Graduate School Overview

This page is intended to provide information for students interested in attending graduate school in clinical or counseling psychology at either the masters or doctoral level.

Note: You should consult multiple people familiar with the graduate school application process (e.g., professors, academic advisor) as well as closely examine printed materials and websites described on this site and others.

Graduate Degree Options

The variety of graduate training options can seem overwhelming for students with interest in the clinical arena. The following is not meant to be a comprehensive list of the various degrees available, but should show that students have plenty of choices. Please note that this page will only discuss clinical and counseling psychology masters and doctoral programs, but that the discussion is likely relevant to many of the other fields listed below.

• Clinical Psychology (Ph.D., Psy.D., or Masters)
• Counseling Psychology (Ph.D., Psy.D., or Masters)
• School Psychology (Ph.D., Psy.D., or Masters)
• Psychiatry (M.D.)
• Combined Clinical and/or Counseling and/or School Psychology (Ph.D. or Psy.D.)
• Social Work (M.S.W. or D.S.W.)
• School Counseling (Masters)
• Rehabilitation Counseling (Masters or Ph.D.)
• Marriage and Family Counseling (Ph.D. or Masters)
• Music Therapy (Ph.D. or Masters)
• Alcohol and Drug Counseling (Certificate or Masters)

Masters Versus Doctoral Programs

In order to simplify a very complicated process, I will discuss masters and doctoral programs separately. Note that doctoral programs in clinical psychology are generally as competitive or more competitive than programs in medicine or law, meaning that for many graduate programs, there are often literally hundreds of applicants competing for just a handful of available openings. Masters programs offer a much higher rate of acceptance, while most Psy.D. programs are somewhere in between masters and Ph.D. programs in terms of competitiveness of admissions.

• A rough outline of what is expected of competitive applicants for Ph.D. programs.
• A rough outline of what is expected of competitive applicants for masters programs.

Competitiveness of Program Types

Note that, in general, the order of competitiveness goes as follows, starting with the most competitive:

1. Clinical Ph.D.
2. Counseling Ph.D.
3. Clinical Psy.D. at traditional university (e.g., Indiana State University)
4. Clinical Psy.D. at nontraditional university (e.g., Argosy University)
5. Masters in clinical/counseling

Ph.D. Versus Psy.D.

In general, the Ph.D. degree offers substantially more research training and experience than the Psy.D. degree. This makes Ph.D. graduates generally more competitive for academic positions in which research is a significant part of the job. Psy.D. training places more emphasis on the development of clinical skills, though Ph.D. programs also emphasize clinical skill development.

Many Psy.D. degrees are offered by "freestanding" universities (e.g., Argosy University), which are not connected to a traditional university. These universities typically offer much less financial aid in terms of paid teaching and/or research opportunities (usually referred to as "assistantships"). Psy.D. programs offered by traditional universities (e.g., Indiana State University) typically offer fairly competitive packages in terms of teaching and research assistanships for incoming students.

Highly Helpful Links

This site is meant as a basic outline in the graduate school application. For more details, you should see the following links.

ψ   Graduate Study in Psychology. This is an excellent site. From the seven deadly sins of applying to graduate schools to things that make applicants look good and so much more, this site is an absolute must for the serious applicant.

ψ   Applying to Psychology Grad Schools. Also a good site -- more comprehensive than my site, but perhaps not as in-depth as the Graduate Study in Psychology site.

ψ   I have provided a brief list of my answers to frequently asked questions about the graduate school application process. It is not as comprehensive as the content found at the above links.

Highly Helpful Books

ψ   Any student who is seriously contemplating doctoral study in clinical or counseling psychology should get a copy of the Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology. It has received very high reviews.

ψ   The APA Graduate Study in Psychology book contains information on masters and doctoral programs in psychology, including clinical and counseling psychology related programs. Highly recommended.

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Disclaimer: The content and opinions represented in this site are not necessarily those of Metropolitan State University. The site author, Dr. Glen Spielmans, is solely responsible for the site's content.