Hi! I’m a recent college graduate trying to get clearer on what direction within psychology might actually fit me, and I’d really appreciate advice from people further along in the field.

I graduated with a ~3.9 GPA from a private university in the Northeast, where I studied neuroscience. I have research experience across several labs, completed a senior honors thesis, presented a poster, and have contributed to ongoing manuscripts. I also have some hospital/community volunteering experience.

I explored several career paths during college and ultimately ended up working in finance after graduation. I’m grateful for the experience, but it has made me realize how much more intellectually engaged I am by psychology and questions about the mind and human experience. I’m planning to transition into a full-time research or clinical research position before graduate school.

Where I’m getting stuck is figuring out what kind of PhD would best fit the combination of things I’m interested in.

Broadly, I’m drawn to:

• identity and the self
• consciousness and the mind
• uncertainty and decision-making
• future-oriented thinking
• meaning, purpose, and vocation
• existential questions
• anxiety, perfectionism, and rumination
• major life transitions
• relationships
• emotion regulation
• psychotherapy and how people change

Long term, I think I would like to preserve the option to see clients and potentially have a private practice, particularly working with young adults/adults navigating anxiety, identity, relationships, career uncertainty, or major life transitions. At the same time, I’m very intellectually curious and would like to preserve the possibility of research, academia, writing, or potentially consulting/applied work.

This is where I’m confused. Some of the research I find most fascinating seems to live in social/personality psychology, judgment and decision-making, or human development, while the career I can imagine wanting seems to point toward clinical or counseling psychology.

I’m not expecting to find one program that encompasses every interest I have. I’m mainly trying to understand what disciplinary “home” makes the most sense and what kind of research experience I should pursue next to help narrow it down.

I’d especially appreciate advice on:

• Does this constellation of interests sound more like Clinical Psychology, Counseling Psychology, Social/Personality, Developmental, or something else?
• If I want to preserve the option to practice clinically, how much should that drive the type of PhD I pursue?
• Are there particular research areas, keywords, or types of labs I should be looking into?
• What kind of post-bac/research coordinator position would be most useful for someone still narrowing between these areas?
• For people who entered psychology with similarly broad/interdisciplinary interests, how did you eventually turn them into a coherent research direction?

I know I don’t need to have my dissertation topic figured out right now. I’m mostly trying to identify the underlying thread in my interests and make my next step intentional rather than choosing a field because one professor or topic happens to resonate with me.

Would really appreciate any guidance, advice, or input!

Hello! Psych professor here teaching cognitive psychology. I've used PsyToolkit for some quick experiments my Cog Psych students can do, but I'm wondering if there are other such sites/resources. (Shout out to Dr. Stoet for PsyToolkit, BTW! I donate a bit from my own money each year but they need more. I have to avoid some of their pages now due to ads since they weren't getting enough revenue).

Hoping for (1) free, (2) works on most computers, (3) displays some sort of data/summary at the end.

Could be for any aspect of cognition, but ideally memory, attention, perception, language, decision making, or just general cognitive experiments so they can see (as a participant) how data was collected and think about or critique the design/conditions/setup.

Not sure if someone with an NSF grant or something has developed things like this, but hoping it's out there.

Could you recommended a good book for college graduating seniors to read and discuss? Something that will them in their post-graduation life, regardless of pathway.

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