Institute for the Psychological Sciences, Arlington, VA

Since I am learning so much from the distinguished clinicians posting here, I thought I would run this up the flagpole and see if anyone knows anything. They are a small, "conservative" Catholic school that has been around for about 5 years, offering both the M.S. in psychology and the Psy.D. My biggest concern is that they are not yet APA-accredited, so I am wondering what the newly minted Psy.D.'s are doing after graduation. They are NOT DL, I must confess, but seem to offer the possibility of potentially large fellowships for those who qualify and will take master's-level clinicians into the Psy.D. program with a year of advanced standing. For some of us not even a healthy fellowship would be enough to substitute B&M for DL, but I wonder if any here have heard of this school.

 

Hi Steve - I have not heard of this school and haven't even looked at the website. I only wanted to point out that APA approval is not required for licensure in many places.
Nice find. I'll have to check it out.
Jack

 

Thanks, Jack--do you know of any links to a list of states that do not require APA accreditation? Every non-APA school I have ever seen refers prospective students back to their own state regs, but I have never seen a summary of state regs overall on this issue and it would be interesting to see what states did not require the APA seal.

 

Actually, this school ismy "target" graduate school since I am not outside their commuting region. I am banking on the possibility that by the time I'll have sorted out my undergraduate program and worked my way through the last year-plus of u/g, they will have moved significantly towards certification.

In any case, the concept behind this school is unique in the USA, I believe - seems that there are not many faith-based schools of psychology around! An established Catholic L.C.P. I know recommended them for this very reason.

 

SACS lists Institute for the Psychological Sciences in Arlington VA as a candidate. That's a good sign.

While a conservative Catholic faith-based psych-school isn't exactly my cup of tea, this does look like a legitimate effort.

But there's an element of risk associated with enrolling in candidate institutions. There are timeframes to consider, as well as the possibility that accreditation might be denied. (Is it even possible for schools to apply for APA accreditation while they are still RA candidates?) And in the case of clinical psychology, there are state licensing requirements that have to be met.

This probably calls for some careful research from prospective students.

 

This looks like an interesting school. Since the first doctoral students enrolled in 2000, I would quess some will soon be or have already completed the program and will be graduates of a legit (yet unaccredited) doctoral program.

 

Thanks for all the responses. If I went to the link I posted, I would know that the first PsyD just graduated and is having her first PsyD paper published in the International Journal of the Psychology of Religion, which I find pretty impressive. I hope she posts more on what she is doing professionally.

I am indeed leery of candidate schools, though. In Illinois we had a spectacular flame-out at Governors State University when the MSW program was refused accreditation. Everyone said, "It's a state university, the state department of family services is completely behind it," yatta yatta, and it ended with a special act of the state legislature to allow the one and only class of MSW's to be licensed despite the lack of accreditation. Not exactly the jewel of one's resume.

Bill, what other research would you recommend? With my usual subtlety I have been e-mailing them with no response yet, a cardinal sin in my academic rulebook, to beat the faith-based metaphor into the ground. I even stated I wanted to visit (which I would do for few schools).

Longwaytogo, congratulations on being so organized! Do you know more about IPS, or at least a way to find out more?

 

I took a gander at the program and the coursework looks appropriate. One thing that seemed to be absent, if you have the interest, is coursework preparation for a career in neuropsychology. With regard to queries you might make I’d request ‘specifics’ about the pursuit of accreditation. Things like when they expect to receive RA status and plans for pursuing APA accreditation. If you graduate one day prior to the program receiving even provisional approval you’re a graduate of an APA-approved program. I’d never heard of the Governor’s State MSW debacle. Whew, what a mess. Another important question would be to ask what sort of success the program has had to date in placing students in internships. If the DC area is attractive have you considered the established, APA-approved clinical psychology program at Catholic U? Like I’ve said in other posts, I wouldn’t focus so much on whether you can become licensed but think about whether graduating from an unaccredited program will have an adverse effect on your mobility and long term goals.

 

Fortiterinre - I really haven't gotten around to calling or visiting the Institute (it's not on the front burner, just yet!) but thanks for the compliment - I'm just following everyone's advice to check out my graduate school options now as a junior.

David, good point about CU - too bad it's across the Potomac. It's my dad's alma mater. I have called them regarding u/g DL and they are so behind the times, it's not funny. Nada. After "Sept. 11th," there was a lot of talk about telecommuting to reduce the volume of vehicles on the roads around the nations capital. In that light, it seems ironic that Catholic U., the flagship Catholic Institution in this area, hasn't gotten online for a single undergraduate course. If I could stand to cross the river and sit in traffic an additional 1.5 hours, I could be making the big bucks even today, for that matter!

Another aspect of Catholic higher education, which doesn't belong on this particular thread, is the difference in Catholic academic philosophies around the country. I have already withdrawn from one such college after I got my coursework and syllabus. Yikes. (end t/j).

 

I just want to report that I received a nice big email from IPS today with invitations to call and visit, very impressive. For me the "Catholic" component of the program has the most interest--faculty like Paul Vitz, William May, Benedict Groeschel, who might be unknown outside of Catholic circles but are well-known within. Ironically, Catholic University in D.C. is a little more generalized than IPS in this regard.

I am not surprised that IPS is not yet offering neuropsych concentrations, although I know relatively small PsyD programs like Finch University in North Chicago have this. I am just glad that IPS seems to have a healthy focus on secular employability! Their FAQ report that they are thinking of developing a philosophical psychology program, but nothing concrete yet. IPS also seems to follow the trend discussed on these forums of treating the PsyD the same as the PhD and requiring a full, defended dissertation, which I like.

It's hard for me to distinguish between licensure eligibility and long-term goals or mobility. When I first graduated from college and began working in a community mental health center, we had several unlicensed PsyD's working under Licensed Clinical Social Workers as general clinicians ("QMHP's" or Qualified Mental Health Professionals, under the LCSW's as "LPHA's" or Licensed Practitioners of the Healing Arts), and it seemed quite limiting to have earned a doctorare for THAT.

I also must belatedly apologize that I probably should have posted this thread on the "Accredited vs. ..." forum rather than the "Distance Learning" forum!

 

Fortiterinre, if you had posted under the accreditation forum I wouldn't have spotted this and would have missed something interesting! Please update what your impressions are after you peruse their packet of information and talk to folks there, OK?

IPS's faith-based focus is more to my liking, as well. The most interesting comment was on their website about the founder's who had not been able to integrate their training in psychology with their faith! I interviewed a couple of nominally Catholic marriage and family counselors, and was amazed to discover that one told me "I don't really incorporate faith in the counseling I do..." (He had advertised in a local church bulletin for clients!). He then went on to mention another LPC in town whose focus is more "integrated" and that gentleman told me that he feels like there are very few guys doing what he is doing in the Catholic Church in this region, at least. We should probably start another thread on that topic!

Anyway please keep us posted, thanks!

 

Steve, very good logic, especially if I were already "inside the beltway" - really, I'm out in the Valley, 60 miles West!
(I have a neighbor one the faculty at UMd College Park but he only goes in one day a week!)

But I'll definately look again to see if Catholic U. has done something to motivate me further, Thanks for the logic check.

 

"Sorry about the long letter, I didn’t have time to write a short one."

Mark Twain

 

My apologies for rambling. Just kvetching amongst ourselves....

 

Steve,

Your enthusiasm about downtown DC makes me realize how jaded I've become! I'm a native Washingtonian of a certain age, I guess it's just relative but there was a time when Dulles Airport to the Potomac River was 30 minutes. Congressman Wolf knows all about this! Ah well, we are o/t again, I guess.

 

UPDATE Institute Receives SAC Accreditation

Hi Everyone,

Well this is great news, just had to post the link for those of you who were interested!

http://www.ipsciences.edu/www/announcements/0.519/

 

As good as this school might be, academically, I would still go for an APA accredited program. There are programs out there that are APA accredited that will transfer up to 30 semester credit hours. I believe one of those is "Marywood" in Pennsylvania. I checked B&M schools that would accept most credits from my counseling psychology masters. I think another one is Florida Inst. of Technology and another one, though not clear is U. of S. Florida in Tampa. I'm sure you can find more but they are only a few. I would do a search of "APA" and "Psy.D." and "30 credits" to see what you get on Google.

Here's some:

http://www.chc.edu/page_template.asp?section=3&file=335_commonly_asked_questions_

http://www.chsbs.cmich.edu/Clinical_Psychology/ClinicalStudentManual0405.pdf

Hope this helps.

 

Great News!

The Institute for the Psychological Sciences Receives Accreditation!

http://www.ipsciences.edu/www/docs/0.452/mission_statement.html