The following information is provided in accordance with Implementing Regulation C-20 of the Commission on Accreditation  (American Psychological Association), and is intended to provide prospective students with a basis for comparison among training programs in terms of important educational outcomes.

Time to Complete PhD Program* 

In September 2009, we welcomed the first group of students into the new post-BA Ph.D. program.  We have no data yet for time to complete this program, but we anticipate that post-BA students will take approximately one year longer to complete than post-MA students (i.e., those entering the doctoral program with a completed master’s degree).  The description and completion times below apply to the post-MA program.

Post-MA program.  Curriculum requirements are structured around a 5-year training period:  three years of coursework, a dissertator year (including internship application), and a pre-doctoral internship year.  Individual students’ completion times vary as a function of work and family obligations, additional coursework, and time to complete the dissertation. Table 1 shows completion times, based on the proportion of students graduating within the last seven years. 

Table 1:  Completion times for recent post-MA graduates (N = 55)*

Mean time to completion = 7.47 years (SD = 3.0)

Median time to completion = 7 years 

* Based on students graduating May 2004 through August 2011.  

Program Costs

The vast majority of PhD students are fully funded for their years on campus through a combination of in-department and out-of-department assistantships and fellowships. Graduate assistantships and fellowships pay a monthly stipend, carry a full tuition waiver, and provide an excellent benefits package.  Information on assistantships and benefits can be found here.

Current information on overall costs and funding can be found on the graduate school website, with detailed information on tuition rates found here.

Internships 

Table 2 provides information on the most recent seven internship cohorts.  Internship Year refers to the year that the internship was completed.  (Students who complete the internship during 2007-08 applied for that internship during 2006-07.) 

Attrition 

To provide prospective students with data on attrition rates, the Commission on Accreditation recommends providing data in the following format.  For entering cohorts over the previous 7 years, number of graduates, number currently enrolled, and number terminated for other reasons (i.e., those who left the program without a degree) are tabulated.

In 2009 we added a “post-BA” track for students entering without a Masters degree.  Students entering on this track are tabulated separately.

At this time, 12 of the students admitted to the Ph.D. program since 2004 have graduated, and one has left the program for other reasons.

Licensure

To provide prospective students with data on licensure rates, the Committee on Accreditation requests that programs determine the proportion of graduates in the last 10 years (excluding those graduating in the most recent two years) who have been granted licenses to practice psychology by their state licensing boards.  Our program awarded 59 doctoral degrees between 2002 and 2009 (inclusive).  Of these graduates, 34 (58%) are confirmed licensed.  (We do not have current contact information for three alumni who graduated in 2002, and have assumed them to be unlicensed for purposes of reporting program outcomes.)

The Commission on Accreditation encourages programs to provide additional information to assist the public (including prospective students) to interpret the overall licensure rate.  One consideration is that approximately 25-30% of our graduates typically accept academic or research positions after attaining the Ph.D. It is important to recognize that psychologists working in academia, or as researchers, do not have the same need to obtain licensure as those in primarily practice positions.  Thus, it may be useful to examine licensure data separately by work setting, as follows:

Note.  Data are for program graduates 2002-2009.

^a Includes three graduates for whom contact information is unavailable (assumed unlicensed)

Of the 12 graduates in non-academic work roles who confirmed that they are not currently licensed as psychologists, there were various reported circumstances related to licensure:

• Currently practicing under other professional license (e.g., MD, school psychologist certificate, LPC):  n = 6;
• Currently completing licensure requirements:  n = 5;
• Unable to work for medical reasons:  n = 1.