Will the APA Ever Cap the # of Programs It Accredits?

[edieb]

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It seems like every time I turn around, I see someone posting that they are attending a new professional school program that is on its way to being accredited.???? Does anybody know if APA ever will cap the number of schools being accredited??? With the internship crisis and the relative glut of psychologists, this really seems ridiculous..

I renewed my APA membership last week just so I could vote and have a voice in the association, but I am becoming very disenchanted with the organiztion...

 

[MrQuack]

What's a professional program?

Oh yeah, those ones that make it so when you tell a Ph.D. you have a Psy.D. you have to abruptly explain that you went to one of the 5 or 6 "good" program that have yet to become Ph.D. programs and that the rest of the professional programs are terrible, then you laugh nervously. Afterward, that Ph.D. you talked to mentions your conversation to another Ph.D. and they both share a haughty laugh because they are just confused about the whole situation and will never take the time to understand it.

Oh, thooose programs. I like the increasing number because it puts pressure on those last bastions of decent Psy.D. programs to convert to Ph.D. programs. Examples so far include Central Michigan University and soon to be Standford Consortium or w/e it's called. I think Rutgers and IU will follow them pretty soon.

 

[aequitasveritas]

uh oh...here comes the PhD/Psy.D debate.

MrQuack, although I agree with some of your assertions, a quick search in SDN will produce many threads in this topic where you could add to an existing debate rather than nose-dive a new thread.

Ur new to SDN so u get a rookie pass this time

 

[MrQuack]

uh oh...here comes the PhD/Psy.D debate.

MrQuack, although I agree with some of your assertions, a quick search in SDN will produce many threads in this topic where you could add to an existing debate rather than nose-dive a new thread.

Ur new to SDN so u get a rookie pass this time

*slinks away and watches people kill each other* 😉

 

[2012PhD]

What's a professional program?

Oh yeah, those ones that make it so when you tell a Ph.D. you have a Psy.D. you have to abruptly explain that you went to one of the 5 or 6 "good" program that have yet to become Ph.D. programs and that the rest of the professional programs are terrible, then you laugh nervously. Afterward, that Ph.D. you talked to mentions your conversation to another Ph.D. and they both share a haughty laugh because they are just confused about the whole situation and will never take the time to understand it.

Oh, thooose programs. I like the increasing number because it puts pressure on those last bastions of decent Psy.D. programs to convert to Ph.D. programs. Examples so far include Central Michigan University and soon to be Standford Consortium or w/e it's called. I think Rutgers and IU will follow them pretty soon.

Nice try....but all those professional programs that admit a million students like Argosy and Alliant also have PhD programs with a million students and bad outcomes. I just recently found out that 50% of both PHD and PsyD's these days are coming out of these professional schools. Its really not a PhD vs. PsyD thing, but a proliferation of professional programs in general. The PhD has been dumbed down just as much at many of these sub par programs.

 

[futureapppsy2]

I think Rutgers and IU will follow them pretty soon.

Rutgers already has a PsyD as well as a PhD. And I take it you're referring to Indiana University of Pennsylvania? Indiana U-Bloomington and IUPUI are both fairly to very research-oriented PhD programs....

 

[MrQuack]

Nice try....but all those professional programs that admit a million students like Argosy and Alliant also have PhD programs with a million students and bad outcomes. I just recently found out that 50% of both PHD and PsyD's these days are coming out of these professional schools. Its really not a PhD vs. PsyD thing, but a proliferation of professional programs in general. The PhD has been dumbed down just as much at many of these sub par programs.

Point taken. What would you say makes a sub par PhD program? 15+ cohorts? Match rate (obviously)?

And to another poster, I was referring to IU of Pen, sorry for the lack of concision.

 

[aequitasveritas]

not in rank order...

1. Admission standards
2. Match rates
3. Financial debt upon graduation
4. proportion of unpaid non-APA internship matches
5. Stupid electives that are required only to charge tuition
6. Lack of research stricture
7. Lack of 1:1 mentoring

 

[MrQuack]

Indeed.

I think a lack of 1:1 mentoring is a big factor. A lot of people will tout their PsyD or sometimes PhD program, but some of those programs, when you look at their websites, have app. 25 kids in a single cohort.

I think your success is going to be an uphill battle when you have that type of mentorship model. I don't understand these "community" models. I'm looking out for number 1 and in the real world I'm on my own.

 

[Buzzwordsoldier]

Indeed.

I think a lack of 1:1 mentoring is a big factor. A lot of people will tout their PsyD or sometimes PhD program, but some of those programs, when you look at their websites, have app. 25 kids in a single cohort.

I think your success is going to be an uphill battle when you have that type of mentorship model. I don't understand these "community" models. I'm looking out for number 1 and in the real world I'm on my own.

I'm thinking of Daniel Levinson's work on the life structure. Assuming the average clinical psychology student is under 45 years old, suggesting that the only, or even the most important, opportunity for mentorship will be during graduate school is somewhat limited.

 

[aequitasveritas]

I'm thinking of Daniel Levinson's work on the life structure. Assuming the average clinical psychology student is under 45 years old, suggesting that the only, or even the most important, opportunity for mentorship will be during graduate school is somewhat limited.

I agree of course. Yet I think a case can be made that having a grad school mentor is better than not having one.

This also depends on career trajectory. I will likely not use my research proclivities that much except to consume and potentially publish a few times. Mostly I'm going into private psychoanalytic practice and I was lucky to have a mentor in the form of my psych assistant supervisor. This was not associated with my university and it turned out to be where I learned more than grad school dreck or internship bologna could ever drum into my resistant skull.

 

[PsyDLICSW]

Rutgers already has a PsyD as well as a PhD. And I take it you're referring to Indiana University of Pennsylvania? Indiana U-Bloomington and IUPUI are both fairly to very research-oriented PhD programs....

Indiana State and the university of indianapolis have PsyDs too