Thoughts on Nova Southeastern's PsyD program?

[psychstudent21]

Hi,

I have heard very mixed things about Nova Southeastern's PsyD program. Please share what you know-- the good, the bad, etc

[PsyberPsych3311]

I haven't interacted with the program, so everything I know is just what I have heard but I think you could sum it up as: the reputation is not as poor as PsyD/PhD programs at for-profit institutions, but the reputation is trending down. 

I have been told that there are neuropsych profs in the program that work with the Amen Clinics, which have an extreme lack of sound scientific evidence. So if neuro is what you are interested in, I would be very very cautious. 

The size of the cohorts concerns me. Mentorship is crucial in doctoral programs and should be the rule, not the exception. If there is something specific about the program that is a good fit for your interests and you are comfortable standing out in your cohort and working harder to get mentorship, then okay. But personally I think there are other PsyD programs with better reputations (or some with equal reputations) with smaller cohorts. 

[psychologygeek]

Be wary if you're pursuing Neuropsychology like myself. Funding package aside, the cohort size concerns me and the work that neuropsychologists do in the Amen Clinics are equally concerning as well. For those reasons, I decided not to apply.

[PsyDuck90]

It has a pretty poor reputation. The cohort sizes are insane (one cohort is larger than my entire PsyD program student body). The cost is very expensive and doesn't really make sense for the earning potential of psychologists. Their connection with the Amen clinics, as psychologygeek mentioned above, suggests that they don't adhere to evidence-based practice. Also, the fact they don't even have a 100% APA-accredited internship match rate for any of the recent years, despite having a captive APA-accredited internship is probably the most worrisome aspect. They literally have a place to put students who aren't competitive enough to match elsewhere, yet people are still opting for unaccredited internships? Completing a non-APA accredited internship closes a lot of doors to job opportunities, such as VAs (the largest single employer of psychologists nationwide) and many hospitals. There is literally no upside to completing a non-accredited internship. That is way thats a really important metric to judge programs on. 

[psychstudent21]

So I've heard of NSU's association with the Amen clinic on this thread and on Student Doctor Network. I can't find anything on google besides these forums that say there's a connection between the two. I'm not doubting you, but where can I find that there is a connection? Where can I find information about captive internships?

 

[frazyfar]

On 12/17/2021 at 7:56 PM, psychstudent21 said:

So I've heard of NSU's association with the Amen clinic on this thread and on Student Doctor Network. I can't find anything on google besides these forums that say there's a connection between the two. I'm not doubting you, but where can I find that there is a connection? Where can I find information about captive internships?

 

Daniel Amen's Research Gate profile has a bunch of NOVA students as co-authors on pubs and posters:  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniel-Amen-3

NOVA's captive internship: https://membership.appic.org/directory/display/60