Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology

 Application Deadline:

• Fall: December 15 – Application and all required materials must be submitted by this date.

Interview Dates for Fall 2019 Admission:

• Friday, February 1, 2019
• Saturday, February 2, 2019

Prerequisites:

Psy.D. applicants must:

• Hold a B.A. or B.S. from a regionally accredited college or university. Acceptable degrees include those in counseling, psychology or related human behavioral fields. If your degree is in a different discipline, a minimum of 18 semester hours in psychology coursework is required. The following courses are recommended: Introduction to Psychology, Psychological Statistics/Research Methods, Personality Theory, Human Development, Abnormal Psychology, Psychological Tests & Measurements, Social Psychology and Physiological Psychology.

• Have a minimum of a 3.0 GPA for all undergraduate coursework or 3.5 GPA in all master's level coursework. Average undergrad GPA of admitted students: 3.57 (average for last three years).

Admissions Process:

Step 1: Application
Submit your application using our Regent University Online Application.

Step 2: Application Fee
Option 1: Pay the non-refundable $50 application fee online during the application process via our Miscellaneous Payments Form or by check or money order mailed to Regent University, Enrollment Support Services, 1000 Regent University Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23464.

Option 2: Attend a graduate School of Psychology & Counseling on-campus or online information session to learn how to streamline your application process, discover financial aid resources and waive your $50 application fee. Please note that application fees that have been paid prior to attending an online or on-campus information session cannot be refunded. 

Step 3: Personal Goals Statement
Submit a personal goals statement demonstrating an interest in clinical psychology with a particular emphasis on practice. Please email to your admissions counselor at apply@regent.edu using the subject line: SPC Doctoral Application Pieces.

Step 4: Résumé or CV
Submit a résumé or curriculum vita. Please email to your admissions counselor at apply@regent.edu using the subject line: SPC Doctoral Application Pieces.

Step 5: Unofficial Transcripts
We are able to examine and view your unofficial transcripts from U.S.-based schools, which indicate successful completion of bachelor's and master's degree programs, in order to review you for an admissions decision. Please submit your unofficial transcript to our Admissions Office by email to apply@regent.edu using the subject line: SPC Doctoral Application Pieces.

Non-U.S. transcripts must be evaluated by an NACES-approved company. For further details, please review the International Admissions Checklist on the International Students Admissions page.

International Applicants: Please visit the International Students Admissions page for a more detailed explanation of the Regent University application information and to determine whether or not you qualify as an international student.

*Upon conditional acceptance to the program by review of unofficial transcripts, Regent University's Admissions Office will attempt to obtain your official transcripts from your U.S. degree-granting institutions, which indicate successful completion of bachelor's and master's degree programs. We will notify you if your previous institutions will not release transcripts directly to us.

Step 6: GRE Scores
Submit official GRE scores. The GRE requirement cannot be waived. The School of Psychology & Counseling does not require the Psychology Subject Test. The writing portion of the general test is used for placement purposes. A score of 3.5 or above will exempt admitted students from having to complete the university writing course. Average GRE of admitted students: 156 Verbal and 151 Quantitative (revised score scale). These are averages based on the scores of enrolled students over the last three years.

Historically, the Psy.D. program has admitted students with GRE scores ranging from 141-164 Quantitative and 150-170 Verbal using a number of academic, experiential and interpersonal factors to determine admissibility.

For more information about the GRE you can contact:

GRE:  Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ 08541, 609-771-7670 / 866-473-4373, www.ets.org/gre/

Step 7: Writing Sample
The admissions committee will evaluate a standardized writing sample for all applicants. Once your online application is complete you can submit the required writing sample through the ETS Criterion Service. This will be an online, timed essay prompt with a pre-determined topic. Applicants will receive immediate feedback on the essay from the ETS Criterion Service and the scores will be sent directly to the SPC Admissions Office. Read detailed instructions.

Step 8: Recommendation Letters
Use the forms below to submit three recommendations. These recommendations may not be completed by family members. Recommendations received from family members will be rejected and the applicant will be required to submit a new recommendation request for a non-family member.

1. Clergy Recommendation - This recommendation should be completed by someone who has the ability to evaluate your spiritual maturity and understands your spiritual goals and objectives, such as a pastor, priest, rabbi or other religious/moral leader.
   
   
2. Faculty Recommendation - This recommendation should be completed by a former professor or instructor capable of evaluating your academic preparation for the type of degree you seek to complete. If it has been more than five years since your last schooling, a supervisor recommendation may be submitted in lieu of the faculty recommendation. You are welcome to submit more than one faculty recommendation, but please consider selecting professors who can address different aspects of your academic abilities.
   
   
3. Employer/Professional Associate Recommendation - This recommendation should be completed by an employer or professional associate, or you may use an additional faculty reference.

Please inform the person writing your recommendation that the page will time-out after 30 minutes. Recommend that they compose a response in a Word document and then cut and paste it into the online form. Recommendation forms cannot be filled out on mobile devices such as iPad or Android devices.

Step 9: Interview
Interviews for the Psy.D. program are by invitation only after review of the completed application. Interviews include both a group interview and a personal interview with our faculty. These interviews will take place in person on our campus in Virginia Beach on designated dates, usually in February. Participation in this interview process is expected, and applicants will bear any travel expenses. Additional details will be provided to those invited for an interview.

Applicants invited to the interview should keep in mind that an interview does not assure admission. We use a "whole person" review philosophy in making admissions decisions. No one area, either strength or weakness, is something that would cause an applicant to be admitted or denied.  However, applicants should know that those with lower than a 3.0 undergraduate GPA or 152 GRE-Verbal score or 144 GRE-Quantitative would be unlikely to be admitted into the program without some very unusual demonstration of abilities to compensate.

International student applicants should allow at least 4-6 weeks for an admission decision to be made once the applicant has submitted all required documents to the appropriate offices and has followed all processes and procedures required for an admission decision.

Please feel free to contact the Office of Admissions at 757.352.4498 or psycounadmissions@regent.edu should you have any further questions about the application process.

Note: All items submitted as part of the application process become the property of Regent University and cannot be returned.

*Rates are subject to change at any time.

Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.) - FAQ

1. What is a Psy.D?

The Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) degree is designed to be responsive to society's need for psychologists functioning in a variety of leadership roles. The program promotes well-being, and the alleviation of suffering from the unique professional and scientific identity of clinical psychology. The mission of the Regent Psy.D. program strives to:

• Teach and evaluate students in the practitioner-scholar model of clinical psychology so that they will be capable of leadership in a variety of settings.
• Educate students in accordance with the Christian faith.
• Mentor professional development that balances the spiritual, personal, relational and intellectual components of life.
• Facilitate the integration of Christian perspectives with scientifically-based clinical procedures.
• Train students in service-oriented clinical modalities that include an emphasis on underserved individuals, families and communities.

The Psy.D. program combines scholarship with intensive practitioner training that prepares graduates to provide scientifically informed servant leadership in their communities of practice. The program is a five-year, full-time course of study consisting of 124 semester hours beyond the bachelor's degree and culminates in a 2,000-hour internship and dissertation project. Students entering at the master's level may be able to complete the coursework in three years with an additional year of internship for a total of four years. The Psy.D. is designed to provide students with a broad training in psychological practice. Students also have opportunities to pursue elective concentrations in specialty areas such as clinical child psychology, marriage and family therapy, health psychology, forensic psychology and consulting psychology. The program has an integrative approach: integration of clinical work and coursework, integration of faith and practice, and integration of multicultural, ethical and diversity issues in both didactics and practice. 

Admission into the Psy.D. program is limited to fall semester, due to carefully planned fixed-course progression and clinical training sequence.

As an APA-accredited doctoral program in clinical psychology, Regent's Psy.D. is designed to fulfill the typical training program requirements for licensure as a psychologist in various U.S. and Canadian jurisdictions.

2. Do I need to have a master's degree to be a good candidate for the Psy.D. program?

Actually, most of the students enrolled in the Psy.D. program do not hold graduate degrees. The admission requirement is a completed four-year bachelor's degree from a post-secondary institution with state and regional accreditation. 

3. If I have an M.A. in Counseling, may I skip some the coursework and shorten the program?

While a student with a master's in a mental health field (i.e., clinical or counseling psychology, counseling, social work) may generally be able to get the equivalent of about one year of credits waived, we discourage shortening the duration of the program. For instance, the clinical training sequence is required for all students regardless of prior training. That sequence is set up over five years and to shorten the program requires third and fourth-year clinical training activities be done concurrently, which is not ideal. A better option is for students to take the five years to complete the program, but to take lighter semesters or pursue more elective work. This will enhance their training experience. All students not already holding a master's degree in clinical psychology, earn the master's as part of their doctoral training sequence. The other issue to remember is that if your master's is not in clinical psychology, your training at Regent will be also aimed at helping you reorient to a clinical psychology perspective on courses that you have already completed in a related discipline.

4. May I transfer credits from a master's program into the Psy.D. degree?

You may transfer up to 25 percent of our program's credit hours as long as the credits have not been used to complete a degree and are similar at least 75 percent with our courses. 

Some courses from a completed degree can be used to waive certain courses in our program. Courses that are not transferable or that cannot be waived would be any type of clinically-focused course (e.g., practicum, therapeutic skills, etc.), and some required program didactic courses.

5. Is the GRE required if I already have a master's degree or am enrolled in a master's program?

Yes, we cannot waive the GRE requirement under any circumstances for our doctoral programs.

6. Am I eligible to receive a nested Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology?

Students who have completed 80 credit hours toward the Psy.D. are eligible to receive a nested Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology. Students must complete and submit the Graduation Application found on the Registrar’s Office web page and pay the appropriate graduation fee in order to obtain the degree. Application for the M.A. is required as a condition of doctoral candidacy unless a student petitions for exemption based on having already obtained an M.A. in Clinical or Professional Psychology elsewhere.

7. Am I required to attend full time, or may I go at my own pace?

The program is set up in a cohort model and requires that you attend full time in a fixed-course progression. During the fall and spring terms, the course load is 12 credit hours; and in the summer term, the course load is nine credit hours. Therefore, you would be enrolled in classes year-round for four years with a full-time internship the final year.

8. How many hours do you recommend a Psy.D. student work per week?

Due to the number of hours you will be spending in and out of class studying, we suggest you work no more than 20 hours per week. There are a number of part-time graduate assistant positions available every semester at Regent that allow for flexible schedules.

9. I didn't major in psychology at the undergraduate level, so what do I need to do to make up for this?

Admissions requires 18 credit hours in undergraduate psychology, so you would need to make up any credit hours that fall short of that. 

10. How many applicants do you have each year and how many are admitted?

Annually, we admit and enroll 23 students into the new cohort from a group of about 100 applications.

11. What is the average age of the students?

The average age is 26.

12. What is the path for licensure for graduates from your program?

Licensure is different in each state. However, the general standard for licensure is completion of a doctorate, including the full-time, fifth-year internship, a year of residency, and state and national licensure exams, which are taken after graduating with the doctorate. Residency can vary widely in different states. Students should examine the requirements for licensure in the state or states where they would like to practice in the future.

13. What types of clinical or practica training experiences do students gain in your program?

The clinical training sequence is a planned course of study incorporating instructive and supervised experiential training. The first two years of training occur on campus often in our Psychological Services Center. During the third and fourth year, students are typically placed off campus in a community setting. Practica training is facilitated by intensive supervision provided at training sites combined with secondary practica seminars instructed by Regent faculty. Because of the practitioner-scholar model adopted by the doctoral program, a substantial amount of the student's time will be spent applying/refining psychological knowledge and skills in clinical contexts.

14. What are some of the career options for graduates of your program?

Typically, clinical psychologists work in one of five settings after graduation: colleges and universities as professors; mental health centers as administrators, conducting assessment, diagnosis and treatment (psychotherapy); medical hospitals as consultants or liaisons to medical professionals, as well as performing similar duties to those at mental health centers; psychiatric hospitals; private practice. A survey conducted by Norcross, Krag and Prochaska (1997) found that 15 percent of clinical psychologists were employed in academic settings, 30 percent in hospitals or clinics, and 40 percent in private practice.

The Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation (CoA) of the American Psychological Association (APA). Contact the APA at Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242 or 202.336.5979.

Program Highlights:

Internship Match Listing

Clinical Training Sequence

Psy.D. Program Handbook

Psy.D. Clinical Training Handbook

Psy.D Specific Scholarships

The School of Psychology & Counseling offers a variety of Psy.D. specific scholarships: Academic Merit Scholarship, Teaching Assistantships, Minority Student Merit Scholarship, First Generation Merit Scholarship and Christian Leadership Scholarship. Click here to learn more.