Which MA in Psychology School has the best reputation?

[mswcandidate18]

Hi everyone,

I am applying to school for the MA program that will help me prepare for my doctoral study. Here is my list of schools:

USC

CSULA

CSUN (MA in Clinical Psych)

CSUF

CSUDH

I want to see if there is anyone who knows which school has a better reputation of getting their graduates straight to APA accredited PhD programs in clinical or counseling psychology? In other words, which school would help me gain rigorous research experience so that I can be a strong candidate for these programs? Thank you!

 

[Quantitative_Psychology]

I'm not positive reputation wise which school is best, but there are a few things you could do at these MA programs that could seriously help you for PhD programs. First, make sure the research you want to do at the PhD level is going on at the MA programs (e.g., if you want to study substance abuse then you should make sure the MA program is doing research on that so you can get yourself on a paper or in a lab). Second, you could look at some of the MA faculty and see if anyone is connected to one of the PhD programs you'll want to apply to in the future. It could be extremely beneficial if you want to do a PhD with professor X and professor X has a past student who is now a professor at the MA program. This is just some food for thought. I think strategic planning can only help you.

[NewPhD]

SFSU also has a good MS in Clinical Psychology program.

[mswcandidate18]

Thanks everyone!! I had applied to the schools on my list already.

 

@mav160 Thank you for the great advice! Each school, except for USC, has at least two professors that I would like to work with. My top choice is CSUN since it has a good reputation as a school and that I would be gaining the balance of practicum and research there. 

 

@NewPhD I wish I can go there but since I don't live around there that would be very costly for me, since I will be going on to a PhD... But thank you for the advice!