It is not unusual for psychology professors to talk about this distinction, because it is an important one. Some graduate programs focus on applied fields, such as practice-oriented Psy.D. programs that specialize in training students to become professional clinicians, whereas other programs focus on the pursuit of research and teaching. The latter is true for most of the subspecialty areas within psychology, including research-oriented clinical psychology programs. It is nevertheless easy to be confused about this distinction because almost all of the subspecialty areas within psychology can lead to both academic and applied career paths. For example, one might obtain a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology yet pursue a full-time career in the marketing industry. It is fascinating to apply principles of cognitive psychology to putting together a marketing campaign, including the jingles that people will find "catchy" and memorable. Similarly, a psychologist who specialized in neuroscience in graduate school might choose between becoming a professor researching the effects of alcohol on brain functioning or working for a pharmaceutical company developing medicines that will work especially well for chronic pain sufferers. The point is that most areas of psychology have both academic and applied sides, making this distinction less useful than it used to be. At the same time, it is important to understand whether the programs you are considering are single-mindedly oriented toward producing future academic psychologists or applied psychologists (or are open to cultivating both).
Selecting the specialty area that is the best match for you is one of the most important initial steps in the process of applying to graduate school. Believe it or not, depending on your career interests, graduate school in psychology (as compared to psychology-related fields) might not be the best route to take. For example, if you wish to teach psychology in high school, having a major in psychology is important but your undergraduate training to become an educator will be your central focus. On the other hand, if you know that the career that interests you requires graduate training, then the first order of business is to find out which of the many specialty areas within psychology will best position you to pursue your career goals. Here are some considerations to keep in mind when deciding which area of specialization within psychology is best for you.