Our program is designed for students to complete requirements within 5–6 years. This includes a 1-year internship experience following completion of course requirements.
If you enter the program with a master’s degree in counseling psychology or an allied mental health field, you can complete the program within 4–6 years.
If you do not enter with a master’s degree, you can obtain a master of science (MS) degree in route to the PhD.
All students are required to complete two independent research projects (e.g., the specialty area paper and the dissertation) as well as pass written comprehensive exams.
PhD Requirements — Total Credits: 165
| Course and Title | Credits |
|---|---|
| Courses in psychological foundations and discipline-specific knowledge | 24 |
| Courses in research methods, design, statistics, and measurement | 48 |
| CPSY 603 Dissertation | 18 |
| Practitioner competencies | 57 |
| Professional competencies | 12 |
| Additional courses | 6 |
Curriculum Progression Plan
Year 1
Course Work
- CPSY 613 Introduction to Counseling Psychology
- CPSY 621 Lifespan Developmental Psychology
- EDUC 612 Social Science Research Design
- EDUC 614 Educational Statistics
- EDUC 640 Applied Statistical Design and Analysis
- CPSY 614 Theories of Counseling
- CPSY 615 Counseling Diverse Populations
- CFT 620 Mental Health and Diagnosis
- CFT 624 Group Psychotherapy
- CPSY 617 Theories of Career Development
- CPSY 609 Micro Counseling Skills
- CPSY 609 Beginning Practicum
- CPSY 612 Professional Ethics
Learning Activities
- CITI Certification obtained
- Ethics Oral Exam passed
Year 2
Course Work
- CPSY 609 Adult Practicum
- CPSY 651 Advanced Individual Counseling Interventions
- EDUC 642 Multiple Regression in Educational Research
- SPSY 672 Intellectual Assessment
- CPSY 642 Child-Family Interventions
- CPSY 605 History and Systems of Psychology
- SPSY 651 Cognitive-Affective Aspects of BehaviorO or SPSY 652 Biological Aspects of BehaviorE
Learning Activities
- SAP Research Paper completed/passed
- Theoretical Orientation I essay passed
- Adult Interventions Clinical Competency I – oral and written passed
Year 3
Course Work
- CPSY 609 Child and Family Practicum
- EDUC 644 Applied Multivariate Statistics
- SPSY 651 Cognitive-Affective Aspects of BehaviorO or SPSY 652 Biological Aspects of BehaviorE
- CPSY 622 Psychological Assessment II
- CPSY 610 Experimental CourseE
- Elective Credits TBA
Learning Activities
- Scientific Aspects of Behavior Comprehensive Exam question passed
- Research Comprehensive Exam question passed
- Diversity/Multicultural I Comprehensive Exam passed
- Child/Family Interventions Clinical Competency II – oral and written passed
- Assessment Clinical Competency III passed
Year 4
Course Work
- CPSY 654 Supervision and Consultation
- Advanced Statistics (e.g., EDLD 633 Structural Equation Modeling I or EDLD 628 Hierarchical Linear Models I)
- CPSY 609 Externship
- CPSY 602 Supervised College Teaching
- Elective credits TBA
Learning Activities
- Experiential supervision training completed
Year 5
Course Work
- CPSY 603 Dissertation
- CPSY 609 Externship
- Elective credits TBA
Learning Activities
- Conference presentation completed
- Diversity/Multicultural II essay completed
- Theoretical Orientation II essay completed
O – Odd years
E – Even years