Working during 1st year? NSU PsyD

[psyddreaming]

Hi! Newbie to this website here. I am starting at Nova Southeastern University this upcoming fall (PsyD). I was recently accepted; yay! I am wondering, now, about the weekly class schedule in terms of on-campus attendance. I plan to (try to) balance my job and my classes/academic obligations but have no idea what my weekly schedule will look like... at least not until orientation, which is in August. Any advice would be much appreciated. TIA!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[WisNeuro]

Unless they've changes quite a bit, it's not recommended. Most people generally underestimate how busy they'll be in graduate school. Particularly in years 1 and 2. Additionally, the sooner you fall behind in grad school, the harder it is to climb out of that hole. Honestly, I wouldn't plan on working at all in year 1 until you get a handle on the work load. This is not the same for everyone. Some people need to spend a lot more time outside of class studying, reading, etc. Additionally, you are entering a program with large cohorts, with little differentiation between most of the students. I get 7+ applications from your program most years. The vast majority of you look the exact same on paper, with very few standing out. If I were you, I'd spend as much effort as I could to stand out, as it will increase the chances of your application being seriously considered come internship application time. If you do the minimum to just get by there, you're going to have a rough go down the line.

 

[PsyDuck90]

Does your program have a student handbook readily available? That should give you an understanding of the class schedule and such. Also, did you meet any current students on interview day who you can speak to?

My PsyD may be a little more research focused than most, but I have class 2 days a week, spend a minimum of 10-15 hours a week on research activities, and have clinical practicums on top of teaching an undergraduate level course. I'm in my 2nd year. I don't have time for a part-time job, and my cohort is pretty even on that. One person does the odd babysitting gig here and there. We're also all funded, so that makes a difference.

 

[mypointlesspov]

So I did my PsyD at another university based program and I was able to work during my first two years. It was tough at times between that, classes, practicum, and research, but it filled the gap between my stipend and the high CoL of the area. It definitely helps if you can get a job in this field though.

 

[child_psych123]

In my program, I was easily able to work during my first year as I did not have a significant amount of clinical responsibilities at that time. Coming straight from an undergraduate program, I didn't find graduate level work to be too stressful and it was certainly manageable. As I advanced in the program and took on more clients and research, it definitely became harder to balance my schedule, but it was not impossible. For me, not working wasn't an option. During my second year, I got a job at a private practice, so although I could not count my hours towards internship as I was being paid, I was able to gain experience in learning how to run a practice and I got additional testing experience. It was stressful at times, but definitely worth it for me.

 

[psych.meout]

In my program, I was easily able to work during my first year as I did not have a significant amount of clinical responsibilities at that time. Coming straight from an undergraduate program, I didn't find graduate level work to be too stressful and it was certainly manageable. As I advanced in the program and took on more clients and research, it definitely became harder to balance my schedule, but it was not impossible. For me, not working wasn't an option. During my second year, I got a job at a private practice, so although I could not count my hours towards internship as I was being paid, I was able to gain experience in learning how to run a practice and I got additional testing experience. It was stressful at times, but definitely worth it for me.

I'm not sure where you heard this, but you can absolutely count hours for which you are paid towards internship. You just need the blessing of your program and the verification of your hours by your DCT when you submit your hours to APPIC.

 

[Sanman]

Define work. I went to a funded program where no one had a real job as you signed a contract to receive a stipend. That said, fellow students did work side gigs. One taught a 6 am workout class twice a week that doubled as her workout. One bartended a few Saturdays a month. I helped out a friend who owned a business when he was short staffed. A real job with significant hours and expectations? No.

 

[deleted343839]

Hi! Newbie to this website here. I am starting at Nova Southeastern University this upcoming fall (PsyD). I was recently accepted; yay! I am wondering, now, about the weekly class schedule in terms of on-campus attendance. I plan to (try to) balance my job and my classes/academic obligations but have no idea what my weekly schedule will look like... at least not until orientation, which is in August. Any advice would be much appreciated. TIA!

Have you talked to anyone who is currently enrolled there (maybe people you met on interviews, other mentees of your advisor)? They might be able to give you some perspective. But generally speaking, I would keep outside commitments to a minimum during the first couple of years. It's not just the course schedule you would have to work around. That may be the most rigid part of your schedule, but actually sitting in a class or seminar is a relatively small percentage of your time in grad school. It's very different from undergrad where attending class and study time is more like a 1:1 ratio. Proportionately you'll do a lot more outside of scheduled course meetings as a graduate student.

 

[AbnormalPsych]

Most the students in my program worked 20-30 hours per week in the lab on grant $, teaching (TA'ing or even adjunct'n at other schools), or in various clinical or University positions doing grunt work. Everyone survived and loved the $. However, I have not come across anyone who enjoyed/was sucesful in working in non psych related jobs while in grad school. Sure it's money, but the effort can't give you more experience or help you on your CV or internship/postdoc apps as well as the other stuff.

During my second year, I got a job at a private practice, so although I could not count my hours towards internship as I was being paid

Not true, you can definitely count those hours. At least this was true when I was an intern years ago. I worked in a private practice testing, scoring, etc, for some decent $$ per hour and was able to count all my hours.

 

[WisNeuro]

I'm not sure where you heard this, but you can absolutely count hours for which you are paid towards internship. You just need the blessing of your program and the verification of your hours by your DCT when you submit your hours to APPIC.

Not true, you can definitely count those hours. At least this was true when I was an intern years ago. I worked in a private practice testing, scoring, etc, for some decent $$ per hour and was able to count all my hours.

Seems to depend on what we're counting, for assessment, this was the rule back when I applied as well.

From APPIC

"Summarize your practicum assessment experience in providing psycho diagnostic and neuropsychological assessments. You must enter the estimated total number of face-to-face client contact hours administering instruments and providing feedback to clients/patients. Do not include the activities of scoring and report writing, which should instead be included in the Support Activities section.

Do not include any practice administrations. Do not include testing experience accrued while employed. You can list this in your Curriculum Vitae instead. If you only administered a subtest(s), do not endorse the full test in this section. Rather, specify the specific subtest in the Other Measures section.

 

[CatsFan]

Seems to depend on what we're counting, for assessment, this was the rule back when I applied as well.

From APPIC

"Summarize your practicum assessment experience in providing psycho diagnostic and neuropsychological assessments. You must enter the estimated total number of face-to-face client contact hours administering instruments and providing feedback to clients/patients. Do not include the activities of scoring and report writing, which should instead be included in the Support Activities section.

Do not include any practice administrations. Do not include testing experience accrued while employed. You can list this in your Curriculum Vitae instead. If you only administered a subtest(s), do not endorse the full test in this section. Rather, specify the specific subtest in the Other Measures section.

As long as you’re receiving supervision, I would think you could count them. Some practicum sites pay so just receiving money can’t be the issue.

 

[WisNeuro]

As long as you’re receiving supervision, I would think you could count them. Some practicum sites pay so just receiving money can’t be the issue.

When our program contacted APPIC about this back in the day, we were told that hours accrued as a formal employee did not count. They stated that you could outline that work elsewhere in your application, but it did not count towards your formal hours in the intervention/assessment section. I didn't really care as I had scads of hours without counting any of my employed time. Things may have changed in the meantime, or the person who reported to us may have been wrong, but the wording above appears to clearly state that you do not count, at least assessment hours, that are accrued while formally employed.

 

[DynamicDidactic]

When our program contacted APPIC about this back in the day, we were told that hours accrued as a formal employee did not count. They stated that you could outline that work elsewhere in your application, but it did not count towards your formal hours in the intervention/assessment section. I didn't really care as I had scads of hours without counting any of my employed time. Things may have changed in the meantime, or the person who reported to us may have been wrong, but the wording above appears to clearly state that you do not count, at least assessment hours, that are accrued while formally employed.

When paid opportunities came up our clinic director always made sure to make it a point that those hours would not count for APPIC. No idea what the rule is nowadays. However, having an overly black and white view of the situation isn't the best approach either, imo.

 

[WisNeuro]

When paid opportunities came up our clinic director always made sure to make it a point that those hours would not count for APPIC. No idea what the rule is nowadays. However, having an overly black and white view of the situation isn't the best approach either, imo.

No black and white, best approach is to contact APPIC directly for guidance, which is what we did.

 

[Newropsych]

No black and white, best approach is to contact APPIC directly for guidance, which is what we did.

Agreed. I had a supplemental research practicum where I was being supervised for assessment hours and also receiving a stipend. I contacted APPIC before applying to internship to ask and they said the hours counted. Easy solution if you’re unsure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DynamicDidactic]

What I meant to say is the APPIC policy may be overly inflexible. I thought the policy was in place to separate authentic training experiences from poorly supervised, less-critical work experiences. But these aren’t mutually exclusive.

 

[AbnormalPsych]

Seems to depend on what we're counting, for assessment, this was the rule back when I applied as well.

From APPIC

"Summarize your practicum assessment experience in providing psycho diagnostic and neuropsychological assessments. You must enter the estimated total number of face-to-face client contact hours administering instruments and providing feedback to clients/patients. Do not include the activities of scoring and report writing, which should instead be included in the Support Activities section.

Do not include any practice administrations. Do not include testing experience accrued while employed. You can list this in your Curriculum Vitae instead. If you only administered a subtest(s), do not endorse the full test in this section. Rather, specify the specific subtest in the Other Measures section.

Right above that paragraph (in the APPIC instructions I have from my year):
"In this section, you should indicate all psychological assessment instruments that you used as part of your practicum experiences with actual patients/clients (columns one and two) or research participants in a clinical study (column three) through November 1. If the person you assessed was not a client, patient, or clinical research participant, then you should not include this experience in this summary. Do not include any practice administrations."

I think a major difference for me was that all my outside work was considered practicum experience as well. I made certain (and went to some pretty extensive lengths) to make sure I was always enrolled in external practicum coursework and the supervisor/instructor of record for the course was my supervisor at the outside agency/clinic. My DCT and mentor approved this and gave the green light, as well as to cont it for hours before we set up this arrangement. We did the same regular evals as other practicum students and I received grades as well. I would have had to pay $ for the course (if I wasn't already at a funded program). I think that is also a major difference from it just being an outside job for employment, with no link to formal training or supervision through the program.

 

[voyeurofthemind]

I am a graduate of that program (within the last 4 years). I was able to work the first year but I worked as a research assistant. It didn't pay well but brought some money in and also allowed me to build my vita. Work smarter not harder. I also worked a part time clinical job in the community the my third year. I was very busy but needed to bring in some money due to the lack of stipend. Non-funded program. I matched to an APA accredit program and postdoc without a problem. Good luck! Go Sharks!

 

[R. Matey]

When paid opportunities came up our clinic director always made sure to make it a point that those hours would not count for APPIC. No idea what the rule is nowadays. However, having an overly black and white view of the situation isn't the best approach either, imo.

Agreed. APPIC changes their minds often. People in my program had paid psychotherapy positions that they counted as practicum experiences. Our DCT checked with APPiC before giving the go ahead. The was as recent as last year.

That said, my experience in grad school was that the more competitive training positions are unpaid. So, the OP might be short changing themselves by not fully investing themselves in their studies. That was my experience of students who took on paid side-gigs. They tended to publish/present less and be less competitive for specialized training.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk