Doctoral Degree Programs
Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology Program (PhD)
The PhD Clinical Psychology program is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). The PhD Clinical Psychology Program is deeply committed to educating well-rounded clinical psychologists who are capable and competent as both researchers and clinicians. Students are taught to be science minded while appreciating the larger role of psychology in alleviating suffering in the world. This balance includes learning to value evidence-based clinical models while maintaining the responsibilities psychologists have to their community, society, and profession. An outstanding faculty of clinicians and researchers provide rigorous classroom instruction, clinical supervision, and research mentoring to help students find the right balance for them. Working within a training model best described as "practitioner-scientist," students systematically move through five years of coursework and practica to acquire PhD-level competence and capability in psychological theory, research, and practice.
Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology Program (PsyD)
The PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium training program is a full-time, five-year training program: three years of academic coursework, one year for the clinical dissertation project, and one year for a full-time doctoral internship. The nine-month academic year runs on a quarter system. Prior to their external fifth-year internship, students gain clinical experience through a three-year practicum program coordinated by the Consortium. Upon completion of all Consortium program requirements, students will be awarded their degree through the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology at Palo Alto University, and the degree will indicate that the student has completed all requirements of the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium.
The PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium program requires a minimum of four full years in residence plus a program-approved external, doctoral internship in clinical psychology. The program integrates academic coursework, supervised clinical training, and research experience at every stage of the student’s progress toward the ultimate goal of a doctorate degree. All students develop a thorough understanding of the broad body of knowledge that comprises scientific psychology. They also acquire and must demonstrate skills that can be applied to a variety of clinical problems through a graded curriculum, clinical practica and other clinical, research and professional experiences in each year of study. Students must complete 2,000 hours of doctoral clinical training and a dissertation project prior to graduating.
Each cohort of Consortium students enroll together in the same prescribed program of didactic coursework over most of the first three years of the program. In the third and fourth year, a limited number of elective seminar options are available. The fourth year consists of clinical practicum training, the internship application process, and the undertaking and completion of a PsyD dissertation project. Upon advancement to candidacy, students are required to enroll in a total of thirty units of dissertation credit in the fourth year, and continue to register for three units of dissertation credit hours every quarter until the dissertation is completed. (Additional tuition & fees required, reference the dissertation handbook.) During the fifth year of the Consortium program students participate in an external, program-approved doctoral clinical internship.