University of Tulsa: Clinical Psychology PhD?

[psych_33]

So, I received a grad school brochure and a personalized letter from the University of Tulsa congratulating me on my accomplishments and research for my BA (it seems to be a recruitment letter for grad school, although I never contacted them for any information; in fact, I hadn't even heard of the university before receiving this letter. I wonder how they got my info? That's a little beside the point, though.)

I'd like to ask a few questions (directed at anyone who is a current student at the university, especially psych students):

1) What's the University of Tulsa's reputation like? Is it known to be a good graduate school for psychology? (I know literally nothing about college rankings. A google search didn't necessarily help me either, there are a few sites with different ratings and I have no idea which is most accurate.) I just want to make sure I'm going to a school with a decent reputation, especially relating to psychology. I did see that their psych program is APA accredited--which is a must--but it's only been accredited since 1991 so I'm not sure how much of a reputation it has built for itself in comparison to similar programs.

2) What's the campus like? If you're a current student at the University of Tulsa, what would you say are the strengths of the campus? What are the worst aspects of the campus? (All I really know about the campus is that it has smaller class sizes, which is great!) I really want to know more though, especially how students feel about the campus and surrounding area.

3) Anyone studying clinical psych at the University of Tulsa: could you tell me a bit about the school and program overall? (Good things and bad things.) Specifically, I'd really like to know about funding availability (is your PhD fully funded?), major research areas, research opportunities, internships, and housing availability for grad students, etc. I've looked at the website and found a little bit of info, but I think it's better to hear from current students on this too.

4) Again, directed at the psych students: I read in the brochure that the clinical PhD follows the scientist-practitioner model and takes a broad approach to psychology--this is good, it's what I'm looking for, but I'm also realy interested in neuropsychology. Does the program offer a decent amount of courses, research opportunities, internships, etc. relating to neuropsych?

5) Not fully related, but, could anyone suggest some other good scientist-practitioner schools in the US or Germany offering funded degrees in clinical psych/neuro that I should look into? (I'm not applying until next year, but I want to look into a lot of schools before I narrow down my list to apply to. I have a decent list going already, but I want to keep looking. I'll probably start a separate post later for this too, but I figured it couldn't hurt to throw this question in here while I'm at it.)

Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to read my post!!

[Lisa44201]

College rankings mean very little in clinical psych. What's more important is the research fit between you and your POI. Look for POIs first, figure out where they're teaching, apply to those schools. 

[psych_33]

College rankings mean very little in clinical psych. What's more important is the research fit between you and your POI. Look for POIs first, figure out where they're teaching, apply to those schools. 

 

Thank you for your reply! I actually found more information about U of Tulsa's program this morning and decided it definitely wouldn't be a good fit for me regardless of any rankings (very few POIs + the college is affiliated with the presbyterian church and I'm not religious at all, so I'm not looking for a degree from a private religious university.)

 

I know research match is the most important factor in admissions; I guess I have just been trying to do my grad school searches pretty much backwards for the past couple of months. (I've been looking up clinical programs online, then looking at the psych faculty in those schools and their research interests/recent publications.) I never even thought to go the opposite way as you suggested, even though that makes the most sense if I really think about it. It would probably save me a great deal of time if I looked into psychologists whose work I really admire first, and then for the colleges that they teach/conduct research at. I think I'll gather some scholarly articles that align with my interests and go from there.

 

Thanks again for your reply, I appreciate it.