Chicago School vs. Adler School of Professional Psychology???

[kevgold]

Hi everybody, first off I don't want to restart the discussion of Psy.D. vs. Ph.D.

I am curious on people's opinion of Chicago School vs. Adler. From the research that I have done it seems that Adler will give better training (i.e., qualifying exams at the end of every year vs end of program, and more praticum than Chicago School).

What are people's opinions of these programs? My end game is to do private practice with a rather diverse population but focusing on children and families. Hopefully one day down the road I can do psychological consulting for corporations.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Psychadelic2012]

Well, there's the obvious theoretical orientation of Adler. Adler makes their PsyD students do a first year service project (not exactly a practicum). The Chicago School is very well known in the community and has some specialties. I think it really depends on what you want to focus on and the faculty that can help you get there. From what you have written, you don't mention a very specific focus.

 

[busybusybusy]

I interviewed at Chicago last year, to be honest it was my safety school, and I was not only not impressed by their program, but I left with a very sour taste in my mouth about that school. They are dishonest when it comes to reporting their match rates to students. I haven't looked at their website this year, but last year they were reporting relatively high (80%) match rates. Technically, this is true, but what they didn't explain is that only about 20% Mather to an APA accredited internship. That was a big deal for me and when I brought up this discrepancy I was told that they don't feel APA accreditation is "that big of a deal". all of these things made me write them off completely as a program, which was disappointing because I had heard that they were one of the more respected FSPSs.

I have no first hand knowledge of Adler, but anecdotally have heard good things about it. I would definitely pay attention to the orientation of that school though. If you consider yourself to be a cognitive or behavioral (or CBT) person, it probably isn't right for you.

 

[Markro311]

I interviewed at Chicago last year, to be honest it was my safety school, and I was not only not impressed by their program, but I left with a very sour taste in my mouth about that school. They are dishonest when it comes to reporting their match rates to students. I haven't looked at their website this year, but last year they were reporting relatively high (80%) match rates. Technically, this is true, but what they didn't explain is that only about 20% Mather to an APA accredited internship. That was a big deal for me and when I brought up this discrepancy I was told that they don't feel APA accreditation is "that big of a deal". all of these things made me write them off completely as a program, which was disappointing because I had heard that they were one of the more respected FSPSs.

I have no first hand knowledge of Adler, but anecdotally have heard good things about it. I would definitely pay attention to the orientation of that school though. If you consider yourself to be a cognitive or behavioral (or CBT) person, it probably isn't right for you.

I considered myself a CBT therapist (now I prefer a much more integrative approach), and felt the program was just fine at Adler. You do have to take 2-3 Adlerian courses your first 2 years, but that's the extent of their "orientation" (of course, you could take more if you'd like). I took many more courses related to CBT and interpersonal.

 

[kevgold]

I interviewed at Chicago last year, to be honest it was my safety school, and I was not only not impressed by their program, but I left with a very sour taste in my mouth about that school. They are dishonest when it comes to reporting their match rates to students. I haven't looked at their website this year, but last year they were reporting relatively high (80%) match rates. Technically, this is true, but what they didn't explain is that only about 20% Mather to an APA accredited internship. That was a big deal for me and when I brought up this discrepancy I was told that they don't feel APA accreditation is "that big of a deal". all of these things made me write them off completely as a program, which was disappointing because I had heard that they were one of the more respected FSPSs.

I have no first hand knowledge of Adler, but anecdotally have heard good things about it. I would definitely pay attention to the orientation of that school though. If you consider yourself to be a cognitive or behavioral (or CBT) person, it probably isn't right for you.

where did you end up going?

 

[kevgold]

I considered myself a CBT therapist (now I prefer a much more integrative approach), and felt the program was just fine at Adler. You do have to take 2-3 Adlerian courses your first 2 years, but that's the extent of their "orientation" (of course, you could take more if you'd like). I took many more courses related to CBT and interpersonal.

So you're an alum? Would you go back looking back on it?

 

[busybusybusy]

where did you end up going?

I ended up going to a funded PhD program.

And I should have said that my comment on Adler (about the theoretical orientation) was an assumption, not strict knowledge, sorry if it mislead anyone.

 

[Lyra33]

Kevgold, where did you get the statistic about Adler having more practicum opportunities? Historically, the Chicago school students fare better during the practicum match and internship match process.

 

[kevgold]

Kevgold, where did you get the statistic about Adler having more practicum opportunities? Historically, the Chicago school students fare better during the practicum match and internship match process.

by comparing the curriculum of both schools, it seems that you start practicum second semester of first year at Alder (although its their Community Service Practicum), then continue practicum throughout the program. At Chicago it appears you only have two years of practicum

 

[Dee29]

Hi, I got accepted into Adler, to be specific into the Psy.d with Military Track. To me their program seems excellent, of course it all depends on what your interests are. I think is great how they have traumatic stress concentrations and so on that many other schools don't have. It is great that from your first semester you start to work in the field, basically what you are learning in class you are practicing in the field, that is a great way to learn and many other schools do not offer that even well known universities. The school is very involved with diversity and making changes, which sounds great for what you want to do. I received a booklet full of information of all their graduate programs prior to applying for the school. As of right now if you go to their website they have a assistantship program which will give you 50 % off tuition if you qualify, the assistantship is for people of diverse backgrounds . To me the school's program seemed great. I did a lot of research to different schools based on my interests. Many people would be for and against different schools and I spent a long time reading different opinions but I went with my own research and knowledge about what I wanted. I had also looked at the Chicago School and although their program did not look bad at all, it did not have the interest I was looking for such as concentrations and so on. Research what you want, psychology has many different fields of concentrations. I don't think there is one schools vs the other here since they are both very similar, it's more of which one fits your interests best. Good Luck.

 

[LMK]

OP, See your inbox...

 

[bettertraining]

It seems like you made the right choice.

 

[WisNeuro]

Adler's most recent EPPP pass rate was 53%. Absolutely terrible. Their APA internship match rates fluctuate from the terrible range to the eww range. This is one of those schools that a committee on accreditation should be coming down hard on.

 

[bettertraining]

Having transferred out of Adler for that reason (and now applying to JD/PhD programs) I can say that accepting 115 plus students per year is the primary reason for the decline (in my own personal experience at the institution). Don't get me wrong, there are great people coming from that program and not-so-great people coming from more reputable institutions, so it's really a mixed bag. We have to do better as a field for preparing undergraduates to make better informed decisions about their graduate training experiences (I made a horrible mistake myself) and do something to better control the training pipeline, as there is a bottleneck at all stages.

 

[psych773]

by comparing the curriculum of both schools, it seems that you start practicum second semester of first year at Alder (although its their Community Service Practicum), then continue practicum throughout the program. At Chicago it appears you only have two years of practicum

Chicago School students are required to do three years of practica.