Can UK psychology students study Psy.D Clinical Psychology in the US?

[yiwu0411]

Hi guys, sorry that if I havnt searched enough information about this, but I thought that maybe you guys can give me some advice and shed some lights for me about getting into clinical psychology training programme in the US.

I am a psychology student in the UK currently doing MSc in research methods in psychology. I did BSs psychology and was BPS acredited (equilavent to APA). In the UK I will need to have on average 3-4 years of work experiences in the field including 2 years experiences of being a assistant clinical psycholosts in the NHS (National Health Services-basially national hospitals) before I can be accpeted in the 3years doctorate training course. This is the 'mimimum requirement'. I was wondering if it is the similar case in the US.

I mean I would like to be trained in the US as a clinical psychologist, but I am not sure if I will need to follow the similar routes. If it is, then the next question is that shall I find work experiences in the US, or it is okie for me to have work experiences in the UK and the schools in the US actually will take that into account (I know in the UK you have to have work experiences in the UK- this is because the NHS provides all the fundings to all the doctorate training in clinical psy.) So any adivse please? thank you all.

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[AcronymAllergy]

To the best of my knowledge, no (or at least very few) US doctoral programs in clinical psychology require any amount of work experience for admission. Such experience, as with research experience, can significantly strengthen your application, but generally isn't an explicit necessity.

Those things which are required tend to include: 1) bachelor's degree, 2) completion of certain psychology coursework--research methods/design, bio/social/cognitive/developmental psych, intro stats, etc., 3) GRE scores, 4) recommendation letters, 5) completed application.

The psychology GRE is also another common, but not universal, requirement. Beyond that, everything else is technically optional.

Edit: After reading T4C's post, I realized that I should point out that the above is in reference to obtaining admission to a US clinical psychology doctoral program, which is what I'd thought you were asking about. If you were instead asking about being trained entirely in the UK and then attempting to become licensed and practice in the US, then definitely see the post below mine.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

If you do a search on the forum, you should find a thread or two about people being trained abroad and then wanting to practice in the USA. One of the threads was about UK training actually, though it may take a few searches to find it. The primary issue is the training process is quite different, and you'll most likely need additional training to meet the requirements of a state licensing board.