PhD/PsyD Confusion regarding PsyD programs.

[Avni246]

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Hello,I'm from India and currently in the second year of MA in Clinical Psychology. The message might get a tad bit too long and I convey my apologies in advance for the same. Since a very scarce percentage of people from India seem to have applied for a PsyD, the data and information regarding the same is also scarce, so would really appreciate guidance and thoughts in regards with it. I'm intending to apply mostly for PsyD programs in USA.I mainly have four questions in areas related to it.
1)I'm in the process of researching good and affordable PsyD programs, but the funded university programs have a very low intake and the good private universities are crazy expensive. How should one balance between the both whole applying? Suggestions in regards with programs I can check are most welcome too.

2)What should be the main factors that differentiate a PhD in Clinical Psychology from a Clinical PsyD, what should influence that decision? I'm mainly interested in engaging in therapeutic and clinical practice with different populations on an one-on-one/group basis in the future. Which are some good PhD in clinical psychology programs that I should consider.

3)I've currently just started with my second year of Masters, would applying next year instead after completion of my Masters be more beneficial for me in comparison to applying this year, especially considering the pandemic situation and the uncertainty associated with it.

4)My GRE score is 306. Verbal(157) and Quant(149). My awa score is a 4/6. Since many universities have waived off gre in the current circumstances and a GRE score is not going to be officially considered, would it be wise to consider giving it the second time around for a higher score and adding it as part of my application regardless?

Any other experiential guidance or information in terms of the whole process would also be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[WisNeuro]

1) There are very few good and affordable PsyDs, and they tend to be the ones with pretty low acceptance rates.

2) Balanced Clinical PhDs and reputable PsyDs are fairly indistinguishable from one another. The majority of clinical psych PhDs are in primarily clinical roles. Good depends on your focus area as fit is one of the more important factors to consider. School "rankings" are generally useless.

3) Applying this year would be for start in late summer fall 2021, so depends on your timeline and if you'll be done or not.

4) Depends on which schools you apply to. If all of them waive the GRE, probably won't help you much to retake it.

 

[summerbabe]

3)I've currently just started with my second year of Masters, would applying next year instead after completion of my Masters be more beneficial for me in comparison to applying this year, especially considering the pandemic situation and the uncertainty associated with it.

Assuming you'd be ready to begin a PhD/PsyD Fall 2021, I don't think it would hurt to apply this cycle if you have the time/finances. I also applied during the 2nd year of my MS. At that point, I didn't have any accepted posters or publications but had projects in various stages of completion so I had to speak more to what I had worked on and how that was informing my future academic goals.

If you've been successful in your MA program and been active in research and can identify PI mentors at funded programs that fit your research interests/skillset, you might have more luck than you think at competitive programs.

And if you aren't successful applying to funded programs this cycle, you may learn more about how to bolster your CV and improve your chances of being admitted during the next cycle. You'll also learn more about how different doctoral programs operate and better gauge how they fit your goals and finances, if you end up going the self-funding route.

If you're deadset on getting into any self-funded PsyD now and can fork over a large tuition check, there will be plenty of less reputable PsyD programs with large cohorts that will be happy to admit you. But I don't think anybody on this board would recommend this route and there are plenty of old threads discussing this.

 

[Avni246]

If you're deadset on getting into any self-funded PsyD now and can fork over a large tuition check, there will be plenty of less reputable PsyD programs with large cohorts that will be happy to admit you. But I don't think anybody on this board would recommend this route and there are plenty of old threads discussing this.

Yes, very true. The more research that I've engaged in about this, it seems to me as well that investing such huge amounts of money in professional PsyD programs is rather futile in terms of lack of value for money as well as in terms of standards of training. I'll keep your points in mind. I do have a research paper under review for publication. I'm optimistic about trying this year, so was thinking along the lines of applying for well balanced clinical PhD programs as well along with funded PsyD ones. Thank you for your assistance

 

[marirod97]

The majority of clinical psych PhDs are in primarily clinical roles.

Could you expand a little more on this? I was under the impression that they were heavily research-based. If not, would you be able to suggest some programs that are more heavy on the clinical side?

 

[WisNeuro]

Could you expand a little more on this? I was under the impression that they were heavily research-based. If not, would you be able to suggest some programs that are more heavy on the clinical side?

As far as the first point, the majority of people graduating with a clinical PhD go on to clinical careers. As far as programs, it will vary between and within programs. Many programs are set up to tailor it to your future career. I was at an R1, and we had academic minded people who did the bare minimum of clinical work and focused on pumping out publications. We also had clinically minded people who did their masters and dissertation, but no extra research and focused on their clinical practica. Check out the Insiders Guide to Graduate Programs by Norcross. Last I checked there were rankings of the clinical vs. research bent of programs. That'd be a place to start.

 

[ClinicalABA]

Could you expand a little more on this? I was under the impression that they were heavily research-based. If not, would you be able to suggest some programs that are more heavy on the clinical side?

To add to what Wisneuro said, data (such as from internship applicants) consistently show that Clinical Ph.D. students obtain as much- and usually more- clinical experience as Clinical Psy.D. students. We (Ph.D.) students have as much/more clinical coursework, training clinic, and clinical practica experience. Psy.D. websites may say differently (e.g., along the lines of "We train you to be well-rounded clinicians, not researchers" or "Psy.D. students start their clinical work right away") as a marketing ploy to give the appearance of being better options for clinically focused folks, but that's just not the case.