I'm applying to a health psych PhD program that doesn't offer licensure...I understand that this means I'll be doing research and/or teaching for a career, which I THINK I might be interested in, but can't really tell because I haven't had a chance to do REAL research yet. I'm graduating this spring and have participated in 3 different labs over the course of my last 2 years in undergrad, and I've always thought my dream was to work in a private practice, implementing what I learn through research to my patients. But...the clock was ticking and I missed a lot of Clinical Psych deadlines, especially ones with a health concentration, so this is what I have. Any advice??
Health Psych PhD program...no license??
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I don't know what you consider, or what you mean by "real" research, but suffice to say if you have no "real" research experience, you would not be competitive for such programs in the first place.
Also, your "dream is"..or your "dream was"? If it still is, then this program doesn't provide clinical training and thus you would not be able to practice with this degree.
What would you call actual research experience? Assisting in a lab, like doing data entry, running screening sessions, running the actual experiments (which is what I've been doing.) OR is it doing data analysis, doing poster presentations, running your own studies? Because I haven't yet done any of the latter...
Not a good idea. Schools do not offer licensure, that is done by way of a state board that governs the practice of psychology. If this school offers a degree that the state board refuses to allow graduates to sit for licensure then something is VERY wrong!!👎
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We don't know what program it is so we would only be speculating anyway. If you like the practice of health psychology then I don't understand why you are applying to this program?
Regarding research experience, programs needs to see that 1.) you acquired skills and knowledge about research methods and procedures from the experiences 2.) we're sufficiently involved so that your work was an important part of the project (ie., not just data entry) 3.) the letters than come from this experience can testify to your interest and potential in conducting more independent research.
I'm....confused.
If this degree does not allow you to practice and that is what you want to do, why are you applying? Because you missed the deadline for clinical programs? You might still be able to apply for law school, or for a masters in comparative literature as well, but if it doesn't prepare you for what you want to do, why would you?😉 Don't get a degree in something that won't let you achieve your goals just because you missed the deadline...that seems incredibly short-sighted. The deadline is coming around again next year.
I'm also going to disagree with Stigmata...it doesn't necessarily mean anything is "wrong" with the program if its students are not eligible for licensure...it depends whether or not this is meant to be a clinical program, which you haven't stated. For example, U Pitt has a "Biology and Health Psychology" degree that is arguably one of the best in the country, but its a research degree, not a clinical degree. Their grads aren't eligible for licensure because their training isn't meant for that.
If this degree does not allow you to practice and that is what you want to do, why are you applying? Because you missed the deadline for clinical programs? You might still be able to apply for law school, or for a masters in comparative literature as well, but if it doesn't prepare you for what you want to do, why would you?😉 Don't get a degree in something that won't let you achieve your goals just because you missed the deadline...that seems incredibly short-sighted. The deadline is coming around again next year.
I'm also going to disagree with Stigmata...it doesn't necessarily mean anything is "wrong" with the program if its students are not eligible for licensure...it depends whether or not this is meant to be a clinical program, which you haven't stated. For example, U Pitt has a "Biology and Health Psychology" degree that is arguably one of the best in the country, but its a research degree, not a clinical degree. Their grads aren't eligible for licensure because their training isn't meant for that.
The trend in academia is for psychologists to be licensed, even if they are just doing research. This is due to the fact that a license to practice psychology is not just a license to do psychotherapy, or just clinical work, but to practice psychology which by its definition includes research. The fact that much of our research is with these things called people is probably why. There are quite a few states where academics must be licensed to be hired. In general attending a doctoral program that does not allow you to be licensed ever is a horrible limitation, and is like asking your 16 year-old child to attend a driver training program (that is the best ever) which does not allow you to sit for the driver's license exams??
Umm...I think you are confusing psychology in general with clinical psychology. Keep in mind we are one area (though perhaps the most dominant) within a much larger field.
Social psychology, experimental psychology, cognitive neuroscience....none of these programs are designed for licensure. Heck some areas of psychology never involve interacting with human research subjects...we have students in our program who spend most of their days dissecting rat and pigeon brains. Students do not get ANY clinical experience in them, and will generally need to respecialize to even be eligible for licensure. I wouldn't call that a "problem" because they are generally not interested in careers that require licensure. I've heard of some I/O psychologists pursuing licensure, but it seems quite atypical.
Your statement that laws require people to be licensed in order to be hired in an academic job is simply untrue. I'll believe it when I actually see the law written, but if this is true I can pretty much guarantee nearly every school in that state is in a heap of trouble. It may be required for purposes of clinical supervision, and it seems an obvious choice for someone who plans on doing work that is in any way clinical in nature. However, glance through any faculty listing at a major university...how many people outside the clinical area do you think are licensed? I'd guess < 1%, certainly < 5%.
Social psychology, experimental psychology, cognitive neuroscience....none of these programs are designed for licensure. Heck some areas of psychology never involve interacting with human research subjects...we have students in our program who spend most of their days dissecting rat and pigeon brains. Students do not get ANY clinical experience in them, and will generally need to respecialize to even be eligible for licensure. I wouldn't call that a "problem" because they are generally not interested in careers that require licensure. I've heard of some I/O psychologists pursuing licensure, but it seems quite atypical.
Your statement that laws require people to be licensed in order to be hired in an academic job is simply untrue. I'll believe it when I actually see the law written, but if this is true I can pretty much guarantee nearly every school in that state is in a heap of trouble. It may be required for purposes of clinical supervision, and it seems an obvious choice for someone who plans on doing work that is in any way clinical in nature. However, glance through any faculty listing at a major university...how many people outside the clinical area do you think are licensed? I'd guess < 1%, certainly < 5%.
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I don't believe I said anything about laws?? It is a liability thing that major universities have jumped on; if the instructors do not have a license the school is 100% liable for any misconduct whereas if they do they are only partially liable. Non-clinical professors hate it, but many have had to. No offense, but your mini-lecture on the breadth of psychology is silly, even if you were berating a fellow student which I have not been for over 10 years. Get at least a little experience before you get holier-than-thou.
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I agree with Ollie, if the program is experimental in nature (eg., "Health psychology" rather than a health psych concentration within a clinical program) then there would be no need for anyone to be licensed, even if they were clinical folks.
I was also unaware of the trend your talking about though. Numerous clinically trained faculty were not licensed (and had no desire to be) at my undergrad. Same with my grad school. When I see tenure track positions adverstised on list serves, they rarely state (explictly at least) that one needs to get licensed.
I was also unaware of the trend your talking about though. Numerous clinically trained faculty were not licensed (and had no desire to be) at my undergrad. Same with my grad school. When I see tenure track positions adverstised on list serves, they rarely state (explictly at least) that one needs to get licensed.
Being licensed (or license-eligible anyways) doesn't seem an UNCOMMON requirement for clinical faculty jobs ads - though even that is not a given - but I've never, ever, ever seen it as a requirement for non-clinical faculty.
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Yea, Licensed eligible is one i see for clinical faculty jobs. I think all the people I am talking about, including my current advisor, are eligible......but have not actually done so. I cant blame them either. They have no need for it really.
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I was under the impression when you said "quite a few states where academics must be licensed" that you were referring to laws. If it isn't a law, I'm not sure where the "must" comes from since I'm not sure licensing boards would have a say.
Again, I have not seen this anywhere. Repeat, anywhere. And I have a number of friends who have recently been hired and/or are actively looking for faculty jobs. Can you provide a link to a major university where all (or even a significant portion) of the non-clinical faculty are licensed? I know there are occasional schools that really only have clinical programs (I think this is more common for professional schools), but I've never heard of a school with programs in say....social, or quant, that require those faculty to obtain a license. I'd be very interested to see it.
Maybe you're right, but if this is a trend, it seems safe to say this is unbelievably rare right now. I can't believe other branches of psychology would tolerate it and expect to see some blowback in the near future, given that a fair number of non-psychology fields also do human subjects research and I don't know anyone suggesting people in sociology, the humanities or other such fields obtain licensure. It seems....an outlandish waste of time for everyone involved, and pretty ridiculous behavior on behalf of everyone involved in such nonsense.
Edit: Sent an email to check with them now - can't believe it wouldn't have come up in conversation before but figured I would formally ask if they had come across this in job searches. If this is an actual trend I can't believe people aren't absolutely up in arms about this...I'd think APS would be organizing riots.
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I've always thought that the main disadvantage between getting licensed or not was dealing with whether you can practice clinical work or just do research and teach, respectively. I think I get a little more stressed about what I would do with a year off from school, and therefore I'm applying to this program as back-up. But I suppose if I do get in, it would be kind of silly to go through with it if I eventually do want to practice...ohh decisions...
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This stresses you out?....
Good lord kid, you're straight out of undergrad. Enjoy your 20's. Make some money, goof-off with friends, backback in Europe. However, if your are commited to clinical health psych, might wanna get a research position and work as a psych tech or nurses aid in a hospital or something. You can still goof off in your down time though....😉
This stresses you out?....
Good lord kid, you're straight out of undergrad. Enjoy your 20's. Make some money, goof-off with friends, backback in Europe. However, if your are commited to clinical health psych, might wanna get a research position and work as a psych tech or nurses aid in a hospital or something. You can still goof off in your down time though....😉
Haha, this is probably my favorite response 🙂
Forgot about this one over the holidays, but did hear back from 2/3 and neither had encountered any expectations that they would obtain a license when they were looking for jobs (one in cognitive/experimental, one in social).
Again, I'd be very curious to see if anyone is actually aware of an institution/department where non-clinical faculty are expected to pursue licenses - if it does happen, I'd be especially interested to hear how they handle human subjects research for non-licensable fields.
Again, I'd be very curious to see if anyone is actually aware of an institution/department where non-clinical faculty are expected to pursue licenses - if it does happen, I'd be especially interested to hear how they handle human subjects research for non-licensable fields.
I wouldn't recommend a Phd in psychology that is not license eligible. Usually folkes that want to practice in that area complete a tradtional counseling psych program and do their 1 year post doc in health psychology.
Health psychology is a specialized field of psychology that mainly focuses on how human behavior, thought processes, and even emotional states are affected by health and wellness, or even illness. Though a majority of the subcategories of general psychology have some part in dealing with the health and wellness of the human mind, health psychology really goes into detail and specifically examines the intricate nature of how thoughts and behaviors interact and correlate with health and wellness, and particular illnesses, both of the mental and physical nature.
