In your opinion, why do you think this segment of applicants is willing to take on 3-4times the debt that would actually be needed to accomplish that goal (private practice psychotherapy). Have these people never heard of Licensed clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, etc? Its not like these are obscure professions. Is it missunderstading of mental health service delivery? Lack of concern about debt? Love of a the "Dr." title?
Do faculty provide any guidance about the financial ceiling the average private practice psychotherapy provider agrees to be a part of? Most of these people arent going to be doing cash only practices, obvioulsy. Similarly, is there any professional guidance from faculty that "psychologist" (at the doctoral-level) is actually much more than a psychotherapy service agent.
You present some difficult questions that I don’t think I have great answers to but I’ll try.
I think many individuals assume that in this field education and income have this nice positive correlational relationship. Therefore, it is assumed that a doctoral-level therapist will be making much more than a masters-level therapist. I have personally investigated reimbursement rates for one insurance company with regard to rates in my area and the reimbursement rates for doctoral-level therapists is only slightly higher. This was not once addressed in my doctoral training. Overall, I think many folks think they’ll be getting paid
much higher than what is usually the case.
Re: lack of concern about debt. Yes. Most students in my cohort did not seem terribly concerned with their debt until they had to pay it off. Why? I’m not so sure. Perhaps since many came from undergraduate and may have little experience providing for themselves financially, perhaps they were naïve? Maybe it has something to do with not actually seeing the money or really having to deal much with it? Or perhaps because they’re surrounded my staff and students who also think it’s a good idea and therefore there’s the social support piece.
Is there an appeal of being called a doctor? Sure. I’ve seen previous colleagues refer to themselves as “future doctors” and tell others outside of the field that they’re “going to be a doctor.” Also, keep in mind that my school’s cohorts are huge. I think I graduated with 80 people? Therefore, while I may have seen more incidents of such behaviors, I wonder if the percentage is similar to what would be found in a PhD program? In a cohort of 10, maybe
some of you may know “that one guy/girl.”
Thanks, cab1234, seems like you put a lot of consideration into your choice and enhanced your program to be competitive. I appreciate you making yourself available to this forum!
Thank you. I’m glad I can help.
Thanks for this thread!
1. Did you have any issues with your program's reception by potential practica sites?
2. Have you been/do you plan to be involved with research as a psychologist?
3. Would you recommend the FSPS route to others in similar situation?
4. Do you think that your program honestly represented itself and its training during the admissions process?
1. Getting into practica sites that really emphasize evidence-based treatments and science (e.g., VA hospital, general teaching hospital, university clinics…these were typically very popular sites) was difficult for many students. Was this because they were Psy.D. students or because the area is completely saturated with doctoral students? Hard to tell. As you may imagine, matching 80 students/cohort to sites is a feat in itself and there are only so many prime spots. ..not to mention the PsyD and PhD students from other schools in the area.
2. I am a new psychologist so I haven’t had much of a chance to be involved in research as a psych yet. I am absolutely interested and I plan to continue producing research in my areas of interest. I’ll just need to ensure one of my co-authors is more knowledgably in statistics than I J
3. I decided to attend a Psy.D. program because I enjoy psych testing (due to lab experiences in undergrad) and wanted to do other work outside of traditional clinical practice. I obtained an internship that involved a good amount of testing and my current job also involves a good amount of testing. My interests are very different than the average Psy.D. applicant though. Even for those with similar interests as mine, finding a niche that is conducive to these interests is also difficult. With all that being said I would imagine 8 or 9 times out of 10 I would recommend against it.
4. In retrospect, it depends on how you define honesty J Were the things they told us untrue? No I don’t think so. Did they withhold information or not explain things that would ordinarily be unknown to folks fresh out of graduate school? Perhaps. Applicants did not know better to ask some pertinent questions and therefore they are not addressed. If the questions were asked they would probably get a true response…if they were asked.
I have to go now. I’ll answer more questions later!