Doctoral Programs

[Lotus58]

Hello everyone,
I joined SDN in hopes of gathering some feedback. I will be graduating with my Masters degree in Mental Health Counseling at the end of this year and am looking into local doctoral programs in the South Florida area. I am horrible in Math, so I found that CAU (Carlos Albizu University) does not require GRE scores and they offer an APA accredited PsyD program. I also found Fielding Graduate University which is the only online APA PhD program in Clinical Psychology in the US and is based in California. According to their site, the program "utilizes distributed delivery for many classes combined with residential sessions and training experiences in the student's local community."

I would absolutely love to be accepted at Nova Southeastern University which is in South Florida as many of the professors have research interests similar to mine. (Again, my biggest fear is the GRE. I am studying for the exam as we speak. I will be graduating with a 3.5 from my Masters program. I am hoping that 1 year of research experience as an undergrad and 4 years of experience working in the Mental Health Field will boost the appeal of my application.).

My goal is to be a clinician (psychotherapy and assessments), but I also have a desire to teach later down the road. I don't have a need to teach at a top research University. I would be content even teaching General Psychology classes at a Community College. I am also concerned that I may need to work full time while going to school, and the online program may offer me more flexibility as I do not feel that my GPA or GRE scores will be high enough to get me into a funded PhD program.

I apologize for going around in circles, but I guess my question would be is, if I didn't get into Nova, which program do you feel would provide me with a better education...Fielding Graduate University or Carlos Albizu Univerrsity?

I appreciate you taking the time to read my post. Thank you!

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[AcronymAllergy]

Honestly, of the two (Carlos Abizu vs. Fielding), I unfortunately wouldn't recommend either. In fact, I'd probably actively suggest against both. Neither one has a particularly good reputation or respectable internship match rates. And at least in my eyes, not requiring the GRE would be a strike against the school rather than a selling point for it.

By limiting yourself strictly to south FL, or even FL as a whole, you're really going to place yourself at a disadvantage when it comes to doctoral training in psychology. Folks will typically have to move for grad school, again for internship, and possibly again for postdoc/employment. There are of course some great programs in FL (e.g., USF, UF, FSU) and a couple Psy.D. programs that at least have decent match rates (Nova and FIT), but even then, that's only a handful of places...when I'd wager a bet that most successful applicants nowadays will apply to 10-15 schools.

(Caveat: If you wanted to stay in the southeast as a whole, including GA, AL, MS, LA, TN, and SC/NC, that'd be entirely possible)

I can understand being worried about the GRE, but I'd strongly encourage you just to prep for it a couple months, sit for it, and see how you do. You might just surprise yourself.

Oh, and if it helps alleviate some of that concern--I didn't exactly destroy the GRE math portion (pretty sure I was below the 50% mark; somewhere in the mid- to low-600's on the old scale), but I still managed to land an offer to a funded program. And beyond that, I did fine in my various stats classes, and enjoy actively conducting research "on the side" at my entirely-clinical job.

 

[Doctor Eliza]

Definitely utilize the search feature on this site. There have been quite a few threads on those schools and the idea of doing an online doctorate. You might also look at the "what to look for in a grad program" type threads to learn more about the importance of match rates, etc.

On a side note, am I the only one who noticed this: Albizu= al biz u =all biz u=all business university?

 

[CaliMac]

On a side note, am I the only one who noticed this: Albizu= al biz u =all biz u=all business university?

Ha! Good morning chuckle...

 

[PsychPhDone]

Hello everyone,
I joined SDN in hopes of gathering some feedback. I will be graduating with my Masters degree in Mental Health Counseling at the end of this year and am looking into local doctoral programs in the South Florida area. I am horrible in Math, so I found that CAU (Carlos Albizu University) does not require GRE scores and they offer an APA accredited PsyD program. I also found Fielding Graduate University which is the only online APA PhD program in Clinical Psychology in the US and is based in California. According to their site, the program "utilizes distributed delivery for many classes combined with residential sessions and training experiences in the student's local community."

I would absolutely love to be accepted at Nova Southeastern University which is in South Florida as many of the professors have research interests similar to mine. (Again, my biggest fear is the GRE. I am studying for the exam as we speak. I will be graduating with a 3.5 from my Masters program. I am hoping that 1 year of research experience as an undergrad and 4 years of experience working in the Mental Health Field will boost the appeal of my application.).

My goal is to be a clinician (psychotherapy and assessments), but I also have a desire to teach later down the road. I don't have a need to teach at a top research University. I would be content even teaching General Psychology classes at a Community College. I am also concerned that I may need to work full time while going to school, and the online program may offer me more flexibility as I do not feel that my GPA or GRE scores will be high enough to get me into a funded PhD program.

I apologize for going around in circles, but I guess my question would be is, if I didn't get into Nova, which program do you feel would provide me with a better education...Fielding Graduate University or Carlos Albizu Univerrsity?

I appreciate you taking the time to read my post. Thank you!

Are you interested in doing a doctorate because you want to teach here and there? I know of many community colleges that have adjunct masters-level instructors. Now, you'd probably still be competing with some doctoral-level folks when applying for jobs, but going into a ton of debt for a degree to teach intro psych at a CC isn't a great use of resources. If you want to conduct research though, or there is some aspect to enhancing your clinical repertoire/understanding of the literature you'd like to achieve, then a doctorate makes more sense (though again...probably not in the programs you mention).

 

[DynamicDidactic]

Here is a recent thread about CAU
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/cau-psyd-program.1098955/

Fielding would be even worse for the average student.

 

[Lotus58]

I truly appreciate all the feeback and suggestions from everyone. Thank you for the encouragement "AcronymAllergy". I went to one of the schools you mentioned in parenthesis for my undergrad degree. I am limited to South Florida because significant other has a steady job here and I do not wish to be in a long distance relationship. I am going to take everyone's feedback into consideration and will do my best to study hard for the GRE. I began preparing this month and am going to take it at the end of November just to see how I do. PsychPhDstudent: I also want to enhance my clinical skills and expertise as I am very passionate about the field, specifically research on trauma.

Thank you everyone! You all have provided great insight (And LOL to Dynamic!)

May you all have a pleasant weekend

 

[cara susanna]

I am limited to South Florida because significant other has a steady job here and I do not wish to be in a long distance relationship.

Are you willing to move for internship and/or post-doc?

 

[futureapppsy2]

Are you willing to move for internship and/or post-doc?

This. Limiting yourself for grad school is hard enough, but limiting yourself for internship is a terrible idea. Ironically, limiting yourself by going to a local program with sub-par match rates will limit you even more for internship., because many sites may be wary of your program, especially if it's Fielding. The imbalance is awful, and it is affecting people even at well-regarded programs. Students from middling or worse programs are even worse off.

 

[Lotus58]

I wouldn't mind relocating, but I'm at a place in my life in which I am also thinking of my partner. He is established in his career (I am not going to disclose what he does due to privacy). If we relocate, he would loose the time he has invested in the particular position he is in which he would need to start from scratch if he moves to another city...(I know I am being pretty vague). I don't want to go on and on about that....Therefore, moving will most likely not be an option for us and the main reason why I probably could not relocate-but then again I cannot predict where life will take me 5-6 years from now. I am a bit disheartened about my limitations but I will continue exploring my options...as I do not wish to give up on my goals/dream... :-/ I am 29 years old just so you guys can get a feel of what phase of life I am in. Thank you all, again for your responses and interest in my post.

 

[erg923]

It is extremely unlikely (although not impossible) that you can complete every step of the process locally. Lifestyle and location is often a sacrifice of higher education.