Minnesota programs

[toroharo]

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There are a total of 3 clinical/counseling programs at Minnesota, two of which in the psychology dept. and one in the college of education. Does anyone have an idea if there may be stiff competition among programs/students (e.g. for resources and training opportunities), or any disadvantages in attending one program over another?

 

[codetype4/9]

They each have their own resources and faculty and are quite separate. The counseling programs in psych and in the education department are much different from the clinical program and are not particularly competitive.

If you have the stats, the clinical program is one of the finest in the country if your interest is primarily research.

 

[toroharo]

Thanks, codetype4/9.

The reason I have posted this question is because I am concerned about the admission stats. I find the counseling program in the education department attractive in many ways (faculty research interest, diversity, reputable school etc....), but it received only 51 applications last year. I got a little paranoid why it may be the case....

 

[docma]

Counseling Psych programs traditionally receive fewer applications for a variety of reasons and this is one of the reasons they are "less competitive"--not because of lesser quality to the program. Because teaching/education has less socio-cultural status/prestige than medicine, counseling psych programs tend to be seen as less-then because they are often based in graduate schools of education. They are also just less well known and there are fewer of them In fact they are typically a less expensive, more developmentally/broad-based path to the practice of psychology. If you look at the application numbers posted for the other APA approved Counseling Psych programs I think you will find them fairly comparable. What is more relevant probably is finding out if their graduates do things you want to be doing. Most counseling programs do not have difficulty placing their students in internship either, since there are fewer students and their training is desirable to many university based counseling centers.
Also if you attend a university with both kinds of programs, you may be able cross-register in clincial/med school courses as part of your counseling program if it is relevant to your interests.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

It seems (and this is only from what I've heard from others) that counseling programs may get less applicants, but those applicants tend to seek out counseling programs and know what they are getting into. Clinical can attract a wide range of interests, some of which may not be as good of a fit, but they are better known so they may cast a wider net.

-t

 

[Banon]

I was speaking with one of the neuropsychologists affiiliated with the University of Minnesota Internship (also an alumnus of the program) recently. During the course of this conversation, he referenced that the program was considering changing the clinical program title to experimental psychology, reflecting its lack of focus on clinical practice. Other faculty I know (both from an Argosy campus and from the U of M) have commented that students in the clinical program are actively dissauded from pursuing any non-research oriented activity. Second hand though, certainly something to check out with the program. Feel free to PM me if you want any more thoughts on local programs. Nothing sordid, just don't want to type a really long message.

 

[Ollie123]

What Banon said is definitely true of U Minn. It was in my top 20, but didn't have quite the right research match for me and got cut, but I still looked into it pretty heavily. Not sure anything will actually come of the experimental degree - lots of schools TALK about doing it, usually it happens around the time some students complain about a lack of clinically-oriented classes, or during an APA accreditation review (at least that's how it was at 2 of the schools I had ties to before grad school - too early to say here). And there are plenty of schools that actively discourage students from pure clinical careers - my current one basically told us to go home if that's what we wanted when I came for the interview😉 (though they were a bit more polite about it). Not surprising really, given clinical work tends not to get the national exposure/prestige that research does, and thus the school doesn't get "We trained him/her" bragging rights. Very selfish in my eyes, but that's how it works as far as I can tell.

If you're a fellow research-nerd though, there are few places better than U of Minnesota, especially if you have an interest in biology as well since they have a lot of big behavioral genetics folks there.

 

[toroharo]

Thank you all for your input! I will definitely not worry so much admission stats and just apply to the best matches!!