were looking at?
I know at the PhD level, almost any psychology program will give you a financial package, but the masters programs seem a bit more mixed.
I haven't looked closely, but it is my impression that the schools with the MA as their top degree may be more inclined to give fellowships, etc., than programs where the PhD is also available.
I'd be interested to hear anything else you have to add on the general subject of grad school.
PhD. Hmm, things may have changed in the last 15 (I think) years, though.
I had no clue what I was doing the first time I went to grad school, and I didn't actually go a second time, but here are the lessons I would have used (and I think you know them all):
1) Study for the GRE and other entrance exams. It's not cheating. And it can make a significant difference.
2) Get to know some people who can write good and useful recommendations. This means they have to know relevant things about you, they have to be able to write, and their title has to make them sound like their opinion is relevant. (I once got the opportunity to see some reference letters that had been written for me, and some of them were horrifying.) I was auditing courses to try to achieve this goal.
3) Figure out a dissertation topic before you even go. Use that to help you pick a school, an advisor, a back-up/second advisor, supporting coursework, and topics for assignments. If you plan it right, your dissertation is half done before you even officially start.
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