From A MPH To a Psy.D?

[nietzsche754]

I'm interested in mental health issues surrounding people who engage in behavior that puts them at risk for HIV especially within the GLBT community. I am beginning a 16 month MPH program next month and was wondering if I would have a difficult time going from this sort of program into a Psy.D program given that my interest is in Health Psychology? Essentially would I be given about the same consideration as someone with a MS in Psychology or would my background be against me? If it matters I also hold a academic Master's degree in History but there is no real relation between that degree and what I want to do in my Psy.D work.

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[AcronymAllergy]

I doubt that your previous work and academic experiences would be held against you or would hurt you at all. To the contrary, it seems as though they've allowed you to narrow down your interests (both clinically and research-wise), which is excellent. However, I don't know that an MPH would put you on equal footing as someone with an MA/MS in psychology owing to no other factor than the psychology degree holder's likely greater amount of research experience and output.

 

[aventurine]

May help if you are applying to health psych doctoral programs or programs with concentrations in health psych.

Most people applying to doctoral programs in clinical psychology do not have masters degrees, but you will need to make sure that you have all of the pre-requisite courses to be accepted to a program. You usually need a certain number of credits in psychology courses (I've seen from nine to 24), including intro psych, stats and research methods (I'm sure you'll get these in your MPA)

 

[PsychScience]

I'm interested in mental health issues surrounding people who engage in behavior that puts them at risk for HIV especially within the GLBT community. I am beginning a 16 month MPH program next month and was wondering if I would have a difficult time going from this sort of program into a Psy.D program given that my interest is in Health Psychology? Essentially would I be given about the same consideration as someone with a MS in Psychology or would my background be against me? If it matters I also hold a academic Master's degree in History but there is no real relation between that degree and what I want to do in my Psy.D work.

Plenty of Clinical Ph.Ds that I have worked with also hold an MPH (To be honest, I'm not as sure about Psy.D's, but I can't imagine it would be any different). I definitely don't think it will hurt you. However, you will help yourself if you can get involved in research that its tied into both your current interest in the MPH program and that is also linked to the type of work you would like to do in the future as a doctor in clinical psychology. This way, when you are applying you have a clear connection between what you are doing now, and what you want to do down the road. I know you said you are interested in a Psy.D., and often there is a misconception that PsyD's do not need research experience when applying. However, be mindful of this, If you are interested in any of the top PsyD. programs, there is definitely an emphasis on scientific/research work.