Subject:
          E-xcellence in Teaching, February, 2002, Vol.4
     Date:
          Fri, 1 Feb 2002 09:24:25 -0500
     From:
          Bill Buskist <buskist@PRODIGY.NET>
 Reply-To:
          Society for Teaching of Psychology Discussion List <PSYCHTEACHER@list.kennesaw.edu>
       To:
          PSYCHTEACHER@list.kennesaw.edu
 
 
 

Making the Leap: Advising Students on Selecting a Graduate Program

Gary R. Hann
Jane S. Halonen
James Madison University
halonejx@jmu.edu

Following your recommendations, they've dotted all of the I's and crossed
all of the T's. They have pored over the most recent copy of the APA's
Graduate Study in Psychology (2002 Edition) and The Complete Guide to
Graduate School Admission: Psychology, Counseling, and Related Professions
(Keith-Spiegel & Wiederman, 2000). If your students have worked hard and
prepared well, chances are good that the process will result in more than
one acceptance. How can you help your students make the important decision
of which offer to accept?

Although we went through the graduate admissions process separated by over
two decades (Gary in 1999 and Jane in 1972), we compared our stories and
found some remarkable similarities in identifying the things we wished we
had known when making our decisions. From those experiences we constructed a
framework to help your students differentiate graduate school offers and
find the best match for their needs and values.

We think it is helpful to draw a distinction between "overt" (data on
program Web sites and print materials) and "covert" program characteristics
that should contribute to your students' decision. Covert characteristics
require a bit more work to uncover. Your students may need a more complex
Internet search, library explorations, campus visit, or conversations with
insiders to uncover this helpful information. Doing that last piece of
investigation will enhance the likelihood of your students choosing just the
right program.

Campus Profile
A visit to the campus Web site will determine some important overt factors
such as the size of campus, description of library holdings, and level of
support from the state or private donors. But there are other aspects of
campus life about which to learn:
*How well funded is the campus? Is it fiscally secure?
*How committed is the campus to graduate education?
*What's the parking situation like? (Probably bad...)

Program Theoretical Orientation
Program guides or Web sites probably will describe whether the program has a
dominant theoretical orientation. If your students have developed some
paradigmatic preferences, finding out about the values that drive a program
will be critical to making a good match. Questions that may help determine
covert data include:
*Is the program orientation rigorously (fanatically?) defined?
*How do "true believers" deal with opposing opinion?
*To what extent are multiple perspectives part of the educational plan?

Program Research Climate
Program Web sites or print materials will often list the most recent
publications of the faculty associated with the program. However, your
students can determine faculty productivity by checking individual faculty
Web sites or by checking citation rates in the Social Science Index. In
"publish or perish" institutions, faculty members can be hard pressed to
crank out research, sometimes at the expense of high quality teaching and
mentoring of students. In those circumstances, students must understand that
they often will "piggy back" on a faculty member's research concentration
rather than develop their own independent ideas. On the other hand, a
high-pressure research setting may be just the right context if your student
aspires to an academic profession in a comparable setting. Some other
questions include:
*To what degree do faculty concentrate on developing their students as
researchers?
*What is the nature and rate of publication of the students in the program?
*Where do graduate students present their work?
*How much independence do students have in selecting their own research
projects?

Program Reputation
Although there are national listings of graduate program quality, it may be
more useful if you help your students find an insider. For example, by
connecting with colleagues in professional organizations, you may be able to
direct your students to the just the right person who can provide some
inside information about program quality. Some questions your students might
want to ask an insider about reputation include:
*What are the best features of the training program?
*How is the morale of faculty and graduate students?
*Has the program had any student-generated litigation filed against it?
*Does the program climate promote an atmosphere of professional and personal
integrity?
*Would you embark on this program if you had the opportunity? Why or why
not?

Typical Student Progress
It can be surprising once students enroll in a graduate program that success
among their peers will be variable. What data will help them compare
programs on this important dimension? Here are several questions to which
your students may want to gather answers.
*How critical is it to arrive on campus with some viable research ideas to
facilitate your progress on a Master's project?
*How can you increase the possibility that your Master's work could be
publishable?
*What percentage of students do not progress beyond the Master's? What
happens to them when they are not successful?
*What is the average time in the program until dissertation defense?
*How many students fail the dissertation? What happens to them when they are
not successful?

Program Design Features
Due to the relatively small size of most graduate programs, graduate
students may not have the degrees of freedom regarding courses that they are
used to as undergraduates. What information about program design can be a
persuasive?
*What is the typical class size of the courses?
*Do the classes consist of only people formally admitted to the program? Are
some of these courses also taken by undergraduates?
*Is there any rationale provided for course sequences, where relevant?
*How regularly are new courses introduced in or deleted from the curriculum?

Student Characteristics
Graduate program guidebooks usually describe average board scores of
applicants, but that may not help you determine other important
characteristics of program peer groups. What are the important dimensions?
*How big will the incoming class be?
*Does the program emphasize taking students with significant work experience
or can students move directly into advanced work without such background?
*From which part of the country do students typically come?
*What is the gender and age balance?
*Did the faculty make a purposeful attempt to recruit diverse students in
the cohort? (See Bernal, Sirolli, Weisser, Ruiz, Chamberlin, & Knight,
1999).

Learning Climate
All graduate programs offer intellectual stimulation but the quality of the
climate in graduate schools varies (Halonen & Young, 2000). Your students
need to know that some faculty design their programs to be maximally
rigorous. Some pertinent questions to have your students ask include:
*What kind of learning atmosphere do the program faculty attempt to create?
*Do faculty practice an open-door policy and strive to be available to
students?
*Does the program have warring faculty factions that divide student
loyalties and make the environment feel perilous?

Professional Development Climate
Nearly every program will brag about their excellence in helping people
craft their chosen careers. However, some programs treat professional
development as a byproduct of their programs rather than the primary purpose
for their existence. These questions may help your student gauge faculty
commitment to students' professional development:
*Are students treated with respect or disdain?
*Are there mentoring programs that provide career advice on research and
teaching?
*Does the program offer established professional opportunities or do
students need to be entrepreneurial to find opportunities on their own?
*To what extent do the faculty facilitate entry of their students into
arenas relevant to their professional interests?

Alumni Track Record
Programs may offer testimony from successful students on their Web sites or
in print material, but these public relations promotions may not capture the
typical experience of students in the programs. Some other questions may
help your students identify helpful alumni data:
*What types of jobs have past graduates landed successfully?
*What is the percentage of graduate employment 6 months after graduation?
Three years after graduation?
*Do graduates stay involved as active alumni in the program through
networking or alumni contribution?

Financial Support
Funding can often be the top priority for applicants, but the amount of
support made available is just a starting point. Programs are usually
explicit about the amount of money for grants, scholarships, fellowships,
and assistantships. Encourage your students to find out about the potential
strings attached or other not-so-obvious costs:
*Does support obligate working hours and, if so, in what capacity?
*Are there limits on the number of years a student can be supported in the
program?
*Are there other fees that will eat away at resources, such as parking fees,
student activity fees, etc.
*What are typical textbook costs in the program?
*Are there prohibitions in your contract about earning outside money?

Administrative Support
Unlikely to be found on the program Web site or the catalog is potentially
one of the most important figures in your student's graduate career--the
department secretary. Encourage your students to make a point of introducing
themselves to the program's secretary during campus visits and ask the
following:
*What is it like to work here?
*How demanding are the faculty?
*Are departmental procedures difficult to learn?

Library Access
The library may hold thousands of volumes, but if it is not well maintained,
your students may find constant disappointment in securing appropriate
resources. Your students may want to ask:
*How comprehensive are the psychology holdings?
*How efficient is the interlibrary loan process?
*Can the library holdings be accessed from home?
*Is there a psychology library liaison who especially skilled in solving
psychology-related retrieval problems?

Office Space
Psychology departments are notoriously cramped for space on most campuses
and graduate students may find a woeful short supply of space allocated to
them. (Your students may have to get used to the idea that graduate students
represent the lowest entity in the academic food chain.) Encourage them to
ask the following questions:
*Do graduate students have office provisions set aside for them? Is there
space available for informal meeting with other graduate students?
*Do graduate students have access to private or shared computer resources?

Community Factors
Students should think about the nature of the geographical location of a
program for several reasons. Encourage your students to look up the Web site
of the chamber of commerce for additional information about lifestyle in the
area. Other issues to consider include:
*In what parts of the community do graduate students typically live?
*Where does the university community shop, dine, and play?
*What recreational activities are popular?
*How safe is mass transit?

Conclusion
Graduate education represents a significant investment of time, energy, and
resources. If we had to do it over again, we would do so without hesitation.
However, knowing what we know now, the process for making the decision would
have been far more comprehensive, deliberative, and interesting than it was
the first time around. With a little extra advising attention, we hope that
your students will be able to make the graduate school leap with greater
confidence.

References

Bernal, M. E., Sirolli, A. A., Weisser, S. K., Ruiz, J. A., Chamberlain, V.
J., & Knight, G. P. (1999). Are clinical psychologists prepared for service
and research with ethnic minorities? Report of a decade of progress.
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 5, 43-55.

Graduate study in psychology: 2002 Edition. Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.

Halonen, J. S., & Young, R. E. (2000). Is that all there is? Graduate study
in Psychology. Contemporary Psychology, 44, 233-235.

Keith-Spiegel, P., & Widerman, M. W. (2000). The complete guide to graduate
school admission: Psychology, counseling, and related professions. Mahwah,
NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

About the Authors

Gary R. Hann is a third year doctoral student in the APA-Accredited Combined
Doctoral Program in Clinical, School, and Counseling Psychology at James
Madison University in Virginia. Prior to doctoral studies, he worked in a
variety of clinical settings, including crisis assessment, substance abuse
counseling, and outpatient therapy. Gary is also a student board member of
Division 29 (Psychotherapy) of APA and serves as a student liaison to APAGS
and a contributing editor to the Psychotherapy Bulletin. Gary is now waiting
to hear about another career decision-acceptance in a clinical internship
for next year. He recently finished another important project with his wife,
Vicky, welcoming his new son Grayson into the world.

Jane S. Halonen is the Director of the School of Psychology at James Madison
University. Jane is a past president of the Society for the Teaching of
Psychology and works actively to promote psychology education as a
departmental consultant and project leader in various venues, including APA,
APS, and Advanced Placement. She is a self-described "teaching conference
junkie." She is on the planning committee for STP's Assessment Conference,
scheduled to take place next September at Kennesaw State University. When
not working for improved psychology education, Jane enjoys movies, travel,
novels, the music of Diana Krall, and dancing with her new and improved
husband, Brian.

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