Neverland
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Posts posted by Neverland
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On 3/23/2019 at 1:29 PM, dancedementia said:
You're not wrong. There is some connection between high prestige and a good quality program, but I don't necessarily think that the opposite is true (e.g. just because a program is not considered "prestigious" doesn't mean you'll get a poor quality experience). That said, I'd like to remind everyone of the lovely Pareto principle (where are my I/O folks when I need them) - 80% of results comes from 20% of the effort. Put simply in the context of a doctoral program (with the intent to practice) - all you need is "enough". You need your 2-3 years of practicum, your 1 year of APA internship, your 1 year of postdoc (or whatever postgrad hours are needed to get licensed in your state). The difference between a person who publishes 5 papers vs. the person who publishes 1 is practically negligible when it comes to hiring for practice. It doesn't matter if your lab was ranked 1st or ranked 30th - you got the research experience and the dissertation nonetheless. (If we're talking about a career in academia, all of this goes out the window, of course.) Keep in mind that everyone who finishes a program and passes the EPPP (not sure if school psych has another exam, I don't know the name) gets licensed. EVERYONE. Doesn't matter if you graduated from Harvard or from Oklahoma State. And as the years go on, if your intent is to stay in clinical practice, your education slowly becomes less and less important as you advance.
It's inaccurate to say that prestige doesn't matter at all - because let's face it, we're human beings and there is an inherent to signal and to seek out signalling in others. However, I think that as you go deeper and deeper into clinical practice you'll learn that there are diminishing returns.
You'll be in this program for 4 years. That's actually a pretty long time. Pick the one that you feel comfortable in
I think you underestimate the capability of hiring folks, haha. If anything, I think their lack of expertise actually works in your favour in the context of clinical practice. As I mentioned before, I don't have the time or the care to look at university names, lab names, PI names. I skim the resume and look for a job that looks similar to the one I'm hiring for. I'm hiring for a "school psychologist"? Well, better make sure this person mentions schools and psychology somewhere in their resume. You'll also find that a lot of the "first cut" goes through automatic keyword screeners first, and those automated programs definitely don't care what school you went to - they just want to know whether your degree matches and whether you have the license haha.
As for administrators, bureaucrats, and the public, you have a point. Although that could work either for or against you. For example, in my field (eating disorders), here are some of the top schools: Drexel, Temple, Miami, FSU, SUNY Albany, Michigan State. Here are some of the NOT top schools: Harvard, Yale, Columbia. So if you went to Drexel - great for hiring, sucks for public perception. If you went to Yale - sucks for hiring, great for public perception. At that point it's kind of a "pick your battle" - do you want to be well known in the inner circle of eating disorders, or do you want to signal to the public that you went to a prestigious school? Someone hiring at an ED treatment facility may be "in the know", but someone hiring at a community mental health agency may have no idea.
As a P. S. -- I don't intend to give any "do this or die" advice in my replies, I'm just sharing some n=1 anecdotes in hopes that it sparks some conversation. Thanks
Hi, thanks for sharing. It really sheds light on some of my confusions!
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My advice would be going for a part-time RA and a part-time clinical work if that's possible. Some Coun Psych Ph.D. programs value clinical experience or a master degree. But if you can work as an RA in labs where you want to pursue your Ph.D. degree in the future, then forget about what I said.
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Also got into LIU Post and worry about the prestige here. Have you decided which one to go to?
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On 2/1/2019 at 2:30 AM, dancedementia said:
Yeah but that poster was for Rutgers' School PsyD
maybe that's where the misleading info came from - 2/18 must be Clinical and 2/21 must be School?
EDIT: I just checked CUDCP's calendar, and that seems to be the case - 2/18 is Clinical and 2/21 is School: https://teamup.com/ks952632ef38687f3e
I just checked Rutger's Academic Calendar and it says the same： https://gsapp.rutgers.edu/about/academic-administrative-calendar
Feel desperate now.
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To MA or not? Toward a PsyD/PhD in Clinical Psychology
in Psychology Forum
Posted
Hi！
As an international student who also desires to become a licensed psychologist, I would say master programs don't seem like a good choice for you.
I applied to several master & PsyD programs this season and eventually regretted spending time on master programs. It occurred to me that I won't even consider them as long as any PsyD program gave me an offer. Luckily, I did get one.
So, if you want to go PsyD route, accumulate clinical experience, and research experience for the Ph.D. route.