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Hello all. I am currently a 22-year-old master's student attending NYU to get my degree in school counseling. I have always been interested in the psychology of mental illnesses since I was in high school, and I've known that I want to work with adolescents/young adults and eventually have a private practice.
I got my BA in psychology from Stony Brook University, and I applied to four programs for graduate studies (NYU, Columbia, along with 2 Psy.D programs). I was struggling to choose between school counseling and mental health counseling - I should've picked the latter - which is why I am now deciding to go back for my doctorate.
I spoke to some professionals in the field and I think that a Psy.D would be the best fit for me because I am not interested in research/academia and in order to work in private practice in New York (and make good money!) you need a doctorate at best. I have narrowed down my list but it is still pretty intimidatingly long so I was hoping some of you who go (or have gone) to these schools could reach out to me to answer some questions and tell me about your experience overall.
School list:
1. Baylor
2. Loyola University
3. UHart
4. Florida Institute of Technology
5. LIU Post
6. Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology
7. Pace University
8. Nova Southeastern
9. George Washington University
10. La Salle
11. Rutger's
12. The Wright Institute
13. Indiana University of Pennsylvania
1. What is the financial assistance like?
2. Are there any special concentrations/tracks offered?
3. What theoretical orientation(s) is the curriculum structured around?
4. Are there any study abroad opportunities with faculty?
5. What is the housing on campus like?
6. Is the dissertation intensely research-heavy where you entirely do your own research or do you get flexibility to do other things (such as case studies)?
7. Is the program balanced between clinical work and research?
Thanks in advance to anyone who reaches out! Hoping I can get some answers before I start applying in a few months
I'll jump in here to provide some general information, although unfortunately, I can't speak to direct personal experiences with any of those programs. However, much of the information you're looking for can likely be found via a combination of each program's website, contacting their admissions team (who may put you in touch with the larger graduate school for things like campus housing), and the Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology. The Guide can be particularly helpful for identifying how clinically- vs. research-focused a program is.
A key point I'd like to also make is that particularly after you get a copy of the Guide, consider broadening your application pool to also consider balanced Ph.D. programs. They're more likely to offer partial or full funding (which is important for psychologists, given salary considerations), often have smaller cohort/class sizes, and as a whole provide as much or more clinical experience as Psy.D. programs. It's also important to note that having a solid understanding of various principles of research is crucial to providing effective psychological services. Most Ph.D. program graduates go on to mostly- or entirely-clinical careers, so you wouldn't be alone in doing so.
In trainees I know who've come from Nova's Psy.D. program, funding was minimal. The capstone projects I've seen did not typically involve conducting novel research, although I'd imagine that's an option; many/most were essentially critical literature reviews. The balance of the program skewed very heavily toward clinical work.
Theoretical orientation can sometimes vary from one lab/advisor to the next (perhaps more so in Ph.D. programs than Psy.D. programs). The program's websites or the Guide may have more information on this. You might also consider, when contact each program's admission's department, asking if it would be possible to be put in touch with one or more current students.
My experience with campus housing for doctoral students broadly is that it was entirely separate from undergraduates (although sometimes combined with international student housing), as there was greater likelihood for married couples and children. From what I remember via friend's who lived there, the interior style was similar to undergrad dorms, although in groups of stand-alone buildings more similar to apartment complexes than residence halls. But that probably varies from one program to the next.
