Who are the core faculty members of the clinical psychology doctoral program? Drs. Wagner, Jobes, Mandel, Rich, and Sharkey are the core faculty members of the clinical psychology doctoral program.  Other members of the department faculty also serve as research advisors.  All faculty review potential candidates.

How can I get more information on faculty research interests? Faculty have web pages with their interests and recent publications. You can also explore the Research web page.

What financial aid do you offer? A variety of scholarships and assistantships are available to our students, including full-tuition scholarships, teaching assistantships, and research assistantships. All students in recent years have received a financial aid package totaling at least full tuition in the first 3 years of the program, which is when students are taking courses that incur full tuition. Stipends are also often provided. In particular, students who participate in the Integrated Behavioral Health in the Nation's Capital: Interdisciplinary Networks for Substance Use Readiness and Experiences (DC-INSURE) training program receive an externship stipend during their final externship year.*  We give each applicant who is accepted information on the financial aid we can offer that person as soon as it becomes available, always before a decision must be made. All newly admitted applicant students are provided with multi-year funding letters describing tuition waivers and stipends.

The application for admission constitutes an application as well for many forms of financial aid. See Graduate Financial Aid for further information on loans and filing the FAFSA.

How important is research experience in psychology? We consider prior research experience to be extremely important. Almost everyone we interview has had research experience in psychology. 

Lots of programs say they are balanced between science and practice. Is your program really balanced? Yes, we emphasize both high-quality scholarly training and high-quality clinical training. The balance is reflected in the interests of the faculty: all of the faculty who are clinical psychologists have cutting-edge research programs and engage in clinical practice. The model of our program is the integration of science and practice. We strive to educate students to think like a clinical psychologist regardless of what activity they are currently engaged in, and simultaneously to be clinically sophisticated and to take a hypothesis-testing approach in all of their professional activities.

Can I get an appointment in the fall to tell you about myself (or ask questions)? Unfortunately, we can only interview the applicants whose applications indicate that they are the most promising for our program. We interview in January and February. Before that, you can email any questions you still have after reading our materials to the Director of Clinical Training or to the faculty member whose work most interests you.

How important is the interview? We find the interview invaluable for both the applicant and the program. Applicants have a chance on the interview to meet the faculty and students, plus the opportunity to have more informal interaction with students. The interviews and informal contact provide rich information for both applicants and the program, particularly about the match of the applicant to the program and vice versa. Faculty have a chance to describe their current research in detail, and applicants have a chance to find out more about clinical and research opportunities. Applicants frequently tell us they are even more excited about our program after meeting our faculty and students than prior to the interview. Factors they often cite are the satisfaction with the program expressed by our students, the interesting work being done by the faculty with their students, and the collaborative, supportive atmosphere. Some of these factors are conveyed far better in person than on paper.

Can I start the program in January? No, we only admit students for fall enrollment.

How successful are students in the Catholic University clinical psychology program in obtaining an internship?  Almost all of the students in our program have been successful in obtaining an internship in the first year they apply. Although we cannot predict future internship success, our students are clearly competitive for good internships.  
 
Please see “Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data” at the bottom of our program’s webpage.

What about other indicators of the quality of your program?  See graduation, attrition, and licensure statistics in “Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data” at the bottom of our program’s webpage. Our program is highly successful in meeting its goals.

I have a master's in psychology (or graduate credits); will my credits transfer? For details, please see the Clinical Student Handbook, and read the section of the “Course Requirements” chapter with the heading: “Transferring Credits.”

Note that even if a student transfers courses, it may not shorten the time to the Ph.D. A substantial number of clinical practicum hours are required for a competitive internship application both in the Washington, DC area and nationally.  Students can obtain enough clinical and research experience to be competitive for internship applications by their fourth year of the program (in other words, they do internship in their fifth year). Thus, even if a student finishes coursework early, he or she still needs enough clinical practicum hours and research progress that applying for internship usually is not practical until the fourth year.
 
How can I obtain further information on the program? Faculty have web pages that provide information on their specific interests, research programs, and recent publications. There is also a Research web page that describes the research programs within the Department. The Admissions Process web page details the application procedures.

*This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $731,158,
with all financed by governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not
necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S.
Government.