Licensing Question non-APA accredited

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subalpinesun

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Hello all -

Regarding licensing of psychologists. Is it true that you can become licensed even if you do your doctorate at a non-APA accredited program and/or intership? And is there any place I can find some reliable documents on this subject?

Thanks kindly

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It's true that, to the best of my knowledge, there are states that do not require APA-accreditation at the doctoral level. However, as psycscientist mentioned, if the program isn't accredited, the board will likely require that you document (to their satisfaction) that your training was sufficient to allow for competent independent practice as a psychologist.

Somewhat relatedly, with the way the internship crisis currently stands, and with the employment picture as a whole, attending a non-accredited doctoral program is essentially shooting yourself in the foot before you even begin your training.
 
Somewhat relatedly, with the way the internship crisis currently stands, and with the employment picture as a whole, attending a non-accredited doctoral program is essentially shooting yourself in the foot before you even begin your training.

Ok I see interesting, could you expand on that? Thanks
 
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Another thing to consider would be the setting in which you want to work. For example, the VA won't hire you w/o an accredited program and internship. If you want to work in private practice, many insurance companies will not allow you to join their panels.

Best,
Dr. E
 
Ok I see interesting, could you expand on that? Thanks

There are quite a few threads in the forums on the internship crisis; if you do a quick search, you should have quite a bit of info to help fill you in on the situation. Essentially, there are more students than internship spots (approximately 4 applicants for every 3 spots overall, and for every 2 accredited spots), and attending a non-accredited program is going to either immediately disqualify you from some internship sites, or will be a significant "strike" against you in most circumstances (an exception can be if the doctoral program is new, is in the process of applying for APA accreditation, and by all accounts seems likely to earn said accreditation).
 
I don't know if this will help, but I left a program because it wasn't accredited. Now you may ask, "why did I go in the first place?" 1. was reputation 2. the states I was interested in practicing didn't require it 3. I wasn't as informed as I am now. After starting, the states that I was interested in I found were changing their legislature, so by the time I graduated I wouldn't qualify (which I think is going to happen everywhere). I realized the limitation on practice, employment, and internship (and if you want to go overseas...forget about it). I also noticed how these programs can change (not offer classes, not show statistics, etc) because they do not have the accreditation holding them accountable. And like others have said, if its you against 10 other APA students for internships, well it's unlikely, even for APPIC only sites. I know of cohorts from my program who never got an internship and had to create something. Which is new do to the internship challenges. Folks from 10 years ago did not have this problem.

This is not an added stress that you want. So just don't do it.
 
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