Phd with less concentration on research

[PsychBoxe]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I am interested in eventually getting a Psy D, but would like to know if there are any clinical psych PhD programs that have more of a focus on clinical work than research. I know some of these schools are out there, any help would be great

 

[cara susanna]

Re: the guide, if you mean the Insider's Guide's ratings, they're not always accurate.

Before I give my list, I just want to say that none of these programs ignore research. It's just that they emphasize clinical training just as much as they emphasize research.

The first three of these I actually interviewed at, and they all claimed that they don't mind if their students want to be clinicians

Eastern Michigan University
University of North Dakota
American University
University of Montana - apparently it depends on your POI, though
University of Kentucky - didn't interview there, but cardamom seemed to back me up on this perception, and their website states it

 

[irish80122]

If you are into older adults the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs is a nice PhD program. It is clinically-focused and has good funding (or at least did as of a few years ago).

 

[thirdeye99]

The first that comes to mind is University of Texas - Southwestern Medical School. I interviewed there a couple months ago, and it's basically a PsyD program masquerading as a PhD program. Which isn't a bad thing if that is what you are looking for, just too clinically-focused for my needs. Has a built-in, captive internship in your 3rd and 4th years. The faculty seemed very receptive/attentive to the students needs & well-being, and the students seemed happy. You would get strong clinical training, and access to a number of patient populations that come with being affiliated with a hospital and large city in Dallas.

Others that come to mind:
University of Missouri - St. Louis
Ohio University
University of Vermont
Wayne State
Eastern Michigan
possibly Nova Southeastern - you might ask Therapist4Change about the focus of their PhD program.

Nova is not funded, UT Southwestern has a stipend beginning 2nd year but no tuition remission, Wayne State is partially funded I believe, and the other 4 are fully funded.

 

[mshbe]

I'm a PhD student at Nova Southeastern, and in my experience I'd say it's fairly balanced. I also believe that Long Island University has a pretty clinically oriented PhD.

 

[okayroots06]

you may want to consider northwestern at feinberg medical center. northwestern has two clinical psychology ph.d programs and the evanston campus has a strong emphasis on research. the feinberg campus is about 50-50 instead of 80% research and 20% clinical work.

 

[okayroots06]

i also forgot to mention that the feinberg campus doesn't guarantee funding all 4 years.

 

[GradStudent87]

I don't know much about schools outside of the NYC area but I know Adelphi University and City University are both PhD's with a relative emphasis on clinical training especially Adelphi. Adelphi is extremely psychodynamic. City University is also leaning toward psychodynamic but their are other orientations mixed in.

 

[Wildcat06]

I second the Feinberg suggestion. Also one that's not mentioned much but that seemed to be very balanced when I interviewed there was UMass - Amherst.

 

[KillerDiller]

Also one that's not mentioned much but that seemed to be very balanced when I interviewed there was UMass - Amherst.

Really? I interviewed there as well and my impression then and now is that they are fairly research oriented.

 

[ladysky61]

Interesting about UT-Southwestern. It actually sounds like it will fit my needs exactly! Do you know what theoretical orientation(s) they have? I can't seem to gauge from the website.

Also, it only takes 5 years to complete! Wow.

The first that comes to mind is University of Texas - Southwestern Medical School. I interviewed there a couple months ago, and it's basically a PsyD program masquerading as a PhD program. Which isn't a bad thing if that is what you are looking for, just too clinically-focused for my needs. Has a built-in, captive internship in your 3rd and 4th years. The faculty seemed very receptive/attentive to the students needs & well-being, and the students seemed happy. You would get strong clinical training, and access to a number of patient populations that come with being affiliated with a hospital and large city in Dallas.

Others that come to mind:
University of Missouri - St. Louis
Ohio University
University of Vermont
Wayne State
Eastern Michigan
possibly Nova Southeastern - you might ask Therapist4Change about the focus of their PhD program.

Nova is not funded, UT Southwestern has a stipend beginning 2nd year but no tuition remission, Wayne State is partially funded I believe, and the other 4 are fully funded.

 

[hereandnow]

The University of Tennessee seems very strong to me clinically.
More info here: http://web.utk.edu/~welsh/clinical/tnmodel.shtml

 

[Wildcat06]

Really? I interviewed there as well and my impression then and now is that they are fairly research oriented.

I guess for me it was because at least half the students I met openly professed that they planned on being clinicians.

 

[coloradocutter]

Auburn was also pretty open about their students becoming clinicians in the interviews and in the presentation - it was a 3 in the Insider's Guide also.

 

[Illuminist]

I am interested in eventually getting a Psy D, but would like to know if there are any clinical psych PhD programs that have more of a focus on clinical work than research. I know some of these schools are out there, any help would be great

This might sound strange based on the public image put out there, but I would recommend the Boston University clinical phd program. My cousin graduated from the CARD clinic side of that program several years ago, and she said that all she did was clinical work. A warning is that it sounded highly exploitative and she struggled to do her diss- but if clinical practitioner work is what you are looking for, that might be a good place to try. The bad news is that it is extremely hard to get into- just look at the stats in any of those grad guides.

 

[Psy01]

This might sound strange based on the public image put out there, but I would recommend the Boston University clinical phd program. My cousin graduated from the CARD clinic side of that program several years ago, and she said that all she did was clinical work. A warning is that it sounded highly exploitative and she struggled to do her diss-

Can you expound on this a bit?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

possibly Nova Southeastern - you might ask Therapist4Change about the focus of their PhD program.

Nova is not funded, UT Southwestern has a stipend beginning 2nd year but no tuition remission, Wayne State is partially funded I believe, and the other 4 are fully funded.

Good training and faculty, but the funding issues make it so I can't recommend it to anyone.

 

[Illuminist]

Can you expound on this a bit?

I talked to her awhile ago about it but she said the clinical work was so heavy that she took way too many yrs to finish her diss (can't remember how many). Like I said on another thread I have a good friend right now at UPenn who said there was a similar environment there. I was just trying to warn people about certain types of programs because some can be misleading. But if clinical work is your thing and you want tons of it in a doc progrm + are a self starter it might actually be a good place for you.

By exploitative I say in the sense of poor or bare minimum supervision & training- more of a big business where they rake in tons of data and big bucks off students' backs and don't care so much about quality of treatment. That and bait-&-switch tactics where they lie about how much research you will get into and ram you up the wazoo with patient after patient and then faculty not wanting to take time to provide oversight. There are rumors of one other place like that too out here on the west coast. _BUT_ this is info I got word of mouth, so you shouldnt use this as the only truth. I would get other opinions and talk to other people. But yeah, I heard some real horror stories from my cousin about bu, but she was also more of research-y mind and was tired of clinical fast. I am lucky to be at a place now where I have a very good balance b/w prac and sci.

 

[Psy01]

By exploitative I say in the sense of poor or bare minimum supervision & training- more of a big business where they rake in tons of data and big bucks off students' backs and don't care so much about quality of treatment.That and bait-&-switch tactics where they lie about how much research you will get into and ram you up the wazoo with patient after patient and then faculty not wanting to take time to provide oversight.

I was talking to a student down at Yale a couple weeks ago, and she worked for a while in one of the faculty members labs there. She said something similar, about how this faculty member can be difficult to have as an advisor. She said that the students under him need to be really assertive with getting what they need (even with getting him to meet you if you had an appointment, bc apparently he either cancels or just plain misses them a lot). It sounded like, as least with this guy, the "mentorship" was not really there.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I was talking to a student down at Yale a couple weeks ago, and she worked for a while in one of the faculty members labs there. She said something similar, about how this faculty member can be difficult to have as an advisor. She said that the students under him need to be really assertive with getting what they need (even with getting him to meet you if you had an appointment, bc apparently he either cancels or just plain misses them a lot). It sounded like, as least with this guy, the "mentorship" was not really there.