PhD/PsyD Baylor's PhD Program

[PsychMajorUndergrad18]

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Hello Everyone,

I was looking at Baylor PhD Program in Psychology and its seems to have low admission requirements (minimum GPA requirement of 3.0 and GRE scores combined to 1100) and it also has 20 students in the program at a time and is expected to slowly increase. Is this program a good reputable program or should I be weary of it due to its low admission standards and the amount to students at a time?


Thanks Everyone,
PsychUndergradMajor18

 

[deleted343839]

Just a point of clarification: Baylor's PsyD program has a good reputation; their PhD is a research degree without clinical training.

 

[PsychMajorUndergrad18]

Yea. I'm more interested in research and academia than clinical training actually. Too many people in the Clinical field and I just don't see myself in the clinical field

 

[psych844]

Also, it is somewhat common for some colleges to only outline a minimum GPA to apply (it is often 3.0), but not mention that the admitted class average was much higher (3.5 and higher). I'm sure some colleges do this purposely to get some extra application money, others may not want to keep updating the admitted GPA each year, and yes, some are just ****ty programs and this is indicative of their average student.

 

[PsychMajorUndergrad18]

I emailed one of the grad students on the program to get a feel of what its like. But with my GPA right now I am hoping (to any higher power) that I could get up to at least a 3.3. Plus I am hoping to have great research experience and LORs to offset my GPA

 

[WisNeuro]

Also, it is somewhat common for some colleges to only outline a minimum GPA to apply (it is often 3.0), but not mention that the admitted class average was much higher (3.5 and higher). I'm sure some colleges do this purposely to get some extra application money, others may not want to keep updating the admitted GPA each year, and yes, some are just ****ty programs and this is indicative of their average student.

I guarantee you, that application fee is less than a drop in the bucket for most universities and will not even cover the cost of the support staff needed to process all of the application paperwork.

 

[deleted343839]

Yea. I'm more interested in research and academia than clinical training actually. Too many people in the Clinical field and I just don't see myself in the clinical field

Fair enough. The academic job market is pretty cutthroat, so as you look at possible mentors one factor to consider is their track record of graduating students who go on to jobs in academia. The Baylor Ph.D. program's web page does state that 90% of graduates are in academic positions (though considering some of those are postdocs, non-tenure track faculty, etc. you want to be careful with interpretations). The faculty web pages seem pretty transparent about who their current and former students are, which is a good sign. Look them up and see if their positions and achievements match well with your expectations.

 

[WisNeuro]

Yeah, academia is getting smaller and more cutthroat all the time, with state and federal funding funding getting cut every year. Personally, even if I were going academic all the way, I'd want to get a baseline minimum of clinical training and experience as a fallback in case I needed it.

 

[psych844]

I guarantee you, that application fee is less than a drop in the bucket for most universities and will not even cover the cost of the support staff needed to process all of the application paperwork.

I'm not saying it's some money earner for them lol, but I'm sure an extra 5k helps out. (ie office supplies, etc)