Clinical neuropsych PhD programs

[LadyInRed]

So I'm new to the field of psych (background is in biology) and I'm trying to judge the reputations of some of the clinical psych PhD programs, in order to determine what programs would best prepare me for a career in pediatric clinical neuropsychology. Would you mind sharing your thoughts on these programs?

Drexel Univ, Washington University in St. Louis, Boston Univ, Georgia State, Penn State, Ohio State, Univ of Houston, Univ of Pittsburgh, Univ of South Florida, and UT Southwestern

Thanks!!

 

[alienarms]

Hey lady-I have an interest in neuropsychology as well, and I applied to Drexel and Ohio State this year. They're both great programs; I had a neuroscience prof at Temple who went to Drexel and she loved it.

Check out Florida State as well, they have really excellent resources, and I also like University of Miami-they have a neuropsych track. Oh, and Northwestern, but it's even more ridiculously competitive. Haven't heard anything from Drexel, Ohio, or Miami, BTW.

Neuropsych is really "sexy" right now, so even within clinical psych that's insane anyway, you have the additional challenge of a subspecialty. I have heard from some sources that you don't necessarily need a formal neuropsych track, but it's the practica and internship and post-doc that really matter. So see if you can do some research on where different programs send their graduates for internship, etc. Just my two cents! Good luck.

 

[NeuroPsyStudent]

I have created my own neuropsych track in my program, taking an additional year to take courses through the medical school and other area neuro programs. I'm glad to have taken the general clinical psychology route, as the therapy/psych assessment experiences have been rich and have helped me in my neuropsych work.

I was wondering about the use of the term "practicum". In my program we refer to clinical work as "externships". We have "practica" at school -- they are weekly meetings to discuss cases. Externships also have group practica each week to discuss cases. What did you mean by practica? The 16-20 hrs a week of clinical work also known as an externship?

Thanks!

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

From my understanding, practicum is considered the clinical experience where you have contact hours (with the pt). I think of the contact hours you have with your supervisor to discuss your cases, that'd be considered supervision. Practica / Practicum could also be the combination of those two components.

-t