Clinical PhD/Master's programs that are diverse and/or focus on diversity research?

[psycholonoir]

Hi everyone,

I applied to a couple of schools for the Fall 2021 cycle, however, as I don't expect to get in anywhere, I'm preparing to apply next year as well. My research interests are in minority mental health, culturally informed practice, mental health disparities among minority populations, culturally responsive evidence based practice, multiculturalism, African-American populations, Asian or South Asian populations, and other topics relating to race, culture, and ethnicity. Does anyone know of any schools with faculty that's actually diverse, or programs with faculty who have these research interests? I have a few schools already, but am looking to add more to my list and haven't had too much luck finding programs/faculty (outside of the ones I have already have information for) with departments that are diverse or that work on research issues that involve race and culture.

Schools I am planning to apply to:

- University of Minnesota

- University of Michigan

- Washington University in St. Louis

- Loyola University

- Suffolk University

- University of Massachusetts, Boston

I am also planning to apply to Master's programs next cycle as well just in case I don't get into any PhD programs, so feel free to include those as well.

Thanks in advance!

[pomegranateleaves]

University of Florida and UC Santa Barbara (both counseling phd departments) are really good in this line of research. Have you considered counseling psychology?

[PsyDuck90]

Derald Wing Sue at Columbia is probably the most famous cultural diversity researcher in Psychology. He literally wrote the book. Kevin Nadal at John Jay-CUNY was a student of his and also does work in the same field. Joshua Hook at University of North Texas is another one. I would open the search up to Counseling Psychology PhD programs as well if you haven't. The end license is the same but counseling psychology tends to be where a lot of the cultural diversity folks tend to be housed. 

[Chugwater2020]

You and I have almost exactly the same interests.  Feel free to dm me and I can share where I applied and why!

 

[SRK2212]

If you're thinking about applying to master's programs this year, why not take a look now? A lot of them have later deadlines than PhD programs and if you want a safety net, it can't hurt to turn some in this year. 

[sunflowergirl97]

13 hours ago, SRK2212 said:

If you're thinking about applying to master's programs this year, why not take a look now? A lot of them have later deadlines than PhD programs and if you want a safety net, it can't hurt to turn some in this year. 

I would second this! A lot of counseling MA programs don't have deadlines until Feb/March and some are even later than that. If you're interested in a diversity/SJ research focus those could be really great programs to look into! Some may also have a PhD program connected so you could go there for your MA, build connections and possibly apply for PhD if its good enough fit. 

[zwycięstwo]

Check out Division 27 of the APA, Community Psychology as a field is committed to doing research around the same topics you discussed. You can look at scra27.org for information.

[PsyDuck90]

2 hours ago, sunflowergirl97 said:

I would second this! A lot of counseling MA programs don't have deadlines until Feb/March and some are even later than that. If you're interested in a diversity/SJ research focus those could be really great programs to look into! Some may also have a PhD program connected so you could go there for your MA, build connections and possibly apply for PhD if its good enough fit. 

Yes, as this poster said, applying to MA programs concurrently may be a good idea. Also, a lot of PhD programs that also offer a master's in the department will ask you if you would like to be considered for their master's program if you don't get into the PhD.

Another thing of note: counseling is a separate field from clinical/counseling psychology. A master's in counseling is a terminal, license-eligible degree (licensed mental health counselor). A doctorate in counseling would be a doctorate in counselor education, which is not licensable. While there is some overlap, they are 2 distinct fields governed by 2 different bodies (the ACA and the APA).