After an MA... should I downgrade to a PsyD or try for a PhD?

[MissNineties]

Hi folks -

I did my MA in clinical psychology, psychology in education at Columbia University and for personal reasons had to relocate to home-base in California (I'd much rather be on the East Coast given the clinical and educational opportunities available).

It is preferable I stay in California, however I will apply out of state anyway in case I am accepted and can perhaps reconsider living far away.

Unfortunately, it just so happens that due to said personal reasons, I am behind the game for applying to programs. I have decided I would like to go back to school just recently - I need licensure and I would rather have more authority than an MA level clinician. The only schools accepting applications past December are professional schools - mostly PsyD programs. Is it worth it? Do you suggest I apply to the PsyD professional schools and risk starting there, or do you suggest I wait another year for a Fall 2016 deadline?

I was considering the Wright Institute, but read horrible things about how a degree from that school will be useless and the matching rate is only 36%.

The California schools I wanted to apply to were: UCSD/SDSU, UCLA, USC, USCB, PEPPERDINE, PALO ALTO UNIVERSITY, AND WRIGHT.
Any other recommendable programs in CA?

Out of state, I was thinking: WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, NYU, RUTGERS... My list is incomplete.

Thank you.

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[PsychBiker]

Most people will tell you to wait (if you are able to) until you can apply for a funded PhD.

 

[erg923]

What on earth do schools like wright and wash u have in common? A studebt who is happy in one would be miserable in the other.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

First, I probably wouldn't look at moving from a Ph.D. to a Psy.D. as a "downgrade." It so happens that many of the questionable professional schools offer the Psy.D., but that's a factor of the programs, not the degree.

In your situation, I'd recommend just waiting a year and applying in 2015. After all, would you rather take an extra year, boost your credentials further, and perhaps even widen the number of programs to which you would be competitive next year, or attend somewhere you're already lackluster about and then be locked in there for 4-7 years?

 

[WisNeuro]

Need a little more information on what exactly you want to do in a career? And, what do you mean by more authority than a masters level? Honestly, in a lot of places, that level of "authority" doesn't vary much.

 

[smalltownpsych]

The difference in cost between funded and unfunded professional schools would lead me to recommend waiting for next cycle. The question you should be asking is what do you need to do to be competitive when you do apply.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

What is your interest area(s) of research?

 

[modestmousktr]

I think it is a bad decision to apply to all of those schools in California. They all have different emphases, and different goals/outcomes, and that will come out in your personal statement or interviews.

For example, UCLA and UCSD/SDSU are very biologically oriented, research heavy universities. They accept between 1-3% of applicants every year. UC Santa Barbara has a counseling psych Ph.D. and it seems the professors work more in the community, and there is almost no biological component to the research. Pepperdine is a Psy.D. program, which would be a completely different orientation from all of those programs.

Would you be happy attending every single one of them when they are all so different? That is something you should focus on. And lastly, would the faculty notice your interests are sort of all over the place? When I first applied to Ph.D. programs, I did not have clear cut research interests, I just knew that I wanted to be a professor and do research. I think that was apparent when I interviewed, because I didn't have any clear expertise and could only answer questions on a shallow level, because my interests were so wide/varied/broad. If you looked at my competitors, they were very clearly interested in studying X topic, and only X topic/things related to that topic, so they had a deep understanding of it, passion for it, and how it related to them. I think this will be hard for you to express and that your interviewers may pick up on it.

I would wait until the next cycle. UCSB's deadline has passed already anyway (Nov 15th).

 

[MissNineties]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for the kind and informative responses... Apologies for my delayed response.

Honestly, I think you are all right - I will take this year to visit programs and liaise with faculty that way I am prepared for the next round of applications. In the meantime, I need to find opportunities to strengthen my resume, but they are not numerous around here in the SF bay area. It would be good for me to get more research experience.

By authority, I mean that I would like to become director at a clinic at some point. I'm not sure you can do that without a doctoral degree. I would like to do clinical and research work at governmental organization, non profits, and possibly within the criminal justice system (do not have experience in forensic psych yet, but would like to see what it's like). If I had to choose between research and practice though, I would say I am more committed to practice - but I do like research quite a bit.

As for research interests, initially when I started I was very committed to global mental health, and that is in part why I chose to attend Columbia Teachers College for my MA. It was hard to get much practical hands on experience in the GMH lab, but I took advantage of other opportunities though they were less research oriented. That was my concentration - "global mental health and trauma". Now though, I would like to have some stability, and I think GMH would require a fair amount of traveling, so I'm not sure how feasible this would be. So, at this point I think for future research I am going to focus on trauma within underserved populations in the US - relational trauma, esp. sexual abuse.

I was also interested in maternal psychology at TC, but my main interest is trauma, PTSD, and evidenced based interventions for minority populations.

 

[smalltownpsych]

I think the shift in your research focus makes sense and that type of work is definitely needed. Figuring our which institutions have a program or professors that align with that focus would be the next step. I also like that your focus is sufficiently broad at this point to allow for a pretty good fit with a variety of research programs.
Also, thanks for the clarification on authority, that is one reason that I went for the doctorate as well. My last position as a clinical director did have licensed psychologist as a requirement. I strongly believe and have first-hand experience seeing that a well-trained clinical psychologist makes for an excellent administrator because of our unique set of skills.

p.s. Calling a PsyD a downgrade is a little insulting to a psychologist such as myself who has a PsyD

 

[erg923]

U-P-G-R-A-Y-E-E-D

 

[smalltownpsych]

Now that would be a good area to research! Obviously, to study the pimp-life you have to immerse yourself in the culture. There is just no other way, I am surprised his colleagues dint give him propa respect fo dat.