Nova Southeastern U PsyD

[Kate0285]

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Could anyone give me their opinion of Nova's PsyD program? I am deciding whether or not to fork out $300 to fly there for an interview. I really don't want to if I wouldn't particularly want to attend anyway. Any information would be helpful.

 

[PsychAddict]

Could anyone give me their opinion of Nova's PsyD program? I am deciding whether or not to fork out $300 to fly there for an interview. I really don't want to if I wouldn't particularly want to attend anyway. Any information would be helpful.

hi, i have an interview there as well but everyone has been telling me it's not a good program. I am considering declining the interview offer but i'm not sure yet. their e-mails are definitely not as friendly as the ones from other programs.

 

[Kate0285]

Yeah, I'm not sure what to do, either. I think I have pretty good chances of getting into La Salle U. I have 3 other interviews, but at very competitive programs, so I'm afraid my end choices would only be La Salle and Nova. Basically, I'm trying to learn more about Nova, because if I would end up choosing La Salle U anyway, I might as well not even interview.

 

[Psychty]

I'm not sure how accurate this is but I have heard that the professors their are really cold.

 

[psychmama]

I believe T4c is from that program. I know he believes the program has changed a bit since when he matriculated...

 

[lamorena]

i know someone who has her psyd from nova, and she told me that she didn't have to do a dissertation (altho i don't know if everyone is exempt from a dissertation). that kind of raises a red flag for me, personally..

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I believe T4c is from that program. I know he believes the program has changed a bit since when he matriculated...

Please do a search on this topic (right hand corner of the Clinical forum has a button that says search forum), as I've written about this quite a bit.

Here is my 30 second review:

Basically the faculty are excellent, but the tuition cost has gone up significantly from when I started there 6 years ago, and the funding still stinks. When I came in they said they were working on the funding issues, but they haven't done much.

The students are a bit too diversified in regard to rigor and training. The top people go to top placements, most go to decent places, and the bottom people....shouldn't be there. For example, two of my friends matched to top neuro placements for internship this year, but not everyone did as well. The lack of individual support for the internship process definitely can have a negative effect. I was lucky to have a great mentor I could talk to about the internship process, my sites, and how to write my essays....but many students don't have that. I helped a few people this year because I wanted to make sure my friends knew what they were doing with the internship process.

As for the administration, they are generally very nice, but they are not very helpful for day to day issues or longer-term guidance. I had to seek out faculty support when it came to internship and other areas where you'd expect more involvement from the administration. Nice doesn't make students more competitive, and it doesn't help them pay tuition.

Even though I think the training can be great (if you work with the right research mentors and supervisors on practica), the cost is far too much to remotely recommend it as a good idea if you are looking now. Definitely look elsewhere.

ps. The research requirement (called a directed study/research project) is less stringent than a dissertation. Some students still choose to use original data and design some pretty nice studies, while others get by on much less. Looking back on this now, I don' believe it is sufficient because there are no general research requirements outside of the research project and associated stats and research classes. I was actively involved in research for the majority of my time in the program, but many other people aren't, and I think that is a problem.

 

[docjohng]

I'm also a graduate of Nova (and started when it was just Nova -- it merged with Southeastern while I was there in the early 1990s).

I agree with Therapist4Chnge virtually to the letter. The faculty are excellent and committed and I find their use of adjunct appropriate.

The best part of the Nova program is the number and diversity of practicums -- your direct clinical experience. When I was there, I had a choice of something like 2 dozen different clinical experiences, ranging from community mental health, to university counseling centers (throughout the region), to big VAs (I did one at the Miami VA). You won't find that kind of diversity of clinical experience in most other programs -- which is great if you're not sure where you want to practice, or appreciate that diversity.

As mentioned, Nova probably accepts more people than it should, and so they expect some attrition of the worse students. It would be better if they didn't accept those questionable folks in the first place. But I guess the other way of looking at it is they give people a chance when many others would not.

The costs are outrageous. They were outrageous when I went there, and I suspect they have only gotten significantly worse. You should not consider coming out of grad school with a PsyD and more than $100k in debt -- your income won't easily repay such debt (unless you have a high-end position waiting for you). I wouldn't be surprised if some people have $120-140k now in debt from that program.

I kept my debt load a little smaller by working as much as possible after the 1st year. It helps.

John