Palo Alto University Clinical Ph.D. Program

[Lannie1976]

Does anyone know about the reputation of Palo Alto University's (formerly PGSP) Clinical Psych Ph.D. Program in terms of research and potential academic employment? There seem to be a lot of threads regarding the Psy.D. Program but not the Ph.D.

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[docma]

I don't know the academic hiring data but I do know that they have research groups led by faculty that all students participate in and they have a good record of getting publications/presentations, etc. beginning early in training. I know grads who have gone on to excellent internships and employment opportunities at UCSF and Kaiser and in public health.

 

[JT88]

I was going to ask a similar question- instead of starting a new thread, I'll just post it here:

what is the overall reputation of PAU's Ph.D. program? As Lannie mentioned, there's been a lot of discussion about the Psy.D. program on the forum, but very little on the Ph.D. I'm interested to know how well-received it is, as I might be going there next year.

 

[Tesseract18]

I knew someone who went there straight out of undergrad. She was a good student but had very little research experience. This was the only program she was accepted to. From what I hear there's a very large cohort (I don't believe they do a mentor model) and it's very expensive (plus cost of living in Palo Alto -- OUCH). I really don't know much more about it but I decided not to apply due to the lack of funding, lack of fit with any of the faculty interests, and perceived reputation (which based on my limited knowledge is that it's more of a Psy.D. set up than a Ph.D). Again, don't know how accurate this is or how the program is generally received in that area or in comparison to other programs.

 

[Ya Ya]

In my opinion, I think you should focus more n the reputation of your advisor and less on the overall program reputation.

Even if they don't have a mentorship model, there will still be a select few people within your dept that you'll collaborate with. What are their reputations? That's more than likely what I'd be asking myself before accepting an offer.

 

[docma]

I agree that you should look at specific faculty interests. It is definitely possible to get into a research group with specific faculty and they do not have the faculty turnover problem that you can see in PsyD programs. They also have an established clinic for early practica and links to the Palo Alto VA and Stanford clinics for specific research/practice interests. Look at their emphasis areas to see if they are a fit. The cost and cohort size are the disadvantages of the program but there are also many strengths to the program.

 

[niknok]

I agree that you should look at specific faculty interests. It is definitely possible to get into a research group with specific faculty and they do not have the faculty turnover problem that you can see in PsyD programs. They also have an established clinic for early practica and links to the Palo Alto VA and Stanford clinics for specific research/practice interests. Look at their emphasis areas to see if they are a fit. The cost and cohort size are the disadvantages of the program but there are also many strengths to the program.

Apart from the faculty match, you might want to look at the different emphasis they have: forensic, neuropsych, child, diversity and community mental health, etc. in regards to reputation, at least in the bay area it has really good reputation.

 

[PerhapsMaybeOk]

Reputation with whom?

I'd say in general it is poor.

I'm not sure that is true, at least regarding their neuro track. I know there are neuropsychologists on staff at UCLA, UCSF, SFVA, Martinez VA, Kaiser etc from this program.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I'm not sure that is true, at least regarding their neuro track. I know there are neuropsychologists on staff at UCLA, UCSF, SFVA, Martinez VA, Kaiser etc from this program.

Perhaps it might vary by region (or, as you've said, track)? CA can sometimes be it's own little world, so to speak. I believe JS is a neuropsychologist himself, and so I would imagine he'd take that into consideration, although I could be wrong.

Personally, I have no informed opinion one way or the other.

 

[JT88]

Thanks, everyone, for the input/advice!

Reputation with whom?

I'd say in general it is poor.

Practicing clinicians; and, as Lannie asked, in academia.

Is the "general poor reputation" due to it being a professional school or the cost of tuition?

 

[JeyRo]

I'm a PAU grad from the previous decade.

In general, PAU is probably better than a majority of professional school programs out there (I know, not saying much), but the cost is blisteringly astronomical relative to other professional programs and you'd be guaranteed to be on an IBR program for the next 30 years if you go there now.

I don't think PAU grads are in general especially competitive for academic jobs, but it's worth noting there is a small handful of them working at the Palo Alto VA system currently, they land jobs with the VA from time to time and some have attained some significant repute (I'm thinking of a couple of grads, one from the neuropsych. program and one from the JD-PhD program who are well-established and productive academically and professionally). Don't know how representative these examples are.

While PAU grads don't have the taint of being from mills like Argosy or Alliant, it's not like PAU has some obvious reputation for creating psychologists who are particular well prepared for academic careers - when they do OK, they churn out scientist-practicioners who can function reasonably well at VAs and large academic medical centers. However, PAU also churns out any number of mediocre (and in some cases, downright terrible) graduates who function no better than mediocre MFTs with overpriced degrees, or worse (I also can think of a couple examples in this case as well). Again, not a wonderful basis for a great reputation.

Also, of late, my understanding is PAU has lost some of their more productive faculty and while they retain some of their celebrity talent like Zimbardo and Beutler, I don't get a sense these guys work at PAU for right now for much more than the big paycheck and the fairly easy career victory-lap. Harsh, but probably accurate.

 

[LalakingPsych]

Hello, I was wondering if we could revisit this thread as I recently received an acceptance to their Ph.D program.

My questions are: has their reputation and program gotten better over the passed 6 years since the last post on this thread? What is this Ph.D degree worth in comparison to a Psy.D degree at a school (specifically University of Denver (DU)'s Psy.D and University of La Verne's Clinical Psychology Psy.D programs).

I see a few posts comparing Palo Alto and University of Denver but as previously stated, most posts refer to their Palo Alto's PsyD program so I'd like to know more about their Ph.D programs.

 

[bcliff]

Personally, and broadly, I would not consider an offer from any unfunded doctoral program.

 

[Justanothergrad]

Hello, I was wondering if we could revisit this thread as I recently received an acceptance to their Ph.D program.

My questions are: has their reputation and program gotten better over the passed 6 years since the last post on this thread? What is this Ph.D degree worth in comparison to a Psy.D degree at a school (specifically University of Denver (DU)'s Psy.D and University of La Verne's Clinical Psychology Psy.D programs).

I see a few posts comparing Palo Alto and University of Denver but as previously stated, most posts refer to their Palo Alto's PsyD program so I'd like to know more about their Ph.D programs.

Palo Alto remains equally as horrible. Compare the key statistics - match rates (horrible until the last two years- and still not 100% despite there being MORE sites than applicants this year), license rates (73%... what are the others doing), class size (50-60 people per class), debt load (a bucketload and then an extra bucket), etc. No matter if its a PhD or a PsyD, if those are issues then you should not consider it. This advise is true for all programs you listed. As briarcliff said, I would never consider an unfunded program.