Possible of Negatives for attending newer Psy.D program.

[PsychCrazied]

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Hello, I'm not sure if this is the proper place to post this but I'm figured that I would post it anyway (sorry, if it belongs somewhere else). I was looking at Counseling Psychology programs after my masters in counseling. I was looking at Radford University's Counseling Psych Psy.D. I believe that it's a newer program (I believe it only had one or two graduating class). It was recently APA accredited and fully funded, which I noticed (based on other post) as taking care of the normal red flags.

I was just wondering if anyone had any possible drawbacks for me to consider from attending a newer program?

 

[erg923]

Not much so long as its APA accredited. I do have concerns about the continued development of more doctoral program in counseling and clinical psychology though. Is this really needed?! We are already have huge imbalance of supply vs demand at the internship level. The key to correcting the imbalance is to produce less psychologists, not more.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Funded and accredited are both good, yep. You'll also want to see what little outcome data they have thus far (i.e., what are the APA-accredited internship placement rates of the one or two graduating classes).

The main drawback to newer programs is that not many other places (if any) will have heard of them, so this could serve as a disadvantage when applying for internships, postdocs, and possibly jobs. However, just because the program is new doesn't necessarily mean that its faculty aren't well-respected. If there are a few folks there who are relatively well-known in their fields, even if it's only locally, that could go a long way toward helping our networking efforts further down the line.

Beyond that, you'll of course want to apply to more than one program if at all possible.

 

[MCParent]

Hello, I'm not sure if this is the proper place to post this but I'm figured that I would post it anyway (sorry, if it belongs somewhere else). I was looking at Counseling Psychology programs after my masters in counseling. I was looking at Radford University's Counseling Psych Psy.D. I believe that it's a newer program (I believe it only had one or two graduating class). It was recently APA accredited and fully funded, which I noticed (based on other post) as taking care of the normal red flags.

I was just wondering if anyone had any possible drawbacks for me to consider from attending a newer program?

See if they were able to recruit at least one or two established people as core faculty, and get to know them so they can write you good letters down the line. Apa accredited + fully funded sounds good to me. Often new programs try to lure an established person to be chair.

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

See if they were able to recruit at least one or two established people as core faculty, and get to know them so they can write you good letters down the line. Apa accredited + fully funded sounds good to me. Often new programs try to lure an established person to be chair.

This OP. You should be good, but apply to several at the very least.

 

[PsychCrazied]

Thanks to all of you! I did apply to multiple schools (10 of them). I was just thinking ahead to the future and wondering if there was anything else that I didn't consider when looking at this school (or possible things to ask in an interview).

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

Virginia Tech is 20 minutes from Radford and a much better program.

Unless they want to attend Radford.

 

[MCParent]

The OP said they are fully funded, and the web site supports this.
http://www.radford.edu/content/chbs...udent-Admissions-Outcomes-and-Other-Data.html

Actually, read the program's FAQ. It's pretty awesome.

http://www.radford.edu/content/chbs/home/psychology/programs/counseling/faqs.html

Basically:
-No, you can't do this program half time. No, you can't work somewhere else and do this. Yes, you will go full-time. Yes, you will do math.

It looks from the program web site that it is dedicated mostly to rural mental health practice. Looks to me like the sort of program all PsyDs should be (involves research, funds, focuses on practice within a specific and needed area).

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

Interesting. I should have checked it out. Being a private university and a new psyD program, I figured this was just another money grab. Though VT is still obviously more established and also a clinical science program.

See not all Psy.D.s are bad Jon!

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I'm rooting for a program like this and for Argosy/Alliant/Walden to get sued into oblivion.

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

I'm rooting for a program like this and for Argosy/Alliant/Walden to get sued into oblivion.

Regardless of what we agree on, I am quite interested in seeing how all of this turns out in the near future.

 

[Mallie]

I am happy to offer my experience, as I am a graduate of Radford's PsyD program. The program is small (5 students max per year), housed within the psych department, is fully funded, requires a dissertation, and is mostly run like a PhD program plus you get the additional clinical training that is the hallmark of PsyD programs. It is also a public university. As you have already noted, there is a ton of information on the website. Some of the newer stuff that is not yet posted: We have graduated 6 students so far and 5 of us are already LCPs (the 6th student is a recent grad and I don't believe she has taken the EPPP yet). APA internship match rates are a bit skewed for the 2nd cohort of students because 2/3 of us chose to specifically attend a non-APA accredited internship site that was affiliated with our training program. For example, I withdrew from the match to land my dream training site (which has since turned into my dream job). 3/3 of us attended APPIC sites (2nd cohort) and 3/3 of the 1st year cohort matched with APA sites. I imagine that the trend of matching with APA sites will continue with future cohorts of students. The program practically demands research, pubs, presentations, etc., in addition to a lot of clinical training hours so we are competitive in the match process.

The program is a lot to cram into 3 years (plus an internship) but the training was phenomenal and I would recommend it without reservation. I'm happy to answer any specific questions anyone may have.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I'd be concerned with the "cram into 3 years" part because I just don't think that is feasible for doctoral training, but the rest sounds like exactly what the Vail Model intended.

 

[QAsPsych]

Good luck to you, OP!

Interesting. I should have checked it out. Being a private university and a new psyD program, I figured this was just another money grab. Though VT is still obviously more established and also a clinical science program.

Given the extremely competitive nature of the application process and the extraordinarily low odds of getting into any one particular school, it seems a bit silly to say to somebody, "Oh, X is nearby and much better, you should go there instead."

 

[MCParent]

plus you get the additional clinical training that is the hallmark of PsyD programs.

As is frequently mentioned on this forum, this is a complete myth. But, good if that is a strength of the program.

http://www.appic.org/Match/MatchStatistics/ApplicantSurvey2011Part3.aspx

Doctoral practicum hours reported on the AAPI:

Ph.D. Psy.D.
Doctoral Intervention Hours
Median 602 540
Mean 650 576
St. Dev. 348 293

Doctoral Assessment Hours
Median 167 122
Mean 225 163
St. Dev. 202 162

Doctoral Supervision Hours
Median 347 262
Mean 377 284
St. Dev. 186 149

 

[nessa34]

I'd be concerned with the "cram into 3 years" part because I just don't think that is feasible for doctoral training, but the rest sounds like exactly what the Vail Model intended.

It looks like they require a master's degree before entering, though, so three years for the doctorate only (+ internship year) seems fine.

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[xXIDaShizIXx]

It looks like they require a master's degree before entering, though, so three years for the doctorate only (+ internship year) seems fine.

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It seems that people aren't looking at the website thoroughly.