Straight to a US PhD, DIY: Educational Psychology at Penn State

Updated 2026/10/16

Today’s guest is Joyce, who graduated from the Department of Psychology at Kaohsiung Medical University. She shares what studying psychology was like and why she went straight into a PhD in the US after her bachelor’s degree, skipping the master’s! Joyce also runs an Instagram account (@cj_phd.life) about studying in the US and daily life as an international student. Go follow her!

Click here for more of her scores, background, and rejections 👉🏻 Joyce’s admission results and posts (in Chinese)

Educational Psychology Ph.D. | Penn State College of Education

Penn State’s Educational Psychology PhD program trains college and university faculty, researchers at educational research institutions, and program evaluators or specialists in educational development (such as education committees at government agencies).

Each student’s doctoral program is planned together with their advisor and doctoral committee. Besides meeting the graduate school’s requirements, the program must relate to the student’s background and career interests.

University Experience and Why Study Abroad

What was studying psychology like? How did you find the direction you wanted to pursue (applied psychology / educational psychology)?

In high school I was interested in mental illness and in how people think and behave, so I chose psychology. Once I started, I found that psychology covers a huge range. Almost any topic involving people connects to it somehow. I think the biggest benefit of studying psychology is understanding yourself better. Some of our courses also stressed logical reasoning and empathy training, which turn out to be pretty useful in daily interactions and even arguments (?).

In university, like most people, I didn’t know what I was suited for. My way of dealing with that anxiety was to try lots of extracurricular activities, rule out what I didn’t like, and slowly find the areas I was interested in. Psychology has three main tracks: counseling, clinical, and applied. After taking personality psychology in my second year, I knew I didn’t like counseling. Later, as I learned more about what clinical psychologists do and where they work, clinical psychology didn’t seem like a fit either. After ruling things out, I was left with applied psychology. To be frank, no job asks for an “applied psychology” specialist. The question is how you combine psychology with different issues. Social psychology, criminal psychology, industrial and organizational psychology, educational psychology, and others all fall under applied psychology.

Many people around me chose industrial and organizational psychology. My school also had a marketing program and my family is in business, so I first considered going into marketing management. But after taking the courses and attending a few marketing workshops, I found I had little talent for marketing and not much interest in it.

I came across educational psychology because my research advisor was doing research on math and science at the time. When I asked to do a project with him, he asked whether there was a math or science education topic I wanted to explore. I thought of my not-so-equal experience in high school, where teachers often signaled, intentionally or not, that it was normal for girls to be worse at science! That attitude always made me uncomfortable, so partly to prove that women aren’t worse, I started researching gender and education. As the project went on, I found I was really interested in education topics and quantitative analysis, and sometimes I’d even slip into a state of flow. That’s when I realized I was really interested in educational psychology.

Note: flow is a psychology term for a state of focus so deep that you lose track of time. When the task ends you don’t feel tired; you feel happy and satisfied.

In short, finding your interests means trying things over and over, ruling out what you know you don’t like, narrowing your options, and then choosing among what’s left.

What do psychology students usually do after graduating?

1. Counseling psychologist: master’s in counseling psychology → national licensing exam → counseling psychologist
2. Clinical psychologist: master’s in clinical psychology → national licensing exam → clinical psychologist
3. Academic research
4. Everyone finds their own way to combine psychology with their work. Some common paths among my upperclassmen: HR, insurance, marketing agencies, and starting a business

Why did you go straight into a PhD abroad in educational psychology right after your bachelor’s?

1. There were fewer master’s options in related fields
2. I’m interested in academic research and want to work in academia in the future, so I chose to go straight into a PhD
3. I applied to both master’s and PhD programs, and this direct PhD was the only firm offer I got. The master’s programs either waitlisted me or wanted a higher IELTS score
4. The PhD comes with a scholarship

Why the US and not somewhere else?

Simply because I’m more familiar with the US, and I have relatives there.

If I had to give a reason, academia in the US is much more developed than in Taiwan.

You wrote a thesis in English in university. Why English, and what are the benefits?

I thought about studying abroad fairly early, so I wrote my thesis in English. At first I wrote in Chinese and translated bit by bit, but later I realized almost all my references were in English and so were my analysis results. Writing directly in English was faster.

Benefits of writing your thesis in English

1. You can submit to international journals or conferences: my topic was machine learning analysis, which has been very popular in the US in recent years. In my case, it didn’t get selected in a campus competition in Taiwan or for the Ministry of Science and Technology undergraduate research program, but it was accepted at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting
2. You practice thinking in English: English writing has its own logic, and writing in Chinese first and then translating reads awkwardly
3. More references: writing a thesis starts with imitation, and there are far more English references than Chinese ones, so you have more examples of structure, content, and phrasing
4. Easier applications: some schools ask for a writing sample, and you can submit your thesis directly

Applying Abroad

Which experiences helped most for PhD applications?

1. Submitting to an annual conference
2. Being a teaching assistant for a common statistics software course
3. Taking an online machine learning course on Coursera

What difficulties did you face applying for a PhD on your own, and how did you overcome them?

1. I couldn’t decide on a field: this may be my personality. I knew I was interested in statistics and educational psychology, but I still overthought things and didn’t really know what I could do after graduating in this field. How I overcame it: I talked more with professors and upperclassmen, and searched Google with English keywords
2. Very little information in Chinese: I went through the usual Chinese-language forums such as Ptt, Dcard, and 1point3acres, but very few people study applied psychology, so I couldn’t find many experience posts. How I overcame it: I searched in English or asked upperclassmen directly
3. I didn’t know how to start my application documents, and no one helped me revise them: I had never written these kinds of documents and didn’t know what reviewers wanted to see. How I overcame it: I asked upperclassmen for their CVs, SOPs, and even recommendation letters. They don’t have to be people you know; you can also reach people online through LinkedIn, Instagram, Dcard, and so on (I messaged Doctor Hao on Instagram, and I’m super grateful to him). After writing my SOP, I showed it to lots of people: friends in the English department, older relatives working abroad, people who had studied abroad, and others.

How to overcome them

Here’s a summary of how I handled DIY applications. I think these are also skills you need when you go abroad.

• Dare to ask: people you know, people you don’t, and people online are all opportunities. Ask boldly and don’t be afraid of rejection
• Tell everyone: at first I was too shy to tell anyone I wanted to go abroad, but once I said it out loud, hidden resources showed up: friends of friends, relatives, older family members, and so on
• Get used to researching in English: if you’re going to study in the US, there will always be more information in English than in Chinese

What should you pay special attention to in PhD application essays?

1. Show strong motivation to learn and do research in your SOP. Schools are looking for students worth investing in, and only a clear motivation is convincing
2. Do your homework early: learn what each school values and what its professors work on, so you have more to work with in your essay. For example, some schools put a lot of emphasis on developing women scientists, so in those application essays I stressed my value as a woman researcher.
3. Don’t commit to just one professor: this is a bit tricky. You don’t know whether a professor is taking students this year, and if you only say you’re interested in Professor A and they aren’t taking anyone, you’re out of luck. I named two professors for every school.

Did you contact professors abroad when applying for your PhD, and did they reply? How should you write the email to make a good impression and get a reply?

My emails simply asked whether the professor was taking students this year. If you have time, read some of the professor’s papers and offer a few thoughts, then attach your CV. I contacted about 10 professors and only two replied. One said they were taking students. The other was my undergraduate professor’s own professor, so that was really my professor doing me a favor.

My professor’s professor set up an online meeting with me to chat, but in the end I wasn’t admitted to that school either. So I think emailing professors is optional. Do it if you have time.

Reader Questions

What career paths open up after a PhD in psychology? Besides academia, which industries or roles are possible?

1. Some public and private research institutions abroad need people with psychology training
2. In Taiwan, I’ve heard government agencies have recently started posting the occasional opening (for example, for PhDs in criminal psychology)
3. With educational psychology, you can work at the Ministry of Education, testing companies, and so on
4. With sports psychology, you can work for sports teams
5. With business psychology, you can work at headhunting firms

As a humanities and social sciences student, how can I explore the industries, academic fields, and career directions I like during university?

Try things in lots of different fields and don’t pass up opportunities, big or small. Courses, workshops, internships, clubs, talks on and off campus, and sessions with upperclassmen are all chances to explore.

There’s a line from Steve Jobs that I strongly agree with: You can only connect them looking backwards, so you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

You may not feel it at the time, but looking back, you’ll see that many experiences have helped you grow.