Chestnut Hill College's MS/PsyD program

[ussdfiant]

My wife will be starting this program in the fall and I was curious if this program has any sort of national reputation. I know about med school reps, but nothing about grad schools.

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[PublicHealth]

My wife will be starting this program in the fall and I was curious if this program has any sort of national reputation. I know about med school reps, but nothing about grad schools.

Sorry to say, but I don't even think that program is APA-accredited, not to mention that I don't think it has anything even close to a national reputation.

Here's the program website:

http://www.chc.edu/page_template.asp?section=3&file=326_intro

Here's a link to a list of APA-accredited Psy.D. programs:

http://www.goucher.edu/psyclub/psyd.htm

APA-accreditation ensures that the program maintains a baseline level of educational and practice standards. Internship and postdoctoral residencies almost universally seek graduates of APA-accredited programs.

Here's a list of clinical psychology programs with a "national reputation," or at least those schools that are ranked highly:

http://www.socialpsychology.org/clinrank.htm

 

[ussdfiant]

Sorry to say, but I don't even think that program is APA-accredited, not to mention that I don't think it has anything even close to a national reputation.

Here's the program website:

http://www.chc.edu/page_template.asp?section=3&file=326_intro

Here's a link to a list of APA-accredited Psy.D. programs:

http://www.goucher.edu/psyclub/psyd.htm

APA-accreditation ensures that the program maintains a baseline level of educational and practice standards. Internship and postdoctoral residencies almost universally seek graduates of APA-accredited programs.

Here's a list of clinical psychology programs with a "national reputation," or at least those schools that are ranked highly:

http://www.socialpsychology.org/clinrank.htm

This is bd-bear, ussdfiant's wife. . . Chestnut Hill College just had their APA site visit this past June. From their 2003-04 Graduate Division catalog:

"As required by APA by-laws, a program cannot be accredited until a cohort of students is ready to graduate from the program. Chestnut Hill College has followed all recommendations and guidelines established by the APA so that its doctoral program in professional psychology is eligible to apply for accreditation since its first class graduated in 2003."

bd-bear

 

[ussdfiant]

Here's a list of clinical psychology programs with a "national reputation," or at least those schools that are ranked highly:

http://www.socialpsychology.org/clinrank.htm

bd-bear here again. . . Sorry, but I just want to clarify what the above link is providing. From that site:

"This page contains a list of U.S. and Canadian clinical psychology programs rank-ordered by how well their graduates performed on the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology from 1988 to 1995 (as given in the report "How Do Professional Schools' Graduates Compare With Traditional Graduates?" in the September, 1997, APS Observer). According to the APS Observer, the EPPP is one of the most important national standard tests in clinical psychology and therefore constitutes one objective criterion "by which the adequacy of clinical training programs may be evaluated." To learn more about the EPPP, contact the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards.

Of course, EPPP scores are only one measure of clinical training, and the use of average EPPP scores as an index of graduate program quality does not take into account pre-existing differences in student training and test-taking ability. Nonetheless, EPPP scores provide one useful way to objectively assess clinical training. According to the report cited above, high EPPP scores are associated with larger faculty-to-student ratios, smaller-sized clinical programs, and traditional Ph.D. programs rather than Psy.D. or Ed.D. programs."


Since the CHC program is in fact a Psy.D. program, I would imagine that is one reason for it not to show up on that list. Also, those rankings are from at least 7 years ago. Not sure how useful information is when it's that old.

Perhaps my husband should have clarified what he meant by a "national reputation." I myself am not sure what he was asking.

bd-bear

 

[PublicHealth]

"As required by APA by-laws, a program cannot be accredited until a cohort of students is ready to graduate from the program. Chestnut Hill College has followed all recommendations and guidelines established by the APA so that its doctoral program in professional psychology is eligible to apply for accreditation since its first class graduated in 2003."

Eligibility is not accreditation. Are graduate students funded in this program or do they have to shell out $100K+ to complete the degree? There are a lot of "diploma mill" Psy.D. programs out there. I would make sure that Chestnut Hill College is not one of those programs prior to matriculating there. You'll thank me when it's time to apply for internship and post-doc fellowships.

Many of these Psy.D. programs are akin to Carribean medical schools that just want to make a buck. Considering how many psychology undergrads want to be clinical or counseling psychologists, these programs will be in business for decades to come. Most of these students would be better off bulking up on their sciences and pursuing psychiatry -- better job opportunities, peer respect, and compensation for the effort.

U.S. News has 2004 rankings of clinical psychology programs: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/hea/brief/cps_brief.php
Of course, you have to buy the book to get the full list, but even then you'll have a methodologically biased list.

What most applicants to clinical psychology programs do not realize is that you're really applying to a person, not a program. This is especially true of Ph.D. programs, where research is a major component of training. Of course, some of the best researchers are affiliated with the best psychology programs, which really makes these programs shine. However, the best researchers are often too busy to properly mentor students, which may occassionally drag out graduate training. Nevertheless, most programs try to get students out in 4-5 years, including internship.

 

[LoRezSkyline]

PublicHealth and others,

This thread is similar to one I'd started a bit farther down the page ("APA-Accredited vs. APA-Approved") that hasn't gotten any replies save my own yet - so I thank you for weighing in in the issue, this is exactly the kind of info I'm after! I myself am looking at a couple PsyD programs - Alliant in Alhambra, and California Graduate Institute in Los Angeles. Alliant is apparently APA-accredited at that location, CGI is not. I just spoke with a girl last week who's attended CGI and is in the process of completing the last of her 1500 internship hours. She seemed to have the opinion that APA accreditation made little to no difference in her own search for internships, jobs. Granted, she hasn't passed the state boards yet but her career seems to be moving along nicely. I plan to ask other students at both schools and professionals what they think of the two programs, but seeing as how CGI is $375 per credit hour and Alliant is $800+ I'm wondering if the difference is truly worth what will amount to tens of thousands of dollars of student loans in the end?!?

I'm a non-psych major with decent credentials otherwise, looking to return to school in the fall of 2005 - I'm much more interested in a program with a clinical orientation as opposed to a research-based school, and as strongly as I believe my application will come across I doubt I have the credentials to get into a PhD program like UCLA out here. But at the same time, I have no desire to throw that kind of money into a sub-par education from a "diploma mill" school - which is why I'm treading so carefully here! So any opinions regarding the schools I mentioned, APA-accreditation or my situation in general appreciated.

Much, much thanks to all of you - this board has been a great help to me in my search so far...