Transfer credits

[UhOh]

It's my understanding that, typically, having a master's before entering a Clinical PhD program doesn't shorten one's length of time in the Clinical PhD program. I'm wondering, on average, how many credits do Clinical PhD programs allow to transfer (it seems some programs place limits on the maximum number of credits that are allowed to transfer)? Also, importantly, does anyone know of any Clinical PhD programs that allow more credits from the master's to transfer? Does anyone have a success story of entering a Clinical PhD program with a master's and completing their training more quickly because of this? Finally, has anyone gotten their transcripts [and any other information (e.g., syllabi) necessary] evaluated to determine how many credits will transfer PRIOR to accepting an offer at a Clinical PhD program? Or, on a related note, does anyone know why some Clinical PhD programs will not give accepted students information about how many of their credits will transfer prior to students accepting offers?

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[bluebluesky]

It's my understanding that, typically, having a master's before entering a Clinical PhD program doesn't shorten one's length of time in the Clinical PhD program. I'm wondering, on average, how many credits do Clinical PhD programs allow to transfer (it seems some programs place limits on the maximum number of credits that are allowed to transfer)? Also, importantly, does anyone know of any Clinical PhD programs that allow more credits from the master's to transfer? Does anyone have a success story of entering a Clinical PhD program with a master's and completing their training more quickly because of this? Finally, has anyone gotten their transcripts [and any other information (e.g., syllabi) necessary] evaluated to determine how many credits will transfer PRIOR to accepting an offer at a Clinical PhD program? Or, on a related note, does anyone know why some Clinical PhD programs will not give accepted students information about how many of their credits will transfer prior to students accepting offers?

Good questions. I think it varies by programs. As far as I know, one of the reasons that they cannot tell you how many credits of yours can be transferred is because you have to go through the instructor of the course and compare syllabi etc. They cannot just look at the transcript and decide whether the courses are equivalent or not. It's more complicated than that.

 

[Ollie123]

I'm not sure the average will be informative here, it varies widely. Even within a school, it depends on where the master's is from, what you did there in terms of research, etc. These are often decided on a case-by-case basis...we've had students who had a number of courses waived and did not have to do an additional thesis upon arriving. We've had students who had to pretty much start over.

And agree with the above RE: transfer credits. Getting waived out of courses is a process that can take weeks or months, may involve communication between the institutions, may require approval from administration, etc. Definitely not just a matter of looking at course names on the transcripts...one schools graduate stats might barely cover up through ANOVA, while another might cover that before the semester is halfway over.

 

[paramour]

+1. I recall programs that informed me I would not receive credit for anything, most things, and any anything in-between.

My program reviews its handful of master's students on a case-by-case basis after admission for both course and thesis credit (and I was not notified of this until after I was accepted).

Course credit must be approved by the current instructor of the course, who may not even be in the clinical dept. Even then, there are some courses that the program refuses to transfer (usually the clinical courses), even if they were taken previously because they want to verify that you have the same knowledge base. Most of the time, no one saves any significant amount of time with transfer credit, although one might be able to transfer a few stats classes and core electives from the other depts (e.g., social, bio, developmental, etc.). Of course, some of the instructors of those electives believe that their electives are worth retaking and refuse to give you credit, so then you're stuck taking the same stuff again anyway.

Thesis credit varies widely as well, with mostly the clinical master's students receiving credit (although even that varies dependent upon the thesis and the students' advisors). However, even if the program doesn't give you "full" credit for your thesis, as long as you have completed one, and they find it acceptable, you are only required to complete something along the lines of a master's equivalency project rather than another full-blown master's thesis... so just run out another research project and be done with it (which sounds simple enough but can turn into a living nightmare, dependent upon the project... and in the end, you're completing all/most of the same requirements as everyone else in the program anyway, without the add'l master's degree).

Due to the designed timeline of our program, the most time anyone in our program is allegedly able to "save" by having a master's degree is ONE year (although most of them are unable to do it). And, with the way that our program is starting to push the traditional (non-master's) students, even they could complete it in the same timeframe as the master's students if they really pushed themselves.

Again, this is for ONE program. It really does vary, so you would need to ask programs what their policies are for course/thesis credits during the interview process. However, I'm not sure I would really focus on this too much personally. I made it a point during my interviews to emphasize that I would be willing to re-take anything needed because there were programs that I knew of that were hesitant/unwilling to take students with master's degrees. I wanted to do whatever I needed to improve my chances and to decrease their thoughts that I was simply trying to take a short-cut through their program.

 

[paramour]

<double post>

 

[PsychAndMusic]

I have just been accepted into a PhD program after finishing up an MA. Only 9 of my 36 credits were similar to the course trajectory provided to me by my program. I put together my syllabi for those three classes and emailed them to my director of clinical training. She told me that she would review the syllabi, along with the professor that are teaching that course, and they'll let me know by the end of this month if they will transfer my credits over or not. During my interview I was told they might be able to take all three classes or they might not be able to take any, it really depends on whether the professor of that given class accepts your MA syllabi.

 

[busybusybusy]

I also have an MA and am able to transfer about 12 credits of it towards my PhD, which is great. However, one thing I worry about is that my comps will be based on what is taught in the first two years of classes at my doctoral program. This may put me at a disadvantage come time for comps and I'm debating on re-taking those classes partially for the refresher and partially so that I know what is focused on for the exam.

12 credits is not enough to really knock off a full year classes, so I'd be starting my internship/dissertation at the same time anyway and its a fully funded program so it's not like it would be costing me extra, any suggestions about this?

 

[berlin81]

I'm in a similar position as I am currently looking at getting some courses waived from the PsyD program that I will be going to in the fall (well, haven't officially made up my mind yet!). I know my school only allows up to 24 credits max to be transferred, and they will not give credit for a master's practicum. Its my understanding that most doctorate programs do not give credit for master's level practicum experience, which is understandable to me since they need to monitor how you work somewhere before you go off on a 1-2 year internship.

What previous posters said is probably right in terms of shortening up the time it takes to get through a doctorate program. I know that even if I get transfer credit on the courses I requested, it will not shorten up my time to get through the program. If anything, it will slightly lower the tuition cost and give me some extra time to hopefully work part-time. But that too is not for certain.

 

[clinicalpsyapp]

I agree with everything above, it depends on the program as well as the student. I was offered positions at programs that told me they would not accept any transfer credits and ended up accepting at a school that said they were fully open to accepting transfer credit. I ended up getting 7 credits waived (three classes, two 3 credit and a 1 credit interviewing course), as well as my master's thesis requirement. However, there were courses that other students were able to waive that I wasn't, and there were other students who have to do another thesis even though they already did one in the master's--it depends on your background and the flexibility of your advisor and DCT.

That being said, a word of warning. Although I got 3 courses waived, I applied to have about 7 courses waived. On paper, these courses appeared VERY similar, but a nitpicky professor would have an issue with something their course covers for one or two lectures, but my course didn't cover. In those cases, I attempted to appeal the waivers until I felt I had fully satisfied all of my arguments. Mostly, I just wanted to get out of clinical courses because my master's was very clinically focused and I am much more interested in research, it had nothing to do with getting out of the program early. Anyway, when my first semester feedback came back from the faculty, one of the things they said was that I was trying to rush through the program and didn't care about my experiences here as long as I got out quickly. They also commented on my lack of effort in a class that I was forced to retake (Psychopathology). So I just wanted to let my story be a word of warning to you that it can be a tricky process, and be very careful about pushing too hard, as it can rub the faculty the wrong way.

 

[Splash870]

I interviewed at three schools and they all had different policies about transferring in credits. However, all three did mention that concerning my masters thesis, as long as it was an empirical study that was proposed and defended, that will most likely transfer in. However, one school said that I would need to replace those credits with another course or research credits. Another school allows all but clinical credits to transfer in. Therefore, you still need to be there 5-6 years to complete all of your clinical hours.

As everyone else stated, it really depends on the program. Personally, I would not count on saving any additional time. It sucks, I'm right there with you, but that's the nature of the beast these days. As much as I wish I was finishing in, say, three years, I do understand why PhD's do this. If they are going to attach their degree and their school with your name, they want to make sure you're trained, well-prepared, and will represent the school well in your future profession. But boy would it be nice to not have to redo anything!