How difficult is it to pursue a counseling psychology doctoral program in the US?

Question

Dear all,

I am 34yrs old, already work as an academic at a major UK business school but i have been passionate about counseling psychology and helping for over 10 years. Even though i have a good promising career in my current field, i cannot stop feeling drawn towards a path that focuses on helping people and conducting research into human well being. The Counseling psychology programs in the US are both well funded (unlike in the UK) and more rigorous. The prospect of going for such a program is both exciting and frightening because i would be dealing with giving up a promising career (albeit not my passion in life), relocating to another country and living with very limited finances for 6 years.

Are counseling doctorates able to fully finance (fee waver and stipend) international students?

How rigorous / hard is to go through such a program?

Has anyone done what i am considering?

I will greatly appreciate any insight and experiences you decide to share.

Answer 1

online tutorings-

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Answer 2

anything you set your mind to !!

Answer 3

While I have not done a doctoral clinical psychology program in the U.S, I instead went to law school and got my J.D. but I did also obtain a bachelor's degree in business management, psychology and philosophy all in the U.S.

My partner, her dad and my mentor on the other hand all did get their PhD/PsyD in clinical psychology, so I do have some experience in the matter at hand and it was something I was considering, but I thought that three psychologist in the family would be too many.

As for your questions. Yes, international students are also able to receive a fee waiver and stipend, however as you know these are hard to come by and they are limited and also preference does tend to go to residents and citizens first. You should really look at Ivy League schools for this type of financial help as many of the others simply do not have the funding available, the problem is that a Psy.D. at these institutions typically take much longer.

However many students chose to work as a research assistant for the university or even a professor to earn that little bit of extra money while they are studying. Which also counts towards any internship requirements which need to be fulfilled in order to graduate.

As for how rigorous such a program is, well I am slightly confused on which program you wish to study. You see in the U.S. many clinical psychologists have a PsyD which is designed to be completed in four years, when a student attends all the semesters (fall, spring, summer and winter if the university works on a winter system). While you actually mention 6 years, so this leads me to believe that you are looking for a PhD program.

Both programs are extremely rigorous, although the PsyD is more academically challenging in sense that it is classroom based for the majority of the program. While a PhD program, only the first two years are spent in such a way, the next 3-4 years are spent conducting your research for your dissertation in conjunction with advise from your chosen professor to guide you.

If you are unsure of what a dissertation is quite simply a thesis of significant length that is of value to the profession. Upon complete of your dissertation, you will argue it with facility members and present your case.

To pursue a PhD versus a PsyD is a personal choice all psychologists make.

If you want to take a look at how a four year Psy.D. works then take a look at the University of Denver's Graduate School of Professional Psychology. This is school which my partner graduate and it is also the university which my J.D. is from.

The 2nd link is to the PH.D. program for the same university, except it is just the psychology department at Denver Universities Graduate School Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

The 2nd and 3rd links are to the same programs at the University of Colorado.