Being an AiO in the
United States, from Start
to Finish
Pamela K. Smith
Radboud University Nijmegen
(Ph.D. from New York University)
p.smith@psych.ru.nl
Overview
Getting in: How to apply for a graduate student
position in the U.S.
 Surviving and thriving: What it’s like to be a
graduate student in the U.S.
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A quick comment on terms
What is a “graduate student”?
– Officially, it is someone who has their
bachelor’s degree and is now working towards
a master’s degree or Ph.D.
 However, in the U.S., most people who want to
get a Ph.D. in social psychology go straight into
a Ph.D. program after receiving their bachelor’s
degree
– So when I say “graduate student,” I mean
“Ph.D. student,” someone working on their
Ph.D.
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The application process
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You apply in the fall to start in the fall of the
following year
Application deadlines vary by university, but are
generally from early December to middle of
January
From January to April, you find out if you got in
or not (maybe you have to interview too)
You have until April 15 to decide whether you
will accept an offer from a school
If you accept an offer, you generally start in late
August/early September
Picking universities
I wrote universities, not university, for a reason:
People usually apply to multiple places
 You are applying to a department, NOT to work
with a specific person on a specific project!
– Look for places where you would be happy
working with more than 1 person
– However, in your application you will indicate
the people with whom you want to work
 www.socialpsychology.org – source for rankings
of schools and lots of other info
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Questions to consider when picking
universities
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What kind of research am I interested in doing?
– Your interests may change (and faculty may
move!), so look for places with more than 1
person whose work interests you
Where am I willing to live?
What sort of funding can I get? How much
teaching will it require?
How hard is it to get in—do I have a real
chance?
You can find this information on websites, in
books, and by contacting the university directly
The application
Online applications common
 Generally provide 5 main kinds of information
– Undergraduate grades
– Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores –
general, sometimes also psychology
– Letters of recommendation (usually 3)
– Description of previous research experience
– Personal statement
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Useful resources
Books on applying to graduate programs
– The Complete Guide to Graduate School
Admission: Psychology, Counseling, and
Related Professions
– Getting in: A Step-By-Step Plan for Gaining
Admission to Graduate School in Psychology
 How one student got into Stanford’s social
psychology program: http://wwwpsych.stanford.edu/~amiawake/how/
 Don’t forget to contact specific faculty and
graduate students themselves!
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So you’re in. Now what?
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How do you fill the 4-6 years it takes on average
to get a Ph.D.?
– With classes
– With teaching
– With RESEARCH
– . . . and with a social life
Ph.D. students take classes too
Most Ph.D. programs in the U.S. make you take
classes
– How many? Depends on the university
– At NYU, I took 16 courses in total (only 12
were required)
– Princeton University – must take 5 courses
 Usually you complete most of your courses in
your first 2 years
– I took 3-4 courses/semester for first 2 years,
then 1 course/semester for next 2 years
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. . .but classes are not your first
priority!
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Most classes are very interactive, with reading
assignments, presentations, and in-class discussions
– Students need to be prepared enough to be
active participants
You need to pass, but classes are not the top
priority—research is
– However, classes can be useful sources of
research ideas
Classes give you breadth and depth of
knowledge—that means some classes will be fairly
unrelated to your interests
Comprehensive/Qualifying/
Preliminary exams
Also known as “comps” or “quals” or “prelims”
 Taken at the end of your second year or beginning of
your third year
 Come in different forms
– A thesis (usually convering the research you did in the
first 2 years)
– A written exam (take-home or in-house)
– An oral exam
 Some universities do more than 1 of the above, some
universities don’t do this at all
 You have to pass this before you can continue and get
your Ph.D.
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My experience at NYU
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The summer after my second year we had “comps”
Take-home exam: 72 hours to answer 4 out of 5
questions
– Could write no more than 5 pages (doublespaced, 12 point font) per question
– Could not ask people for help, but could use all
notes, articles, books we wanted
Spent 1.5 months preparing for it, filled a cabinet
drawer with notes, papers
BUT. . . almost everyone who took comps at NYU,
passed them
How often do you have to teach?
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That depends on. . .
– what sort of funding you have
 Some funding stipulates that you must teach for a
certain number of semesters
– what the requirements are for a Ph.D.
 At NYU, I had to teach at least 2 classes to be
allowed to receive a Ph.D.
Teaching as a grad student = being
a TA
TA = teaching assistant
 At many universities, graduate students almost
never teach an entire class themselves
– Professors teach a large lecture course, then
students attend “discussion sections” (similar
to werkgroupen) related to the lecture
– These discussion sections are taught by TAs
– In sections, TAs answer questions about the
lecture, discuss additional material
– TAs often also responsible for grading papers,
other assignments, exams
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Research!
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In the U.S. you generally work on several
projects as a graduate student
– Probably at least one of these projects will not
be with your advisor
 Could be with other faculty, even other grad
students
– As a grad student, you are allowed to publish
without your advisor’s name being on the
paper
 The goal is to become an independent
researcher with multiple lines of research
Advisors
In the U.S., your advisor can be an assistant
professor (UD), associate professor (UHD), or a
full professor (hoogleraar)
– You do not have to work with a full professor
unless you want to
 There are pros and cons of working with junior
faculty
 There are pros and cons of working with senior
faculty
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Independence from the advisor
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Often you are less dependent on your advisor in
the U.S. than you are in the Netherlands
– You are usually paid by departmental funds
rather than by your advisor
– It is often expected that you will work with
multiple people (and that your advisor will
not be involved in all of these projects)
– It is often not hard to switch advisors
 You simply talk to both parties involved, then
notify the department
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BUT this is not true of all U.S. universities or all
advisors!
The issue of IRBs
Before you can do any research, that research
will need to be approved by an Institutional
Review Board (IRB)
– The IRBs job is to determine if your research
is ethically okay
 Depending on where you are, this process can
take weeks
– Sometimes IRBs only meet once or twice a
month
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The dissertation
Compared to Dutch dissertations, U.S.
dissertations are short
– They generally represent one line of research
– They generally consist only of work you have
done in your last 1-2 years of grad school
 My dissertation consisted of 5 studies (typical for
the type of research I did)
 In the U.S., do not make books of your
dissertation to give to people
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The dissertation process
Varies by university (like everything else!)
 During third year (sometimes in beginning of
fourth year) you write a proposal for your
dissertation and get it approved by your
proposal committee
 Then you spend the next 1-2 years collecting
data and writing your dissertation
– It’s not as rushed as it sounds—sometimes
people (like me) collect some data before the
proposal is approved
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The dissertation timetable for me
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Warning—this is not typical!
March 2003 – came up with idea
April 2003 – started collecting data
November-December 2003 – wrote and
defended proposal
April 2004 – finished collecting data
May 2004 – wrote dissertation
June 10, 2004 – defended dissertation
The dissertation defense (promotie)
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Begin with a short presentation of your dissertation (1020 minutes long)
Then committee asks you questions
The defense is generally NOT public
– Sometimes the short presentation is open to the
public, but before the questioning everyone leaves
except the committee
There is NO time limit for the questioning period
– 1.5-2 hours is typical
– You are done when you have answered all the
committee’s questions to their satisfaction
Usually no big party afterwards—just informal
celebrating
It’s not a job, it’s a passion
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Graduate school in the U.S. is intense
– You are expected to work far more than 40
hours a week
– You can choose your hours, since you
generally have 24/7 building access
 Students may come in not much before lunchtime,
then stay until late in the evening
– Coming to the university on weekends is not
uncommon
 However, not all those hours at the university
are spent hard at work
It has to be a passion because it
doesn’t pay like a job!
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Graduate students in the U.S. are generally paid less well
than graduate students in the Netherlands
– They are students, not employees
– Graduate stipends (the money you get to live on) vary
between universities, but this variation does not
completely make up for differences in cost of living
 A graduate student at NYU will find it harder to make ends
meet than a graduate student at OSU
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You also get less money for conferences
– Often must pay part of conference expenses yourself
 Find ways to save money (e.g., share a hotel room with 4 other
students)
. . . but even U.S. grad students
have fun too
The social side of social psychology
Because new grad students only start at one
time every year (Aug-Sep), you have a cohort
– You go through similar things at similar times
– Can commiserate, provide support
 For example, I prepared and studied for comps
with my cohort
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Cohort togetherness
The social side (cont.)
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In the U.S., people rarely get their Ph.D. at the
same place they received their bachelor’s degree
– You are not the only new kid on the block!
– Foreign students are common at many
universities
 In fact, a current grad student in NYU’s social
program is from the Netherlands
– Foreign faculty are also fairly common
 Better universities and universities in bigger cities
are more likely to have foreign students, faculty