What is the coursework like

[BankyJones]

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I'm trying to prepare myself for the challenges of grad school. First and foremost i would like anyone who's been in a psy d program to give me an idea of what i am to face once i begin grad school. Things that would help me are what are the reading assignments like, what kind of papers will i have to write (length) and how often. Also what are the exams going to be like? Stuff like that, how much time do i have to put in to study?

 

[DrMikeP]

I'm trying to prepare myself for the challenges of grad school. First and foremost i would like anyone who's been in a psy d program to give me an idea of what i am to face once i begin grad school. Things that would help me are what are the reading assignments like, what kind of papers will i have to write (length) and how often. Also what are the exams going to be like? Stuff like that, how much time do i have to put in to study?

It varies widely depending on the school and if you want to be highly competitive for a good internship. I studied/worked on papers/protocols 10-20hrs/week outside of class for the typical week.

I also did research/a dissertation, TA'd, engaged in program development, was a research assistant, etc. I was in a psyd program that didn't require all of that but I wanted the best opportunities for a good internship.

You'll typically have a ton of reading (2-5 books per class and 3-4 classes/term), papers (5-30 pages in most classes, sometimes 1/wk and sometimes 1/class), psych reports to write (1/wk or 2 wks), and tests (varies w/some classes 5/term and some 1 cum final); labs to learn psych testing, therapy, etc (2-8 hrs/week); practicums starting year 2 (10-20hrs/wk); clinical competency exams (1 or 2 you must pass or you're out); sometimes a written comp exam (must pass or ur out); some schools require a research project/dissertation (could be a real research project or lit review or just a long paper - 25~150 pages).

I know of some psyd schools (not just the traditional diploma mill ones) that students get away with less than 3 hrs outside of class a week. But again, you want to be competitive for a good internship so make yourself a phd looking psyd with 800+ patient contact hours.

Best of Luck!

 

[deleted343839]

There are a few "day in the life of a graduate student" threads on this board that you can probably find with a quick search. They tend to represent PhD programs a little more, but they still have some useful information.

 

[smalltownpsych]

I don't know how much variance there is between program as far as workload goes, but for us we had a heavy workload and at times were stretched past our limits. What Dr. Mike P. described was very similar to my own experience. Writing a 10-20 page paper was standard for most classes. For assessment classes, we would have several assessment reports of varying lengths. Reading 5 to 10 articles a week, a chapter or two for each class per week. Clinical competency exam that involved actual recordings and transcriptions of actual sessions, two separate papers, and an oral examination. Dissertation with proposal, IRB, lit review, participants (or archival data for some), data analysis, and full write up of results. Mine was about 200 pages with 100 references. While doing this you are learning how to be a psychologist at your practicum sites and integrating the knowledge from class into your clinical practice and vice versa. It is a very challenging and demanding process and learning effective self-care, time management, and coping is essential.

 

[BankyJones]

Wow this is all useful info thank you folks, so in other words a LOT of work lol.

 

[ClinicalABA]

Wow this is all useful info thank you folks, so in other words a LOT of work lol.

There may be programs out there that are not a lot of work and have much less expectations of their students. If you are considering (or in) such a program, remember that you will be competing with students with experiences like smalltownpsych mentions. Those students (who's applications will be in the same pile as yours), on the whole, will be better trained and better prepared than you.

 

[DrMikeP]

There may be programs out there that are not a lot of work and have much less expectations of their students. If you are considering (or in) such a program, remember that you will be competing with students with experiences like smalltownpsych mentions. Those students (who's applications will be in the same pile as yours), on the whole, will be better trained and better prepared than you.

This is such an invaluable statement!! I've read a TON of internship applications and there are only a limited number of students who stick out positively. Most have the same basic experiences and even worse a good portion are those who have done just enough to get by. I objectively score intern applicants prior to interview and take away points automatically for less than a 3.75 grad school gpa, someone who has a B in practicum, doesn't have any presentations, has LORs that say things like the student attended class but that don't somehow say they went above expectations, etc. I can't ever remember interviewing anyone with less than a 3.25 gpa. So work to put yourself in the top 10% of your class.

 

[EmotRegulation]

This is such an invaluable statement!! I've read a TON of internship applications and there are only a limited number of students who stick out positively. Most have the same basic experiences and even worse a good portion are those who have done just enough to get by. I objectively score intern applicants prior to interview and take away points automatically for less than a 3.75 grad school gpa, someone who has a B in practicum, doesn't have any presentations, has LORs that say things like the student attended class but that don't somehow say they went above expectations, etc. I can't ever remember interviewing anyone with less than a 3.25 gpa. So work to put yourself in the top 10% of your class.

I mean, top 10% might matter for PsyD programs but it won't for PhD programs. If there are only 5 people in your cohort, the top 10% is the top person, and often students have different strengths that they figure out throughout grad school. I'm also not sure how much grad school GPA should count (though full disclosure, I am not an internship faculty member but a PhD program faculty member). The number of courses is less than for undergrad, some professors are notoriously difficult, and many programs have a bunch of pass/fail courses (e.g., practicum), so getting a few Bs shouldn't hurt anything. I'm pretty sure I would feel the same way if I were an internship faculty member, which highlights how different people can be when reviewing applications (either for grad school or internships).

 

[DrMikeP]

I mean, top 10% might matter for PsyD programs but it won't for PhD programs. If there are only 5 people in your cohort, the top 10% is the top person, and often students have different strengths that they figure out throughout grad school. I'm also not sure how much grad school GPA should count (though full disclosure, I am not an internship faculty member but a PhD program faculty member). The number of courses is less than for undergrad, some professors are notoriously difficult, and many programs have a bunch of pass/fail courses (e.g., practicum), so getting a few Bs shouldn't hurt anything. I'm pretty sure I would feel the same way if I were an internship faculty member, which highlights how different people can be when reviewing applications (either for grad school or internships).

Some PhD programs are sadly imo know for producing 20-30 students along with their 100 psyds.

That said, quite a few smaller PhD programs produce great researchers but their clinical skills are horrible. I have worked with some that have no clinical assessment or no therapy skills and they are just trying to jump through a hoop to get their doctorate.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[deleted760483]

I did both a masters and a PsyD and I recall at my orientations for both, meeting with current students, they discussed the workload with a mix of reverence and dread. I heard stories of people sleeping in their offices, having no social life and no time for self-care, and the like. I've come to conclude those people were either liars or just incredibly inefficient. I was able to manage a healthy work/life balance and still did very well in school. It is a different kind of work (more in depth, more practice, more critical thinking required), but I didn't find the workload itself drastically different from undergrad, other than things like internship or comps.

 

[smalltownpsych]

I did both a masters and a PsyD and I recall at my orientations for both, meeting with current students, they discussed the workload with a mix of reverence and dread. I heard stories of people sleeping in their offices, having no social life and no time for self-care, and the like. I've come to conclude those people were either liars or just incredibly inefficient. I was able to manage a healthy work/life balance and still did very well in school. It is a different kind of work (more in depth, more practice, more critical thinking required), but I didn't find the workload itself drastically different from undergrad, other than things like internship or comps.

Yeah, there are always the overly dramatic horror stories by the veterans to the newbies. 😀 It is a little like the dynamic of "I used to walk ten miles in the snow to school." Grad school was hard work and demanding, but I work much harder now as a full-time psychologist. I do think it was way more challenging than undergrad which for me was easier than the college prep high school I attended. Schedule classes starting at ten, work a few hours here and there, stay up late, sleep in, write up some drivel for a liberal arts class, cram a little for finals, after getting copies of the extensive lecture notes from the more obsessive detail oriented friend who showed up to class every day.

 

[FadedC]

I did a MA and a PhD, the PhD was definitely more work overall, but it did vary from semester to semester. Some classes were a massive amount of work and some were very easy. The PhD was a more supportive environment than the MA though, with less emphasis on competition and weeding out people and more emphasis on making sure we learned what we needed to know to be a good clinician.

One thing I do remember in my PhD program is that many teachers gave huge amounts of reading assignments which were never later referenced at any point in class or on any test or paper. How people responded to those reading assignments could have a huge effect on whether their work load was manageable or not. Some people ignored them, which dramatically reduced their work load, but may have also reduced their training quality. Others did all of them and became massively oveloaded with work, which I suspect also reduced their retention and training quality. I personally feel that learning to achieve a reasonable balance here is important.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I did a MA and a PhD, the PhD was definitely more work overall, but it did vary from semester to semester. Some classes were a massive amount of work and some were very easy. The PhD was a more supportive environment than the MA though, with less emphasis on competition and weeding out people and more emphasis on making sure we learned what we needed to know to be a good clinician.

One thing I do remember in my PhD program is that many teachers gave huge amounts of reading assignments which were never later referenced at any point in class or on any test or paper. How people responded to those reading assignments could have a huge effect on whether their work load was manageable or not. Some people ignored them, which dramatically reduced their work load, but may have also reduced their training quality. Others did all of them and became massively oveloaded with work, which I suspect also reduced their retention and training quality. I personally feel that learning to achieve a reasonable balance here is important.

+1. The "divide and conquer" approach can also be helpful--distribute the readings across a handful of students and meet weekly/bimonthly/whatever so that each person can summarize key points of the material they read.

 

[PsyDr]

First they bring you into this huge room to sort you into different subspecialities. There was some weird thing with a hat, but i forget how that worked out. Then you get put into classes. The books and lab fees are killer, but you can't just buy this stuff anywhere. The defense against the dark arts professor is almost always bad news. The potions guy seems like a jerk, but he's rooting for you. They emphasize the coursework, but the dean assigns points at the end of the year which makes it all meaningless. I would not volunteer for the tournament thing. Some kid died in my year.