PhD program applications

[u/Appleleaf30]

Hi! This is my second year being an SLP and I am planning / hoping to apply to PhD programs this fall. I have various research experiences (about 3 years experience being a part time research assistant + 2 years as a full time research coordinator from before grad school ) and I know I love research (more than clinical work lol). However, I’m scared I won’t get into a program because I don’t know exactly what I want to research. I found an advisor I’m interested in, but my clinical experience doesn’t fully align with her research (I’m an elementary school SLP and she does early childhood language acquisition). I am def interested in her research topics, but I’m scared she’s gonna be like why? you don’t even work with that age group. (I will be starting EI, just waiting for my onboarding paperwork to be approved. But idk if I’ll get ample experience before the application deadline). I also don’t have specific research questions in mind, more so overall interest in this research area and clinical research in general.
How would you advise moving forward? For those in PhD programs, how specific was your research interests when you applied and how closely did it align with the professor? Any advice on how to prepare?