PGSP-Stanford question

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Member123412423

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I've seen several people post on this forum who attend/have attended PGSP-Stanford PsyD program so I thought I'd pose my question and see if I get any responses..

I was invited to interview, but can't really manage to fly there, so they told me a phone or webcam interview would be acceptable, but that it wouldn't be until mid-late February (which is after all of the in-person interviews have been held, by the way).

PGSP-Stanford is not my first choice, because of the cost, but I was wondering if anyone knew the likelihood of being accepted once you've been offered an interview? Do they interview a much larger number of people than they accept, or just about as many as they accept?
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Member123412423 said:
I've seen several people post on this forum who attend/have attended PGSP-Stanford PsyD program so I thought I'd pose my question and see if I get any responses..

I was invited to interview, but can't really manage to fly there, so they told me a phone or webcam interview would be acceptable, but that it wouldn't be until mid-late February (which is after all of the in-person interviews have been held, by the way).

PGSP-Stanford is not my first choice, because of the cost, but I was wondering if anyone knew the likelihood of being accepted once you've been offered an interview? Do they interview a much larger number of people than they accept, or just about as many as they accept?
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They probably accept about 40-50 percent of applicants. About 10 years ago that was more like 60-70 percent.

Unsolicited advice? Don't do it. They certainly offer much better quality training and graduates get better match rates for internship than most other FSPS out there, but the cost is utterly astronomical.

A funded doctoral program is best. If you must do a Psy.D., go for a program where you would get similar quality training and with debt levels (at most) no higher than what you'd expect to make as your first year of salary. Which, for an average psychologist, is 50-60K per year. Off the top of my head, Rutgers could offer that in spades.
 
Hi guys I applied to the consortium prog in dec, was wondering if anyone has heard back from them yet regarding interviews/acceptances?
 
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Member123412423 said:
I've seen several people post on this forum who attend/have attended PGSP-Stanford PsyD program so I thought I'd pose my question and see if I get any responses..

I was invited to interview, but can't really manage to fly there, so they told me a phone or webcam interview would be acceptable, but that it wouldn't be until mid-late February (which is after all of the in-person interviews have been held, by the way).

PGSP-Stanford is not my first choice, because of the cost, but I was wondering if anyone knew the likelihood of being accepted once you've been offered an interview? Do they interview a much larger number of people than they accept, or just about as many as they accept?
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Hi there. I'm a first-year student with the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium and know a bit about what you want to know. For my class, they received 300 applications and made 51 admissions offers for an incoming cohort of 31 -- amounting to a 17% acceptance rate (51/300). (Note: this information is not on our website, though I believe it will be in the future. These figures were shared internally by our DCT.)

This year, I was lightly involved in the admissions process for the pending class (which just amounted to having lunch with prospects, i.e., no influence over admissions decisions), and I remember hearing that we were interviewing around 90 people this year. I don't know if that is indeed a fact, or how many applications we got this year (re: one's probability of getting an interview in the first place). But if it is true, then the statistical chances of admission are about 1 in 3 for those who get an interview.

JeyRo said:
They probably accept about 40-50 percent of applicants. About 10 years ago that was more like 60-70 percent.
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Your 40-50% ballparking is incorrect. (re: above)

In the other thread, I think it may have been you who asked why current PGSP-Stanford students didn't share complaints about the program. (No matter if it was someone else; it's a fair question.) My answer is twofold: 1) The dominant tone on these boards toward our program is negative/attacking, which prompts me to try to provide facts that reflect the good things about our program. 2) Quite frankly, this program is pretty extraordinary. I am rather critical and not inclined to identify with organizations in general, *and* I feel happy to be here every day.

We do have some areas for real improvement, such as our organizational communication (re: the paucity of data over admissions that winds up fostering incorrect assumptions). From my perspective, these areas for improvement have little to do with the actual substance of the offering, which again, I find to be quite impressive.
 
Looking across threads -- it was PHD12 who asked why current students didn't share complaints. My bad, JeyRo.
 
Kriya said:
Looking across threads -- it was PHD12 who asked why current students didn't share complaints. My bad, JeyRo.
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Fair enough!

Re. the 17% acceptance rate figure - I'm not saying it's not correct (it may well be) but I'm wondering if that will ever be an officially reported figure? I don't think they advertise their acceptance rates officially anywhere, correct me if I'm wrong.

I would think that PAU/PGSP would want to be broadcasting their admission rates as a way to demonstrate they are a competitive program. From what I recall, that 17% figure was what a PAU student here (I think it was CaliPsych) had said they had been told by an employee of PAU.

Maybe I'm missing something - are acceptance rates normally something that programs (at least, the funded ones) regularly report?

I wanted to re-iterate that the 100% match rate to APA for the current crop of PAU students is definitely impressive, and would make me much more comfortable recommending PAU to students if cost wasn't such an enormous issue.
 
I don't know the exact portion, but many schools do report the admissions data. Its also available in the famed "Insider's Guide".
 
JeyRo said:
Fair enough!

Re. the 17% acceptance rate figure - I'm not saying it's not correct (it may well be) but I'm wondering if that will ever be an officially reported figure? I don't think they advertise their acceptance rates officially anywhere, correct me if I'm wrong.

I would think that PAU/PGSP would want to be broadcasting their admission rates as a way to demonstrate they are a competitive program. From what I recall, that 17% figure was what a PAU student here (I think it was CaliPsych) had said they had been told by an employee of PAU.

Maybe I'm missing something - are acceptance rates normally something that programs (at least, the funded ones) regularly report?

I wanted to re-iterate that the 100% match rate to APA for the current crop of PAU students is definitely impressive, and would make me much more comfortable recommending PAU to students if cost wasn't such an enormous issue.
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To be transparent, I think I was the one to cite the 17% figure, once I got the requested info (quite recently) from our DCT.

I think you're right about these figures not being advertised anywhere in an official capacity, which is nonsensical when the stats are very good. I have a background in organizational comms, so I'm particularly attuned to this flaw. Our website drives me bonkers. That said, I recently heard that the APA will soon mandate the official reporting of admissions data along with all other critical statistics, so the issue may become a non-issue soon.

Incidentally, I've been invited by PAU's dean to consult him on the program's overall communication strategy, which is nicely reflective of how this place works. I.e., if something doesn't work well, the program leaders are genuinely open to suggestions on a different course of action.

I agree that the program cost can be prohibitive and that potential students should be pragmatic in weighing the likely costs and benefits.
 
Hi kriya,

Do you know if interview invites are still being sent out or whether any rejection decisions have been made? Especially for international applicants?

Thanks!
 
tanxa said:
Hi kriya,

Do you know if interview invites are still being sent out or whether any rejection decisions have been made? Especially for international applicants?

Thanks!
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Hi tanxa. I have no knowledge to share about the 2013 admissions process/status.
 
Hi, I am a student in the consortium and I know one my classmates was accepted after a Skype interview so I think you should be fine doing that.
 
Kriya said:
To be transparent, I think I was the one to cite the 17% figure, once I got the requested info (quite recently) from our DCT.

I think you're right about these figures not being advertised anywhere in an official capacity, which is nonsensical when the stats are very good. I have a background in organizational comms, so I'm particularly attuned to this flaw. Our website drives me bonkers. That said, I recently heard that the APA will soon mandate the official reporting of admissions data along with all other critical statistics, so the issue may become a non-issue soon.

Incidentally, I've been invited by PAU's dean to consult him on the program's overall communication strategy, which is nicely reflective of how this place works. I.e., if something doesn't work well, the program leaders are genuinely open to suggestions on a different course of action.

I agree that the program cost can be prohibitive and that potential students should be pragmatic in weighing the likely costs and benefits.
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Yeah it drove me bonkers too when I looked, the student statistics section is the lightest I have ever seen. Every program I researched included number of applications received each year, number of offers, etc. I am assuming that PAUs has been improving along with their match rates, but it certainly seems disingenuous to me not to report these things. Not that 17% is anything to brag about (the class size is enormous and hugely problematic, IMO), but it would look a lot better than the competing schools.

Also, no GRE info? This is usually one indicator of the quality of students applying/accepting offers. I've never seen it excluded from a website before in my personal experience exploring APA accredited programs.

I am guessing that as these stats have been improving that they'll start to put them up, but it seems pretty secretive to me that they haven't yet.
 
Pragma said:
Yeah it drove me bonkers too when I looked, the student statistics section is the lightest I have ever seen. Every program I researched included number of applications received each year, number of offers, etc. I am assuming that PAUs has been improving along with their match rates, but it certainly seems disingenuous to me not to report these things. Not that 17% is anything to brag about (the class size is enormous and hugely problematic, IMO), but it would look a lot better than the competing schools.

Also, no GRE info? This is usually one indicator of the quality of students applying/accepting offers. I've never seen it excluded from a website before in my personal experience exploring APA accredited programs.

I am guessing that as these stats have been improving that they'll start to put them up, but it seems pretty secretive to me that they haven't yet.
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For a school obviously so self-conscious about marketing it's curious.
 
Pragma said:
Yeah it drove me bonkers too when I looked, the student statistics section is the lightest I have ever seen. Every program I researched included number of applications received each year, number of offers, etc. I am assuming that PAUs has been improving along with their match rates, but it certainly seems disingenuous to me not to report these things. Not that 17% is anything to brag about (the class size is enormous and hugely problematic, IMO), but it would look a lot better than the competing schools.

/QUOTE]

I would imagine that they are missing out on many of the top PsyD applicants who are going to Rutgers and Baylor due to funding, longer-standing reputations, and significantly smaller class sizes. When any colleague/supervisor mentions the "top" PsyD programs, I always hear Rutgers mentioned first (and I am on the west coast), which is consistent with what people in the field post on this forum whenever anyone asks about top PsyD programs. I would imagine that many of their applicants are also applying to balanced PHD programs and would likely pick one of these programs over taking out over 200K in loans. It is the only logical choice for most people. I don't have any issues with the program and it does sound like the training is good, but I do think the reputation would improve if the program started to have more funding for students or cut the class size by half.

The median income in the US has dropped since the recession and the housing market has not recovered yet. I do believe that there is more awareness about the debt trap (I see articles about debt problems daily in major newspapers looking at college students, veternarians etc.). I would imagine that free standing schools are going to have a tougher time getting talented students to enroll.
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Last edited:
Hello everyone,
I was recently accepted into the PGSP-Stanford Consortium Psy.D. program. I really like the program but I am nervous about the cost. It's been a few years since anyone has posted on this thread; is there anyone on this thread who has recently graduated from the program and can give me an estimate as to the salary I could expect a) pre-licensure and b) the first year post-licensure? I would like to have an idea as to how long it might take to repay all the debt...

Thank you!
 
E. Dalto said:
Hello everyone,
I was recently accepted into the PGSP-Stanford Consortium Psy.D. program. I really like the program but I am nervous about the cost. It's been a few years since anyone has posted on this thread; is there anyone on this thread who has recently graduated from the program and can give me an estimate as to the salary I could expect a) pre-licensure and b) the first year post-licensure? I would like to have an idea as to how long it might take to repay all the debt...

Thank you!
Click to expand...

Here is some info for you...and to answer your question about how long it might take to replay all of the debt...a ridiculously long time.
It's important to understand the wide variety of incomes that psychologists can make after graduation. Fortunately, the APA collects a lot of data on income for psychologists. The results of their most recent (2009) survey are here. So, for example, the median income for a psychologists starting out in academia (an assistant professor position) in a psychology department was $57,000. For a psychologist working as a therapist (called "direct human services" in the tables), the median income for someone just starting out is $57,500.

The tables on the Workforce Studies can be used to help you inform your decisions about graduate school. If you anticipate accruing a lot of debt, it will be important be sure you're planning on entering an area of psychology that has the potential to let you pay back that debt. Financial experts suggest that people should not take on debt in excess of about 36-39% of their income (for an income of $57,000, this would be about $20,000). You can see more information on income and debt from online sources, such as bank web pages here, and financial report publications here.

http://psychologygradschool.weebly.com/debt-and-income.html
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I'm not sure if APA has updated their statistics, but taking on $250k-$300k+ in debt is not advisable given the mean/median earning potential. Jobs at counseling centers can be lower than above, while jobs at hospitals can be higher.
 
Say a potential student won't go into debt (they get awarded scholarships, fellowships, etc. or they can afford to pay the tuition), thoughts on if attending the program is worth it?
 
I think debt is the biggest issue w the program, so if the $ isn't a factor, they appear to be a decent option. I worked w someone from the program and thought they had good training, though that was just an N=1, so YMMV.
 
People I know from that program feel the clinical training is excellent and they have a lot of resources thanks to the Stanford connection. However research is not a strong emphasis so if you want that you will have to put in the extra effort to get it (it's not discouraged, it's just not as strong as the clinical training---and you have to look for a lab when the time comes, you don't get into one right away. But you have Stanford, PGSP, and the PhD program to choose from). The school itself is making a lot of improvements (both program-wise and community-wise), got max APA accreditation last go-around, and they had another 100% match rate year for internship. It is also highly possible to graduate in 5 years if you are on top of your dissertation (I'd say 50% of the students if not more do and the vast majority who don't still do in the 6th year). Faculty is iffy, some are amazing, and others are typical faculty you'd find at any grad program (i.e. absent and apathetic).

Downsides? It's an expensive place to live, so you may still end up taking out loans to help pay for cost of living (although there are plenty of part time job options in the area for students) and practicums are very competitive because you compete with the PhD program as well as two other APA accredited doctoral programs in the area, 2-3 non accredited doctoral programs, and the countless MFT/MSW/etc. programs (PhD students are usually not given priority/preference in the Bay Area so you are competing at the same level as master's level students for spot---that being said the school has an exclusive relationship with the Palo Alto VA for pracs and I know a lot of people, myself and husband included, who opted to leave the area for practicum when we were able to be mobile in 4th+ year).

I am not in the program and don't follow the PsyD world of training closely, but I've heard that it is one of the better PsyD programs out there, especially on the West Coast. But there are definitely ones that have more research training and other benefits that PGSP does not have.
 
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