PhD psychology goal

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Psychstudent!721

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hi I’ve turned to SDN again, the people here are silly very helpful and kind. I’ve decided I want to continue the psychology route. My gpa is a cgpa3.1 psych 3.2 with the main classes being A and B+‘s. According to my advisor my 3.2 isn’t the best but it’s NOT BAD. I won’t be automatically disqualified by the system. My plan is to do a masters first, unfortunately I missed deadlines as i was supposed to do an MSW program but backed out because I attended a MSW conference and realized its not for me. But I’ve found 2 programs that look decent LIU and Adelphi that do spring admissions and fall in a rolling basis. I don’t have a GRE because my family hit financial trouble and I had to help contribute and I don’t have the money for the prep courses (I’m bad at math) I wouldn’t be confident going into the test with no prep. I’ve found plenty of programs that don’t ask for the GRE. I know I will need it for PhD. My conundrum is I have no research as of now. I have an internship at a psychiatric hospital where I have ran groups, done therapies and worked one on one with patients, I also have another internship at a mental health and wellness where i did a lot of case management and file work but also ovserved groups. How can I get research experience to be competitive? The master programs I’ve looked at say they prepare students to apply to PhD level programs and a lot of emphasis is put on the thesis. However almost all of them don’t specifically mention research oppurtunities ar the MA level, however I find it hard to believe the masters level wouldn’t have any research opportunities. Any advice as to how to make myself more competitive for any PhD brogram? My advisor said he’s known plenty of people getting into programs with below 3.0 gpa and my only weakness if I bring my gpa up with a masters is research. I am 24 going to be 25, I’m getting older and I don’t want to wait until it’s too late to become a psychologist.

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hi I’ve turned to SDN again, the people here are silly very helpful and kind. I’ve decided I want to continue the psychology route. My gpa is a cgpa3.1 psych 3.2 with the main classes being A and B+‘s. According to my advisor my 3.2 isn’t the best but it’s NOT BAD. I won’t be automatically disqualified by the system. My plan is to do a masters first, unfortunately I missed deadlines as i was supposed to do an MSW program but backed out because I attended a MSW conference and realized its not for me. But I’ve found 2 programs that look decent LIU and Adelphi that do spring admissions and fall in a rolling basis. I don’t have a GRE because my family hit financial trouble and I had to help contribute and I don’t have the money for the prep courses (I’m bad at math) I wouldn’t be confident going into the test with no prep. I’ve found plenty of programs that don’t ask for the GRE. I know I will need it for PhD. My conundrum is I have no research as of now. I have an internship at a psychiatric hospital where I have ran groups, done therapies and worked one on one with patients, I also have another internship at a mental health and wellness where i did a lot of case management and file work but also ovserved groups. How can I get research experience to be competitive? The master programs I’ve looked at say they prepare students to apply to PhD level programs and a lot of emphasis is put on the thesis. However almost all of them don’t specifically mention research oppurtunities ar the MA level, however I find it hard to believe the masters level wouldn’t have any research opportunities. Any advice as to how to make myself more competitive for any PhD brogram? My advisor said he’s known plenty of people getting into programs with below 3.0 gpa and my only weakness if I bring my gpa up with a masters is research. I am 24 going to be 25, I’m getting older and I don’t want to wait until it’s too late to become a psychologist.
My gpa as of now can certainly be explained from a series of illness and death in my family prolonged over the beginning of my undergrad. As well as mental illness issues with my immediate family. From the ending of junior year to senior year it was mostly All As and Bs indicating a strong upward trend
 
hi I’ve turned to SDN again, the people here are silly very helpful and kind. I’ve decided I want to continue the psychology route. My gpa is a cgpa3.1 psych 3.2 with the main classes being A and B+‘s. According to my advisor my 3.2 isn’t the best but it’s NOT BAD. I won’t be automatically disqualified by the system. My plan is to do a masters first, unfortunately I missed deadlines as i was supposed to do an MSW program but backed out because I attended a MSW conference and realized its not for me. But I’ve found 2 programs that look decent LIU and Adelphi that do spring admissions and fall in a rolling basis. I don’t have a GRE because my family hit financial trouble and I had to help contribute and I don’t have the money for the prep courses (I’m bad at math) I wouldn’t be confident going into the test with no prep. I’ve found plenty of programs that don’t ask for the GRE. I know I will need it for PhD. My conundrum is I have no research as of now. I have an internship at a psychiatric hospital where I have ran groups, done therapies and worked one on one with patients, I also have another internship at a mental health and wellness where i did a lot of case management and file work but also ovserved groups. How can I get research experience to be competitive? The master programs I’ve looked at say they prepare students to apply to PhD level programs and a lot of emphasis is put on the thesis. However almost all of them don’t specifically mention research oppurtunities ar the MA level, however I find it hard to believe the masters level wouldn’t have any research opportunities. Any advice as to how to make myself more competitive for any PhD brogram?


Look, you've been posting in many different threads recently and you're not really going to get any different responses by posting a new one. Do some research and find a master's program with a thesis requirement that has a good track record of sending people on to doctoral programs.

My advisor said he’s known plenty of people getting into programs with below 3.0 gpa and my only weakness if I bring my gpa up with a masters is research.

I don't know what programs your advisor is talking about, nor do I know the people to whom he is referring, but I can tell you that sub-3.0 cumulative GPAs are not competitive at any program you should actually want to attend.

I am 24 going to be 25, I’m getting older and I don’t want to wait until it’s too late to become a psychologist.
There's no deadline or time restrictions on getting a doctorate. Take your time and get the experience you need to be the best candidate possible for fully funded programs that provide good training. Don't settle for unfunded programs that provide poor training, because you're impatient and feel the clock ticking. Lots of people started their doctoral programs when they were far older than you are now.
 
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Look, you've been posting in many different threads recently and you're not really going to get any different responses by posting a new one. Do some research and find a master's program with a thesis requirement that has a good track record of sending people on to doctoral programs.



I don't know what programs your advisor is talking about, nor do I know the people to whom he is referring, but I can tell you that sub-3.0 cumulative GPAs are not competitive at any program you should actually want to attend.


There's no deadline or time restrictions on getting a doctorate. Take your time and get the experience you need to be the best candidate possible for fully funded programs that provide good training. Don't settle for unfunded programs that provide poor training, because you're impatient and feel the clock ticking. Lots of people started their doctoral programs when they were far older than you are now.
Well I apologize, I didn’t know there was a limit on posts one could make. But the point to this post was to ask about research opportunities. How do I go about gaining that experience? All the programs I’ve found do put emphasis on a thesis but is that the same as research? Also, most of the PhD programs I’ve found weren’t funded, and they’re accredited. I’ve spoken to a few phds who teach, have their own practices and even worked in government as psychologists. All have said the programs that offer full funding are few and far between. Most require tuition. I’m getting very different responses from forums and research than I am from people in the field. Al I want to know is how I go about bolstering my research. Would most MA programs provide chances for research?
 
Look for an experimental masters. The program I am in requires a first year project and a second year thesis. This will help you gain the requisite research experience, but you need to get great grades too. Failure to do really well in a master’s program will most likely preclude you from attending any reputable doctoral program.
 
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Well I apologize, I didn’t know there was a limit on posts one could make. But the point to this post was to ask about research opportunities. How do I go about gaining that experience? All the programs I’ve found do put emphasis on a thesis but is that the same as research? Also, most of the PhD programs I’ve found weren’t funded, and they’re accredited. I’ve spoken to a few phds who teach, have their own practices and even worked in government as psychologists. All have said the programs that offer full funding are few and far between. Most require tuition. I’m getting very different responses from forums and research than I am from people in the field.

Again, I don't know who you are talking to or to what they are referring, nor do I know what investigating you've done into doctoral programs, but this is just not true. There are many, many fully funded programs across the country.

Buy this book:
Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology: 2018/2019 Edition

You'll get great advice for gaining experience and applying to programs, as well as a great overview of every clinical and counseling psych program in the country, including their typical funding.

Al I want to know is how I go about bolstering my research. Would most MA programs provide chances for research?

Again, if a master's program requires a thesis, you will be doing research of some kind. The quality of this research is going to depend on the program and who your mentor(s) is, which is why you need to do more research than can be provided here.
 
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Well I apologize, I didn’t know there was a limit on posts one could make. But the point to this post was to ask about research opportunities. How do I go about gaining that experience? All the programs I’ve found do put emphasis on a thesis but is that the same as research? Also, most of the PhD programs I’ve found weren’t funded, and they’re accredited. I’ve spoken to a few phds who teach, have their own practices and even worked in government as psychologists. All have said the programs that offer full funding are few and far between. Most require tuition. I’m getting very different responses from forums and research than I am from people in the field. Al I want to know is how I go about bolstering my research. Would most MA programs provide chances for research?

Most PhDs offer full funding. I am not sure where you are getting your info from, but it is not a good source.
 
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Again, I don't know who you are talking to or to what they are referring, nor do I know what investigating you've done into doctoral programs, but this is just not true. There are many, many fully funded programs across the country.

You'll get great advice for gaining experience and applying to programs, as well as a great overview of every clinical and counseling psych program in the country, including their typical funding.



Again, if a master's program requires a thesis, you will be doing research of some kind. The quality of this research is going to depend on the program and who your mentor(s) is, which is why you need to do more research than can be provided here.
Awesome, thank you! I was unaware that thesis was another way to say that the individual would be doing research.

As far as who I spoke to, I spoke to my professors and a few licensed psychologists. I also went to the APA website and went to numerous of the programs sites. I do NOT want a program that’s unaccredited.
Look for an experimental masters. The program I am in requires a first year project and a second year thesis. This will help you gain the requisite research experience, but you need to get great grades too. Failure to do really well in a master’s program will most likely preclude you from attending any reputable doctoral program.
awesome! As far as the programs I’ve found (LIU, and Adelphi) they both have 2 tracks. One of them being heavily thesis based. However I am having some difficulty finding masters programs. Other than going to various websites of institutions, which seems tiresome and not as productive as the search can be, is there another way to find master programs in psychology?
Look for an experimental masters. The program I am in requires a first year project and a second year thesis. This will help you gain the requisite research experience, but you need to get great grades too. Failure to do really well in a master’s program will most likely preclude you from attending any reputable doctoral program.

Aside from going random university site to random university site, how can I search for a masters program in psych? Is there an easier way other than just typing in random sites?
Most PhDs offer full funding. I am not sure where you are getting your info from, but it is not a good source.
I was getting it from the university website. I went to the apa site, looked under accredited programs and then just went to a bunch of the websites.
 
Look for an experimental masters. The program I am in requires a first year project and a second year thesis. This will help you gain the requisite research experience, but you need to get great grades too. Failure to do really well in a master’s program will most likely preclude you from attending any reputable doctoral program.
How can I look for master programs more efficiently? Other than going site to site, is there a way to find MA programs? LIU, and Adelphi both have an MA in general psychology with an emphasis on a final thesis, I was unaware that thesis basically meant you would focus on research
 
Well I apologize, I didn’t know there was a limit on posts one could make. But the point to this post was to ask about research opportunities. How do I go about gaining that experience? All the programs I’ve found do put emphasis on a thesis but is that the same as research? Also, most of the PhD programs I’ve found weren’t funded, and they’re accredited. I’ve spoken to a few phds who teach, have their own practices and even worked in government as psychologists. All have said the programs that offer full funding are few and far between. Most require tuition. I’m getting very different responses from forums and research than I am from people in the field. Al I want to know is how I go about bolstering my research. Would most MA programs provide chances for research?
As others have said, you have bad sources of info. What are some examples of programs have you looked at? If you have not looked up major state institutions, then you have not looked at a majority of the schools with programs. If you are looking up programs on the APA website, most are going to be funded and they will be accredited.

You should search and read the forum more. Lots of posts have been made on these topics. You should probably also spend time reading about adelphi on here.
 
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I was getting it from the university website. I went to the apa site, looked under accredited programs and then just went to a bunch of the websites.

Did you look at only a handful? Or in only a very small region? In 30 minutes, I could generate a list of about 50 programs with full funding. Heck, I can think of 5 in my region alone.
 
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As others have said, you have bad sources of info. What are some examples of programs have you looked at? If you have not looked up major state institutions, then you have not looked at a majority of the schools with programs.

You should search and read the forum more. Lots of posts have been made on these topics. You should probably also spend time reading about adelphi on here.

I couldn’t find anything on Adelphi here, although if you could point me where to look Thatd be awesome. I do want to read about it, because something about the program is off putting to me but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

As far as programs in masters, I’ve been going to the sites of accredited PhD institutions from the APA. As far as fully funded programs I’ve been using the apa accredited list and have gone to some of the sites off there as well as spoken to my professors with phds and almost every licensed psychologist in my area that I can get to talk to me.

As of right now, I’m looking for a decent master program to set my sights on as I understand that should be my next goal because I don’t fit for a PhD program just yet.
 
Did you look at only a handful? Or in only a very small region? In 30 minutes, I could generate a list of about 50 programs with full funding. Heck, I can think of 5 in my region alone.
if by full funded we mean the tuition is taken care of by the program. I looked at a wide range in regards to the region. I havent gone down the whole list, but certainly about half of it. I did find alot that offered partial funding
 
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if by full funded we mean the tuition is taken care of by the program. I looked at a wide range in regards to the region. I havent gone down the whole list, but certainly about half of it. I did find alot that offered partial funding

If you are limiting to only the NYC region, it is one case that may be partially true. I know many of the SUNY schools offer full funding. And, many dozens upon dozens outside of NY offer full funding for PhD.
 
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I couldn’t find anything on Adelphi here, although if you could point me where to look Thatd be awesome. I do want to read about it, because something about the program is off putting to me but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

As far as programs in masters, I’ve been going to the sites of accredited PhD institutions from the APA. As far as fully funded programs I’ve been using the apa accredited list and have gone to some of the sites off there as well as spoken to my professors with phds and almost every licensed psychologist in my area that I can get to talk to me.

As of right now, I’m looking for a decent master program to set my sights on as I understand that should be my next goal because I don’t fit for a PhD program just yet.
There is an Adelphi post on the first page of this forum. You are not searching very effectively or very hard for information, which disinclines me to spend a lot of time rehashing information for you which is already easily accessible. An ability to search out information for yourself is a skill for success in graduate school/life. You have been given several resources. My advice would be to (1) buy the book mentioned above and (2) search and read the forum for yourself. After that, come back and ask questions about topics related to PhD programs. This is probably a good idea for masters programs as well.
 
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although i am from NY, I would certainly be open to going away. actually, that would be ideal as my family situation is less than ideal. Can you provide any advice on finding good master programs? As of now im just going website to website and it seems to be more effort than it potentially could be if i knew of a better way
 
although i am from NY, I would certainly be open to going away. actually, that would be ideal as my family situation is less than ideal. Can you provide any advice on finding good master programs? As of now im just going website to website and it seems to be more effort than it potentially could be if i knew of a better way

AFAIK, there is no better way. I'm not aware of a good site that has collected masters program in a comprehensive way. You'll need to do some digging to find one that fills in the holes in your application. Also, people will want to see pretty good scores on the GRE (%s >70, ideally >80%).
 
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There is an Adelphi post on the first page of this forum. You are not searching very effectively or very hard for information, which disinclines me to spend a lot of time rehashing information for you which is already easily accessible. An ability to search out information for yourself is a skill for success in graduate school/life. You have been given several resources. My advice would be to (1) buy the book mentioned above and (2) search and read the forum for yourself. After that, come back and ask questions about topics related to PhD programs. This is probably a good idea for masters programs as well.
1-im still not too familiar with this site, so it would be appreciated for you to be a little more curtious.
2- i found the adelphi post
3- other than the book, im not sure exactly what resources you mean
4- all im asking about master programs is how i can be more effective in searching for them than just typing in random institutions
but thank you for your help, its much appreciated
 
AFAIK, there is no better way. I'm not aware of a good site that has collected masters program in a comprehensive way. You'll need to do some digging to find one that fills in the holes in your application. Also, people will want to see pretty good scores on the GRE (%s >70, ideally >80%).
well, wiseneuro, i do appreciate the help. I suppose the best idea would be to call the programs and ask how research based it is, how many students have gone on to accredited phd programs, etc. I would have thought there would be a comprehensive listing with program and data like there is for the phd programs. thank you anyway, its very much appreciated :)
 
I responded to one of your other posts, but I'll say it here too: double-check the CUNY deadlines. They extend them every year and many are still open for Fall 2018.

I've also heard Stony Brook has a decent master's program.

Regarding the GRE, you don't need to take a course. Get several books, get flashcards for verbal, and put in some serious time. Do every single math problem in every book until you get them right. The math problems on the actual test will be basically the same, with different numbers. Learn how to take the test. Memorize the vocab words and memorize the step-by-step procedures for each type of math problem. There's no magic involved- it just takes a lot of time.

Good luck!
 
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Wake Forest and William and Mary provide funding for their MA students. As others have said, there is no set list of programs, you just have to look around. There's lots of posts on SDN and Grad Cafe. Also, pretty much any state institution is a good bet. Look for smaller cohort sizes, as well as research interests of the faculty. The thesis is an individual research product, but you will also usually be involved in faculty labs (often times, your thesis is based on data collected through the lab). You want to walk out of an MA program with as many posters, talks, and pubs as possible in that 2 year period. Also, if you start narrowing down your research fit now and conducting research in that area, it can help you during PhD application time.
 
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Beware of $$$ programs like Teacher’s College (Columbia), as they are high cost, high cohort size, and typically limited mentorship.
I’ve noticed a lot of programs like that. One in particular being Adelphi. It’s a private institution with rolling admission. Just from the way it’s worse
Wake Forest and William and Mary provide funding for their MA students. As others have said, there is no set list of programs, you just have to look around. There's lots of posts on SDN and Grad Cafe. Also, pretty much any state institution is a good bet. Look for smaller cohort sizes, as well as research interests of the faculty. The thesis is an individual research product, but you will also usually be involved in faculty labs (often times, your thesis is based on data collected through the lab). You want to walk out of an MA program with as many posters, talks, and pubs as possible in that 2 year period. Also, if you start narrowing down your research fit now and conducting research in that area, it can help you during PhD application time.
I looked Into wake forest, it seems like a decent fit. Especially because it puts an emphasis on research. However as for the funding, I read most of the students receive a teaching assistantship or stipend that covers tuition those that don’t, the university does its best to assist the student in finding a position at the medica college or the institution in general to help the tuition. But I like their strong emphasis on research as well as helping the students anyway they can with tuition! Thank you so much for this insight! I definitely have to check out wake forest more!!
 
I am 24 going to be 25, I’m getting older and I don’t want to wait until it’s too late to become a psychologist.
There is no rush to becoming a psychologist. In some cases, it may be better to wait, as an older graduate student would have additional life and work experience to inform their work, particularly with clients who may be distrustful of a young, mid-20s therapist who they feel do not understand their situations. Furthermore, if you graduate as a 29-year-old psychologist with substantial amounts of debt (e.g., $100,000+) because you could not wait, then you would be much worse off than, for example, being a 35-year-old psychologist who attended a fully funded program. You'd have a far better quality of life in the latter case.

When looking for a master's program, you want to graduate with an empirical thesis (i.e., not literature review). You would also want the opportunity to conduct research in someone's lab so that you can learn the ropes and have opportunities to present posters/talks at conferences and publish manuscripts. With a low undergraduate GPA, this research productivity will be critical, as you will need to demonstrate that you're capable of producing independent research. An experimental psychology program would be much more helpful than a clinical program, as you'll be learning advanced statistics and research methods, which is valuable in a doctoral program.

Have you figured out what kind of research you would like to do, specifically? "Human behavior" is extremely broad. It would be helpful to narrow down your interests. As you're browsing graduate programs, look at faculty webpages and the sorts of things that they are examining. Which of them looks really, really cool to you? Whatever topic you choose for your thesis needs to be interesting enough to you that you can sustain effort and time working on it for the time you're in the program.

As @biscuitsbiscuits mentioned earlier in the thread, you do not need to spend thousands of dollars on GRE preparation. Personally, I feel that Kaplan and the Princeton Review are a waste of time unless you absolutely need a structured environment for studying, and even then some of their tips and tricks may be counterproductive. If you haven't done so already, take a practice test to see where your weaknesses are so that you can focus on those. ETS offers two free practice tests; feel free to use one as your baseline. If you pay $20 for their ScoreItNow! service, then you can get timed Analytical Writing tasks, exactly like on the real test, and get it scored by their machine so you know where you stand on that section.

Google "Magoosh study plans" to get timelines for what to study when depending on how much time you have to study and which section of the Verbal and Quantitative is your weaker one. Magoosh also offers a relatively cheap six-month self-study program that will go over skills that you should master on all three sections of the test (disclaimer: I used this method of studying).
 
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Just to clarify--When you said you searched APA's site to find funded programs, did you mean that you were going to the sites for schools with accredited doctoral programs and then looking to see if their masters programs were funded? Or that you were looking to see if their doctoral programs were funded?

Very few masters programs are funded (at least the last time I checked), unfortunately. A much larger proportion of doctoral programs are fully funded, although the websites may describe it in different ways (e.g., students receive "tuition remission" and a "stipend," etc.). Programs that are funded do tend to be smaller in terms of cohort/class sizes than unfunded programs, for multiple reasons.
 
Awesome, thank you! I was unaware that thesis was another way to say that the individual would be doing research.

As far as who I spoke to, I spoke to my professors and a few licensed psychologists. I also went to the APA website and went to numerous of the programs sites. I do NOT want a program that’s unaccredited.

awesome! As far as the programs I’ve found (LIU, and Adelphi) they both have 2 tracks. One of them being heavily thesis based. However I am having some difficulty finding masters programs. Other than going to various websites of institutions, which seems tiresome and not as productive as the search can be, is there another way to find master programs in psychology?


Aside from going random university site to random university site, how can I search for a masters program in psych? Is there an easier way other than just typing in random sites?

I was getting it from the university website. I went to the apa site, looked under accredited programs and then just went to a bunch of the websites.

You need to do the work to find the programs that will be what you want. No one is trying to be rude, but you’re asking people to give you information you can easily obtain yourself with a little effort. Google is a good start. I have spreadsheets and files with all my research into programs, and I am sure other people do too. The more effort you put into the search, the better your results will be. Being proactive is essential. While my program doesn’t start until the Fall, my advisor and I are already in touch and I am working on preliminary background research already. Good luck!
 
I was under the impression that a thesis was more of a scholarly based paper than research, yes, clearly I was
Mistaken. I went to a city college with little emphasis on any of this. I apologize the unintended ignorance.
Between this and most of the PhD programs you found being unfunded, you need to do a bit more investigating about what grad school in clinical psychology is like before you get invested or apply.
 
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I searched Google for "united states masters degrees in psychology" and found this master's degree finding website. I narrowed it down to on campus programs only, and here is a comprehensive list of what I am assuming is all of the campus-based psychology master degree program's in the US (and some other preparation courses or similar degrees as well).

You can use the narrow option to narrow it down to master of science programs as well.
Search Master's Programmes Worldwide - MastersPortal.com

Another way to search for programs is by googling "masters degree in psychology by state." That'll bring up degree finders that allow you to search by state and give you a comprehensive list.
 
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1. Master of arts and master of science degrees are not distinct. I wouldn't rely on that to pick a program- pick based on offerings, training, and outcomes.

2. I doubt that is a comprehensive list of all programs but it has a fair number. I would encourage you to pick states where you are interested in applying and browse by major college as well to double check. The website has a lot that are not going to be helpful as well.
 
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