Confused on what school to pick

[8215S]

Hey everyone,

So I've applied to many programs for grad school. Programs for mental health counseling at NYU, Fordham, CCNY, St. John's, Lehman, Queens, and Columbia. I've also applied to some social work programs at NYU, Fordham, Columbia, and Hunter. Lastly, I applied to St. John's PsyD program in school psychology. Queens College and Columbia for both programs still have to get back to me, but besides that I've been accepted to every other program listed here. I'm really happy but it makes the decision too hard.

NYU's mental health program was a bit too expensive for 2 years so I decided to not go for that. CCNY is just a bit too far and I've already experienced their school before. Hunter's MSW program is supposedly well known and cheap. I know that Fordham is also a good school but is a bit more expensive for both programs. St. John's PsyD program does have graduate assistantships to help with the cost of your tuition which can cover all of it for a given semester but it is 5 years of school and many professionals in the field have mentioned that working in a school is not what they expected. I know that you can do many things besides working at a school once you get your doctorate but a professor of mine mentioned that there is a stigma against how qualified school psychologists are. Is that true? Should I pursue a clinical psychology PhD after doing my masters then? Would a masters increase my chances of getting in? How do people also support their living expenses while attending graduate school? This is all very overwhelming and I would love to hear if anyone else is familiar with any of these programs or has been in a similar situation as me. Thank you all!

[PsyDuck90]

Depending on your goals, the best option out of those listed is the MSW at Hunter. A LCSW has a lot more flexibility than an LMHC, especially since LMHCs are unable to bill Medicare (although there is some legislation to change that floating around). Hospital systems tend to hire LCSWs over LMHCs for clinical work for that reason. Overall, the least amount of debt for grad school is always the  best option. Hunter is the most affordable out of the ones you are considering and has a great reputation, so it’s a win win. Your professor is right in that school psychology programs do not provide the same training as clinical and counseling psychology programs. Some programs, like Kean University’s PsyD are combined school and clinical psych programs. If you just want to ever work with children, you may be able to get the additional skills by opting for more training with the school psychology degree but you will not have a lot of the foundational coursework and practicum experiences to work with adults. You’ll continually be fighting an uphill battle. And that program is NOT cheap.

A masters won’t necessarily make you competitive for clinical psychology PhD programs unless you are able to accomplish quite a bit of research during that time. However, sometimes counseling psychology programs will accept some work done in a masters program. 

Most masters programs are not as intensive, so people work while completing them. Doctoral programs are harder to balance with a job. However, many programs provide funding via either being a research, teaching, or graduate assistant. NYC is different from most regions, as the majority of doctoral programs in the area are not fully funded. But the vast majority of clinical psych PhD programs across the country are fully funded with no tuition and a stipend. 

[8215S]

Wow! Thanks so much for the help! My grades are very good and I have lots of relevant experience which probably made me get into many of the masters programs. I wish I had applied to more PhD programs just to see if I could get in, since I'm now realizing that a clinical or counseling psychology degree would be better. I was rejected from only two programs which was CCNY's Clinical Psychology PhD program and Baruch's Mental Health Counseling program. I guess each school is so different so there's really no way of telling if you'll get in or not. 

I was mainly considering the School Psychology degree because I'm still living with my sole guardian who was willing to support me for the 5 years it would take to complete the program. Other professors and school psychologists where I work have told me that I wouldn't need to work in a school and can even do testing which pays a good salary. My interests are working more with young adults and sometimes children. Initially I couldn't see myself in a school environment. I always thought I would be in a more clinical setting but I thought I shouldn't reject the idea. The program is very expensive though but a few of the students said that they have been debt free so far coming up to their second year because of the graduate assistantship. Is anyone else more familiar with this because you have to apply for it like a regular job, therefore it's not guaranteed.

The MSW program at Hunter is much more affordable and is a very good program in NYC. I would be able to become an LMSW after finishing the program. I believe in NYC an LMSW can roughly earn $75,000? But to be able to earn what a school psychologist would I would need to earn my LCSW which would take an additional 3 years to get those hours of supervision. Those years would be paid though since I can earn those hours while working. So in total, it would still be five years. Is anyone familiar with what an LCSW does compared to a psychologist?

[PsyDuck90]

An LCSW, with the proper training, can do the exact same things a psychologist does in terms of therapy. A school psychologist can do testing, but I would be cautious of any school psychologist who says they do neuropsych testing, even for children. Generally, for someone to be competent in neuropsych, they need to do several neuropsych practicums during grad school and do neuropsych on internship in order to then me eligible for a 2 year neuropsych postdoc. There is a lot in regards to neuroanatomy and behavioral neurology that you need to know in order to be a competent neuropsychologist, and pediatric populations are even more complex than adults. So can you legally do it? Sure. Would you be competent coming out of a school psych program? Questionable. 
 

So what is it that you want to spend your days doing day in and day out?

[8215S]

@PsyDuck90Honestly, I couldn't see myself doing research during my undergrad. I did work in research lab as a research assistant during my last semester and the experience felt okay to me. This made me think that the PhD wasn't for me. But the PhD is more valued than the PsyD in the real world especially if it's in clinical psychology. For working in academia, I could maybe see myself doing that when I'm a bit older since I like the idea of helping students grow. A PsyD in school psychology would give wonderful practical experience and I would learn to do a lot of testing. I work with school psychologists who only do testing and it seems like it may get repetitive at some point and too structured. They also got a doctorate in school psychology but they all didn't like working in a school and chose to work in a private practice. I don't know how much they earn but likely not as much as they should since my boss is cheap. Maybe they earn more than if they worked in a school who knows. 

I originally wanted to only do therapy and do an MHC degree but I guess along the way with time considerations, current limited financial support from family, and the opportunities I would have in the future I began to consider a doctorate. My mother is only willing to support me if I get a masters and move directly to a PhD. That seems like a lot of pressure but it's the only way she'll support me. No gap years.  

I considered social work too because I could still focus on mental health but get a broader scope into other issues that come into play, which may also affect mental health. I like learning about social policy and social justice, but only sometimes. I enjoyed assignments of these topics during my undergrad but if I did them all of them I probably wouldn't feel the passion anymore.

I want to do something that continues to change and be interesting. Not something repetitive that I'll lose interest over. My biggest fear is going into a doctorate program like the school psychology PsyD program and hating it. You can't exactly switch to a PhD program after can you?

Not sure if anything I said is making sense but I wanted to put my honest thoughts out there since there's so many factors like time and money that come into play. Please feel free to ask any follow up questions and thank you so much!