Chicago School experience help

[psychhopeful334445]

I'm thinking about applying to phd programs in psychology and came across the Chicago School of Professional Psychology programs. I was wondering if anybody has had any experience with these programs and what they think about them in general. I want to possibly get into teaching in the future and want to know what my chances are if I go to a program here. Specifically, I would be interested in the phd business psych program or the phd international psych program. what do you guys think? It looks like there are a lot of online programs in this school-- does that effect the other programs in any way? Any advice would be great----thanks!

[Plasticity]

To be blunt, an online PhD program and "School of Professional Psychology" should tell you all you need to know. It looks like the definition of a degree mill to me.

 

 

That being said, programs can be what you make of them to an extent and I'm sure people have gone far coming out of there. 

[thegradcafebarrista]

There's an article in the Huffington Post from 2012 titled "Chicago School of Professional Psychology Sued, Students Call It a Diploma Mill."

It's probably much better to play it safe and attend a reputable PhD program at a major research university. A degree from a school like the Chicago School isn't going to allow you to break into academia.

(By the way, "international psychology" isn't an actual field; rather, it's something that the Chicago School came up with to lure more students in. And "business psychology" is generally called "industrial-organizational psychology" at reputable universities.)

 

[ihatechoosingusernames]

Yeah...I'd say find a different school. The article @thegradcafebarrista mentioned does say that the Chicago campus (and ONLY the Chicago campus) is APA accredited, but that article and several bad reviews are stuff that pops up right away when you google the place. That leads me to believe that the CSPP doesn't have a great reputation in the community. Also, business psych isn't really a field - I/O psych is. 

Follow up question though - what are your research interests? International or business psych seem like different fields. What are you hoping to focus on?

[Guest joshw4288]

4 hours ago, thegradcafebarrista said:

There's an article in the Huffington Post from 2012 titled "Chicago School of Professional Psychology Sued, Students Call It a Diploma Mill."

It's probably much better to play it safe and attend a reputable PhD program at a major research university. A degree from a school like the Chicago School isn't going to allow you to break into academia.

(By the way, "international psychology" isn't an actual field; rather, it's something that the Chicago School came up with to lure more students in. And "business psychology" is generally called "industrial-organizational psychology" at reputable universities.)

 

"International Psychology" is most certainly a field, albeit more appropriately titled a subfield. Organizations like the International Council of Psychologists have been engaged in it since the 1940's, www.icpweb.org. Check out Richard Velayo at Pace University for more information.

You might refrain from commenting on fields that you have no experience in given that your degrees are in anthropology and linguistics and you have yet to enter graduate school in psychology or any other field. People come to this forum to gather information from people who have engaged in psychology and graduate school. You seem to have accomplished neither. 

No, the Chicago School will not be a great place to attend if academia is your goal and funding will likely be sparse if any at all. You can read a bit about the program on the APA's website here: http://www.apa.org/international/pi/2009/03/chicago.aspx

Edited April 29, 2016 by joshw4288

[thegradcafebarrista]

11 hours ago, joshw4288 said:

"International Psychology" is most certainly a field, albeit more appropriately titled a subfield. Organizations like the International Council of Psychologists have been engaged in it since the 1940's, www.icpweb.org. Check out Richard Velayo at Pace University for more information.

You might refrain from commenting on fields that you have no experience in given that your degrees are in anthropology and linguistics and you have yet to enter graduate school in psychology or any other field. People come to this forum to gather information from people who have engaged in psychology and graduate school. You seem to have accomplished neither.

No, the Chicago School will not be a great place to attend if academia is your goal and funding will likely be sparse if any at all. You can read a bit about the program on the APA's website here: http://www.apa.org/international/pi/2009/03/chicago.aspx

There's really no need to be so cocky. Instead of talking down to people on the basis of formal credentials, you might want to focus on substance.

Yes, I stand corrected. Apparently there is an "emerging branch" of psychology called international psychology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_psychology). I would venture to guess that a vast majority of doctoral students in psychology would not have heard of this subfield, given its total obscurity.

[Guest joshw4288]

On April 29, 2016 at 10:03 PM, ihatechoosingusernames said:

Yeah...I'd say find a different school. The article @thegradcafebarrista mentioned does say that the Chicago campus (and ONLY the Chicago campus) is APA accredited, but that article and several bad reviews are stuff that pops up right away when you google the place. That leads me to believe that the CSPP doesn't have a great reputation in the community. Also, business psych isn't really a field - I/O psych is. 

Follow up question though - what are your research interests? International or business psych seem like different fields. What are you hoping to focus on?

The OP expressed interest in an I/O or an international psychology program. APA accreditation has absolutely nothing to do with non clinical programs. 

[ihatechoosingusernames]

4 hours ago, joshw4288 said:

The OP expressed interest in an I/O or an international psychology program. APA accreditation has absolutely nothing to do with non clinical programs. 

No, OP expressed interest in the Business Psychology program. Did you look at the CSPP's website? There's an I/O track, but there's also a consulting track or an organizational leadership track. That's also why I asked the follow up - What are OP's research interests? Why business psych? Why international psych? There isn't a lot of overlap between the two programs.

Not to mention the whole goal of the International Psych track as stated by the program itself is to send people off to applied settings. Both the Organizations & Systems and Trauma Intervention concentrations require a master's degree AND work experience. The Business Psychology program is the same way. SIOP says that 100% of their most recent graduates have gone applied, with 80% working as consultants. They're not grooming professors, they're grooming business professionals. If OP's goal is a tenure track position, they should most definitely look elsewhere. 

You're right - APA accreditation is only immediately relevant to clinical, counseling, and school psychology programs. Except, if I look at an "established" school and see that their clinical and counseling programs aren't accredited knowing how important that is for clinical/counseling/school psychology graduates, I get concerned. There's an internship crisis as it is, and sending your students out into the workforce without having an accredited program is ridiculous. It makes the student's job that much more difficult, and I think it speaks to the attitudes of the psychology program as a whole. Did you read the article @thegradcafebarrista referenced? 

@psychhopeful334445 - If you're interested in I/O psychology, check out SIOP's website. They'll have some good stuff for you  Here's what I was referencing in regards to the business program having an applied focus: http://www.siop.org/gtp/gtpDisplay.asp?program=467. 

[Guest joshw4288]

On May 1, 2016 at 9:28 PM, ihatechoosingusernames said:

No, OP expressed interest in the Business Psychology program. Did you look at the CSPP's website? There's an I/O track, but there's also a consulting track or an organizational leadership track. That's also why I asked the follow up - What are OP's research interests? Why business psych? Why international psych? There isn't a lot of overlap between the two programs.

Not to mention the whole goal of the International Psych track as stated by the program itself is to send people off to applied settings. Both the Organizations & Systems and Trauma Intervention concentrations require a master's degree AND work experience. The Business Psychology program is the same way. SIOP says that 100% of their most recent graduates have gone applied, with 80% working as consultants. They're not grooming professors, they're grooming business professionals. If OP's goal is a tenure track position, they should most definitely look elsewhere. 

You're right - APA accreditation is only immediately relevant to clinical, counseling, and school psychology programs. Except, if I look at an "established" school and see that their clinical and counseling programs aren't accredited knowing how important that is for clinical/counseling/school psychology graduates, I get concerned. There's an internship crisis as it is, and sending your students out into the workforce without having an accredited program is ridiculous. It makes the student's job that much more difficult, and I think it speaks to the attitudes of the psychology program as a whole. Did you read the article @thegradcafebarrista referenced? 

@psychhopeful334445 - If you're interested in I/O psychology, check out SIOP's website. They'll have some good stuff for you  Here's what I was referencing in regards to the business program having an applied focus: http://www.siop.org/gtp/gtpDisplay.asp?program=467. 

I'm failing to understand why you would be concerned about APA accreditation for a clinical program if your interest was not in the clinical program, but rather a "business psych", "international psych", "I/O program" or some other program. The point is they don't require accreditation and accreditation on one program or lack of accreditation on one program says nothing about the quality of unrelated programs. Straight from APA "APA accreditation only extends to specific doctoral graduate programs, predoctoral internships and postdoctoral residencies in professional psychology. The accredited status of one specific program does not extend to other programs in the same department or institution."  Likewise, the internship crisis has absolutely nothing to do with nonclinical/school/counseling programs. You seem wrapped up on accreditation but accreditation is completely irrelevant to the programs that the OP has mentioned.