Pros & Cons: Dept of Psychology or Dept of Education Counseling Psych PhD?

[lexxdogg]

Hello! I am graduating this December with an undergrad in Psychology.

I am applying for PhD Counseling Psych programs. Out of the three programs I in looking into, one of the programs is housed in the Psychology Department. This struck me as different, as most programs are typically housed in the Education Department.

Does anyone know of any pros or cons to completing a program under the Psychology Department versus the Education Department? I don't want to find out there are caveats that I knew nothing about...

My ultimate career goals are to provide counseling services for everyday people who are dealing with problems, (NOT serious mental disorders) within my own practice, OR provide services for people who are on insurance (i.e. being on a list of providers for insurance companies). My secondary goals (if the primary doesn't play out) are to teach in the university system, and a final resort (but not as attractive) is to conduct research. All of these goals are ones I HOPE will allow me to make a modest and steady amount of money.

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[lexxdogg]

Just doing a bump.

And I looked everywhere on the threads, couldn't find the topic 🙁

 

[JockNerd]

My experience during applications was that Counseling Psych programs housed in Ed depts. were more likely to have less teaching opportunity (because there's no real education undergrad, like there is with a psych undergrad). Some of them also award Doctorates of Education, not Philosophy, which can be harder to explain to people on job searches and to clients.

One thing--research is not a "last resort" career. You aren't going to fall backwards into an academic position.

 

[aagman01]

I am enrolled within a college of education. We get a doctorate of philosophy degree (not a Ed.D). Our transcripts state "Educational Psychology".

Also, I should also mention that I and many within our program have experiences teaching at the university. We gain these experiences by teaching both undergrad ed psych courses, courses in the psych department, and also classes for between 1 and 3 credits for 1st year college students (i.e. a 1 credit class on "Study Skills in College").

Programs housed in psychology tend to be more research-orientated than are programs housed within education, though that is certainly not always the case.

Most in counseling psych are still involved fairly heavily in research (in my program, minimum requirements are participation for at least 2 years on at least 2 research teams). With all of that said, JockNerd is right - if you are thinking you want to "fall back" into research or university teaching, you should (no offense) learn more about the field. Since it seems that you are more interested in practice than research, you may also want to consider a psyd degree (or finding an actual ed.d degree, although there are actually very few of those around nowadays).

Good luck!

My experience during applications was that Counseling Psych programs housed in Ed depts. were more likely to have less teaching opportunity (because there's no real education undergrad, like there is with a psych undergrad). Some of them also award Doctorates of Education, not Philosophy, which can be harder to explain to people on job searches and to clients.

One thing--research is not a "last resort" career. You aren't going to fall backwards into an academic position.

 

[JockNerd]

I am enrolled within a college of education. We get a doctorate of philosophy degree (not a Ed.D). Our transcripts state "Educational Psychology".

I wrote that SOME Ed-housed programs give an Ed.D. That's true, and it is an important consideration for a future career.

Also, I should also mention that I and many within our program have experiences teaching at the university. We gain these experiences by teaching both undergrad ed psych courses, courses in the psych department, and also classes for between 1 and 3 credits for 1st year college students (i.e. a 1 credit class on "Study Skills in College").

Again, YMMV. The 1 Ed-housed Counselinh psych place I interviewed at had NO teaching opportunities. Yours sounds a lot more accommodating. In retrospect I would have asked this question to training directors via email before even applying to a program. I don't plan on a teaching career, but it's important to show you can do it.

 

[hkusp]

In my experience, there is really no benefit to the CP program being housed in either the Dept of Psych or Dept of Education. It is largely a function of the individual university's political organization.

My program was housed administratively in the College of Education, but the Department of Psychology. Teaching and research opportunities abounded. However, my program was actually built like a clinical psychology program rather than a counseling psychology program.

You really will need to communicate extensively with each university to find out the nuances. Simply ask them about the organizational policies that caused them to be in either education or psychology, or in my university, both.