Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology

This book has a lot of helpful information for looking for and applying to graduate schools for clinical or counseling psychology, Ph.Ds or Psy.Ds. It provides different perspectives on the degrees and careers so that readers have a better understanding of what they may be going into.

As a university lecturer at three universities, I get plenty of questions about these things. I hear plenty of horror stories from students about faulty or non-existent mentoring in these areas. There is plenty of advice out there to be had from ignorant, indifferent, or hostile sources. A big problem is that many professors and staff in psychology departments at major universities don't have knowledge or interest in clinical and counseling psychology. They may be openly hostile to the entire field, or toward areas and programs they perceive as being too unscientific. Even among supportive mentors, there isn't enough time to mentor students on all these issues. For many professors, finding quality time with students sucks time from writing papers and chasing grants. Your best bet is to use this book to master the basics. Find a great mentor and use that person's time to fine tune your thinking and turbo-charge your applications. My advice is to start here if you are serious about getting into grad school. Or, take a look at the APA's book, "Getting In", which is on the same topic. I haven't seen it, but I hear it is good, too. And if you want your life as a grad student to go well at at the Big U, then make sure to consult the following classics: (Do this even if you aren't considering an academic career) David Sternberg's "How to Complete and Survive a Dissertation." Robert Sternberg's "Psychology 101 1/2: The Unspoken Rules for Success in Academia" Another must read, for future academics: Darley et al's "The Compleat Academic: A Career Guide" And for future clinical and counseling psychologists: Yalom's "The Gift of Therapy: An Open Letter to a New Generation of Therapists and Their Patients" Get these other books. Do it. This stuff is worth its weight in gold.

*Based on an earlier version (2003 ed)* As many have mentioned, this series is an excellent resource that is a must buy for grad school applicants. I found the scales to be the most helpful (how research or clinical/therapy oriented each program reports to be). It is not an exhaustive listing of ALL of the information you may want, but I'd say it is a great start. The GRE scores, listing of preferred orientations, etc. If you have the previous year's ed, you are probably ok...but I'd rather just spend the $ and get the most up to date edition.

This is, without question, the most helpful source of information I found for applying to PhD programs in clinical and counseling psychology. Much of the general information on applying was also helpful for Master's programs, but the most valuable part of the book is the collection of detailed information about every APA accredited clinical or counseling psych program in the U.S. and Canada. You could get a lot of the information off the university websites, and you can get the list of APA accredited programs from the APA website. So, what's so great about this book? They survey every APA accredited program to get information beyond what is available on department websites, for example, what percentage of faculty embrace each theoretical orentation? What percentage of students get a tuition waver? or a paid assistantship? What are the faculty research interests? How many faculty have each interest and how many research grants do they have? What are the average GRE scores and GPA of students in the program, and what are the minimum requirements? How long does the average student take to graduate? How many students applied to the program last year? how many received an offer? how many accepted? You get all of this information for each program (and a lot more), which allows you to target your applications in a way that you could not do otherwise (unless you have 6 months to do this research on your own). There are many programs that look great when you see the website, but then you see there are no faculty who embrace your favorite theoretical orientation, or none whose research interests you, or half the students have to pay their own tuition, etc. I guess the proof is in the outcome. I used this book and felt very prepared for my interviews. I applied to 15 programs, and I got 5 interviews and 4 offers. If you know the acceptance rates, that's pretty good.

I'm starting my senior year of undergrad and I've been making huge efforts to try to find a grad school program with a professor with similar research interests. Thus far, it's been very labor-intensive. However, I just bought this guide and it's incredibly helpful. Not only does it go through the process of how to apply, have a successful interview, etc, but it also breaks down schools by program. It has both PhD and PsyD programs with helpful information about: average GPA, GRE scores, the percentage of students receiving tuition assistance and/or assistantships, the areas of research interests that the faculty have, clinical opportunities, whether a personal interview is required, the number who apply vs. the number accepted, a scale which rates how research-oriented vs. clinically oriented the program is, and much more. It also has an appendix which lists colleges by research areas and clinical areas. This book is absolutely fantastic and has made my life much easier. I'd highly suggest it to anyone looking to go to grad school for their PhD or PsyD in Clinical Psychology. They also have some information on Counseling Psychology programs. Buy it and I guarantee you'll thank yourself for it later.