Clinical Psychology — Degree Requirements

The Program in Clinical Psychology involves five to six years of full-time study.

Requirements

Completion of 18 required and 5 elective courses, taken during the first three years of the program. (Note: All courses must be completed with at least a grade of B.) The required courses are designed to expose students to the specific emphases within the program on human development across the life span, and on ethnic and minority concerns and the role of culture in mental health. They also provide students with research training and basic clinical skills in preparation for the practica and internship.

Required courses include the following:

PSYCH 601 (Assessment and Testing I)

PSYCH 610 (Culture and Mental Health)

PSYCH 611 and 612 (Developmental Psychopathology I and II)

PSYCH 620 (Intervention Strategies)

PSYCH 641 and 642 (Cognitive and Affective Bases of Behavior and Social and Cultural Bases of Behavior)

PSYCH 660 (Physiological Psychology)

PSYCH 670 (Advanced Statistics)

PSYCH 675 (Research Methods in Clinical Psychology)

PSYCH 680 (History and Systems of Psychology)

PSYCH 699 (Master’s Research Seminar)

PSYCH 790 (Professional Standards and Ethics)

PSYCH 785 and 786 (Clinical Seminar I and II)

PSYCH 787 and 788 (Clinical Seminar III and IV)

Students also take six elective courses, as follows:

1 Psychotherapy Elective:

PSYCH 720 (Family Systems and Family Therapy)

PSYCH 721 (Child Therapy)

PSYCH 726 (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)

1 Assessment Elective:

PSYCH 602 (Testing and Assessment II: Personality Assessment)

PSYCH 701 (Advanced Neuro-psychological Assessment)

PSYCH 710 (Child Psychological Assessment)

1 Methods/Analysis Elective:

PSYCH 770 (Multivariate Statistics and Causal Modeling) (subject to final University approval)

PSYCH 775 (Qualitative Research Methods in Clinical Psychology) (subject to final University approval)

1 Diversity Elective:

PSYCH 645 (The Psychology of Gender)

PSYCH 720 (Family Systems and Family Therapy)

PSYCH 742 (Social Construction of Self and Identities)

Two additional electives from any of the above lists.

A research apprenticeship in the first year:

Each student works closely with a faculty research mentor during the first year, gaining exposure to the faculty member’s program of research and designing and implementing a master’s research project.

A master’s thesis

Students are not admitted into the Clinical Psychology Program for a terminal master’s degree. A master’s degree is granted, however, usually sometime after the second year, and after the student has completed 48 credits of course work, one year of part-time practicum, and an approved master’s thesis. This thesis gives students an opportunity to apply the knowledge acquired in the two-course research methods sequence (PSYCH 670 and 675). The project done for the master’s thesis may be conducted in either a field or laboratory setting. Students enroll for up to six master’s research credits (PSYCH 698 and 699) during their second year and attend a master’s research seminar.

Completion of two years of clinical practicum

One of the key components of the Clinical Psychology Program is systematic intensive training in the application of basic knowledge to the solution of human problems. Such training is achieved through the required practica, which students complete during the second and third years of the program. Students spend two days a week in practice in the University’s Mental Health Counseling Center or a field agency (e.g., community mental health center; school for emotionally disturbed children; training hospital) that provides supervised experience with client problems and the opportunity to apply a wide range of assessment and intervention techniques. Along with the field component, students attend a required clinical seminar on campus each semester (PSYCH 785-786 in the second year and PSYCH 787-788 in the third year).

A qualifying examination

This examination, usually taken during the third year, is designed to assess the student’s mastery of broad issues in human development and clinical psychology. The examination requires a critical review of a body of literature and covers these general areas: major theoretical and empirical issues, cross-cultural issues, developmental issues, and implications for clinical practice. The examination gives students an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of the interrelationships among the diverse perspectives represented in the program and to demonstrate the attainment of professional competence for further study at the doctoral level. Students completing the qualifying examination successfully are admitted to candidacy.

A doctoral dissertation

This dissertation should be completed by the end of the fourth or fifth year. Completion of a dissertation is one of the most important requirements of the doctoral program. The dissertation is an original empirical project that makes a substantive contribution to the knowledge base in human development or clinical psychology. The dissertation is supervised by a primary advisor and a doctoral committee consisting of at least three faculty members, one of whom comes from an area outside clinical psychology. The committee is responsible for approving the dissertation proposal, overseeing the data collection and analysis, and reviewing the dissertation. The dissertation must be approved by the doctoral committee, and an oral defense must be successfully completed.

An internship

The internship is typically done in the fifth or sixth year, after the student has completed all other requirements. It involves the satisfactory completion of a one-year full-time (or two years half-time) APA-approved clinical internship in an outside agency. The internship is the logical extension of the practica. It is designed to complete the student’s preparation for functioning as an independent professional clinician.