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A couple questions:
The APA will not accredit clinical forensic psychology programs. Anyone happen to know the reasoning?
Aside from not being APA accredited, can you foresee any difficulties obtaining licensure from such a program assuming it meets coursework/practica/internship/etc requirements of more traditional clinical psychology programs?
The APA will not accredit clinical forensic psychology programs. Anyone happen to know the reasoning?
I don't want to work in research, the VA, or teach. I want to work in a prison, a correctional facility, a forensic psychiatric hospital, etc. Therefore, I do not see this as a huge disadvantage. Or there is always the very possible chance that I'm missing something. If so, do tell. I could have blinders on :/
I dont really think thats the case at all. All the well known forensic psych programs in this country that I'm a ware of ARE APA Accredited. John Jay, Sam Houston, U Alabama-Tuscaloosa, Nebraska-Lincoln, Chicago School, Kentucky. What am I missing here?
I want to work in a prison, a correctional facility, a forensic psychiatric hospital, etc.
I know specifically has turned down people that have come from Clinical Forensic programs. Something to think about it that is a direction you want to head...you can PM me if you want more info.
You know, thats interesting. I have little interest in forensic psych itself, but interviewed at several BOP sites for internship due to b-med stuff. I was pretty shocked that none of my 10 person interview group came from a "forensic program." There was one girl there from the psych-law concentration at Alabama-Tuscaloosa, but that was it.
I think our consensus is its probably best to wait another year and apply again if your truley want/need the doctorate. Unaccredited programs, by and large, will create alot of headaches down the road and, as we discussed, can really impede your ability to work where you want to work.
I agree with the other poster about reflecting on why you have been rejected year after year despite seemingly competitive credentials (pubs, good GRE, experience, etc.) Whats your GPA? How are you coming across in your interviews? Have you done mock interviews with your current mentors? I also agree about reflecting on why you need the degree to do what you want to do in your career (eg., a Ph.D. program certainly entails alot of research for someone who says they dont like it ).
As far as predoc internship is concerned, the BOP is clear in their internship training brochures (and I know from interviewing with them as well) that breadth of clinical experience in the doctoral program is VERY important to them. They really prefer people to be generalists. After all, most psychologists there are just clinical psychologists in a forensic setting, not forensic psychologists by training. Only a handful of psychologists in the BOP do the forensic work anyway. I had zero forensic experience or coursework to speak of and was interviewed by several BOPs for internship this year. The majority of people I saw there came from generalist programs as well....or from well known, well-respected programs with forensic tracks (Arizona, Alabama, etc). Certainly not anyone from an unaccredited program. I am pretty confident that attending non-APA accredited program would be an exclusion from employment later down the line for them as well, but not quite as confident about that.
Its funny because the majority of forensic people I have met (all but two) don't want to even consider working in a prison for a career! Just goes to show I suppose... Although BOP is good money
Hi i am new to this site and unsure of how to do this. I recently was asked to come in for a interview at Chicago school of prof psy for the PsyD program in clinical forensic psy. I was recetnly researching online and have seen some pretty bad reviews. However unsure of how the process works and am now getitng a little nervous. are there things i need to be asking in my interviews that will affect my decisions, does anyone know about this program, and i noticed someone has mentioned most clinical forensic programs are not apa accredited is this true?
Hi i am new to this site and unsure of how to do this. I recently was asked to come in for a interview at Chicago school of prof psy for the PsyD program in clinical forensic psy. I was recetnly researching online and have seen some pretty bad reviews. However unsure of how the process works and am now getitng a little nervous. are there things i need to be asking in my interviews that will affect my decisions, does anyone know about this program, and i noticed someone has mentioned most clinical forensic programs are not apa accredited is this true?
Hi i am new to this site and unsure of how to do this. I recently was asked to come in for a interview at Chicago school of prof psy for the PsyD program in clinical forensic psy. I was recetnly researching online and have seen some pretty bad reviews. However unsure of how the process works and am now getitng a little nervous. are there things i need to be asking in my interviews that will affect my decisions, does anyone know about this program, and i noticed someone has mentioned most clinical forensic programs are not apa accredited is this true?
I don't know anything about the Chicago campus but the students coming from the Orange County, CA branch of the Chicago school, whom I have run into at least, have demonstrable general clinical skill deficits. I'm talking; putting v-codes on Axis V, Personality D/Os on Axis I at the 4th year level.
Although this is n = a few, I would avoid, since the reputation is also less than stellar.
Yes. ALL clinical forensic programs are not APA accredited because they are specialist programs, not generalist programs - which is what the APA will accredit. There are clinical programs with a forensic emphasis (Alabama, Pacific, Spalding, Drexel, etc.) that are APA accredited.
As far as the Chicago school goes, I also interviewed there this past cycle (it was my absolute safety school) and I was far from impressed. They were almost dshonest about their internship match rates, claiming that they matched upwards of 90%, but this is their total match rate, not their APA match rate; which is below 50%. When this discrepency was brought up (by me) they quickly mentioned that their school doesn't emphasize the necessity of an APA accredited internship, instead they allow their students to create their own internship and doesn't that sound like fun....um, not at the expense of my educatio and training, no.
They also tried to push the clinical forensic degree on me, as that is also my area of study. When I commented that I wasn't interested in that degree due to it's lack of APA accreditation and the potential for future licensing issues, I was told that attending a non-APA accredited program wasn't really that of a deal, which shocked me. I definitely left there with a very bad taste in my mouth for that school on a whole, which was especially disappointing since I had heard it was one of the "better, more respected" professional programs.
Their APPIC match rate for the past 10 years is 78.5 /shrug higher than national average and not bad for matching 58 people a year (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=745625)