Psychology Psy.D, Ed.D or Ph.D

I am interested in an online or distance program, but want a legitimate one. I requested info from each university that I located, but I am still waiting on information to arrive in the mail. Does anyone have any personal experiences, good or bad?

I would love to attend a campus, but I have an infant son and I just can't bear to leave him full time. I am not interested in leaving him for quite some time.

TIA!

 

hi rc - it would be a bit easier to reply if you told us which schools you've identified. also, that way we might steer you towards one that you may have missed. give that baby a kiss for me.

 

OKOKOK! There's Argosy, Capella, Walden, TUI and NCU. There might be a one or two more depending on your ability to attend grad seminars.

 

ack! Well, it was late last night and I don't specifically remember. Let me see if I can track down everyone I requested info from......

I am willing to attend seminars.

Thanks so much guys, for your quick response!

I did check with Argosy, and they only have a counseling psych program, which unfortunately is not what I am looking for.

One program was in california, but not accredited. I am in Florida, and think that would be a problem.

 

You're talking about Southern California University?

Well, after you earn you degree there... you can twist around in your resume as University of Southern California.

-OTHER SCHOOLS

***Fielding Graduate University
***Saybrook Graduate School

 

Do you mean CalSouthern University? Are they the same thing?

 

Oh yes, Fielding was one of the ones that I requested information from. Currently, I am trying to find out who is accredited. I don't want to face problems in becoming licensed.

 

The only online programmatic accredited program in psychology (for licensure as a psychologist) is Fielding. The American Psychological Association is the only psychology accrediting agency as permitted by the Federal Government.
Schools such as Capella, Union, Saybrook are still in the pre-accreditation process. They are not programmatically accredited yet.

If you don't mind and want licensure on the Masters level then there are more options. Right now in that game you'll find that Capella has the only Mental Health Counseling online program around that is CACREP accredited (like the APA but on the masters level). Regents U. in Virginia has an online Counselor Ed Ph.D. that is accredited by CACREP I believe.

 

Check this out!

This could be of some interest to you...

http://www.geteducated.com/rankings/best_psy.asp


This also comes with a free guidebook...

http://www.geteducated.com/guidebooks/bdlgs_psy.asp


Good luck

 

Good initiative, but wrong information. Those are more into the Masta program.

 

Yeah, it is...

 

Thanks so much for the info everyone! Well I will more specifically look at Fielding. I want to be a clinical psychologist, doing assessments and evaluations rather than counseling.

If I have to wait until kids are in school, I will, but I would like to start now, which is why I am looking at online programs.

 

Whereabouts are you? For a APA-accredited clinical program, it might be easier to go with a B&M school nearby, especially arranging for field placements, internships, etc.

 

Fielding, I just looked it up. CHA CHING! Wow! Am I to understand that the program is 138 credits beyond the master's degree? That's well up over $100,000 if I am reading it correctly.

 

Get hold of John Dovelos - he sure will be able to assist...hehehehe..........

 

May also want to search the archives here at degreeinfo on Fielding.

I don't remember details, but seem to remember there are (or were) some unusual things about their program that some people loved and other people didn't like so much.

Also, I think that JFK University (in northern CA) (jfku.edu) was scheduled to have achieved APA accreditation by now (according to their timeline some time ago) and they claim to be starting a DL program (not sure how soon), but I haven't looked into it recently.

 

Fielding Student Here!

Hi! I am current enrolled in Fielding's Ph.D. program. I love it ... absolutely love it. I would be happy to answer any questions you have. Let me begin by saying again that I am enjoying my experience at Fielding immensely and I believe I am getting excellent training in clinical psychology, albeit in a non-traditional way. Fielding is NOT an online program despite what some of the promotional material might suggest. Fielding is NOT online! Instead Fielding is a non-traditional mix of guided independent study and face to face interactions with faculty in a variety of venues. Fielding came into existence before the invention of the personal computer and received APA accreditation before the Internet was used by the general public ... even though we have now have online forums and databases we can use.

Fielding was founded in the early 70's as a graduate school for mid-life mid-career professionals for whom a traditional academic program is not a good fit. The program was developed due to the belief on the part of the founders that middle-aged mid career persons are at a very different phase of life than younger students and their learning needs and learning styles are different. The Ph.D. program is the only non-traditional program to be accredited by the APA. Given the highly conservative nature of APA and the COA Accreditation body of APA), Fielding has had to be a "cut above" in terms of quality to get and maintain APA accreditation over the past 16 years. Well at least that is my opinion based on my experiences thus far.

At Fielding we have the same set of core requirements you have in any other doctoral program. However, for the academic portion of our learning we negotiate a "learning contract" with a faculty member in which we work out how we will demonstrate our competency in the various courses such as social psychology, cognitive affective bases of behavior, biological psychology etc... The contents of the learning contract for each course have to meet certain criteria with regard to the breadth and depth of content. Typically you write papers of publication quality to demonstrate your competency. I am currently trying to get an edited version of one of my academic papers on mindfulness meditation as a treatment for depression published. The program expects more than mastery of facts, it expects high level synthesis and analysis of an area of the psychological literature in our work.

However, clinical training can not be done only on the basis of guided independent study under faculty supervision. Face to face interactions are a necessity. Consequently we meet in local groups called "clusters" one weekend a month and for week long residential meetings on Santa Barbara California and the east coast for training in psychotherapy and psychological assessment. Fielding requires a minimum of 300 face to face hours of contact due to APA residency requirements. Most students get that in the first year. When I graduate I should probably have at least 1200-1500 hours of actual face to face faculty contact.

We also have various clinical practica and have to do an APA or APPIC accredited internship. We also ahve a lively in house research program and the program requires that one get involved in a research practicum. Of course we also do a dissertation involving quantitative or qualitative analysis. In some cases, you can do a theoretical dissertation but I'd advise against it.

Fielding was designed for students who are independent learners who want a truly collaborative learning experience. The average age of a Fielding student is 44, most of us have MA or MS degrees upon admission, a clinical license at the master's level and 7-10 years of clinical experience behind us. So we don;t fit the traditional demographic. However, some of us are career change students or persons with just a BA degree so if you don't fit that demographic you can still do fine. However, the Fielding model is not for everyone. However if you are self-motivated and have prefer an active rather than a passive learning style you would do well to consider Fielding. Florida is my home state and in order to get licensed you must have a Ph.D. from an APA approved program. The only downside is that it's expensive.

 

Capella grad here

Except that is a million-in-one chance!
You have a better chance of getting into medical school (100 students/entering class) than an APA-accredited PhD program (3 -5 students/entering class). You might consider a PsyD program, if you are near the Alliant or Argosy universe. (Though many have questions about their quality.)

I am a Capella graduate and license-eligible in NYS. (Yes, it is possible to get a license even if you haven't graduated from an APA accredited program!)

Steve

 

You brought up the Ph.D., I merely mentioned an APA-accredited clinical program.

 

I'm in the Tampa area.

I am totally aware of this. Thanks so much though. Can you tell me more about Capella?

Argosy is 93k. I'm just not willing to spend that.

Chrislarsen, thanks so much for that info! That is ever so helpful. I live in Florida too. Would you mind telling me how much it is? And do you go to Cali once a month for the duration of the experience?

Thanks so much guys! I appreciate any and all info!