Counseling Psychology

Doctoral Degree Program

Opportunities for doctoral studies

A Ph.D. with a major in counseling psychology prepares you for work as an independent professional in research, academic or applied settings. The University of North Texas' counseling psychology doctoral program is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association's Committee on Accreditation [750 First Street NE, Washington, D.C. 20002-4242, 202-336-5979]. The co-directors of counseling training at UNT are Lawrence J. Schneider and Vicki L. Campbell.

Philosophy and objectives

Counseling psychology is concerned with the normal adaptation of individuals to their environment and with helping others cope with crises, problems of daily living and mental challenges. The counseling psychology program is committed to the idea that human problems are the result of complex interaction of environmental factors and developmental changes in the person.

The Ph.D. counseling psychology program trains professional psychologists within the broad context of the scientist-practitioner model. This is achieved through prescribed course work and practicum experience. The model focuses on application of the basic principles of psychology and psychotherapy to accomplish multiple objectives:

• providing instruction in the range of scientific and practice activities within counseling psychology
• aiding in the resolution and understanding of psychological and social problems of essentially normal individuals
• serving as psychotherapeutic agents for individuals with severe problems in personal adjustment
• training counseling psychologists in basic research skills

The doctoral program in counseling psychology focuses on preventative aspects of mental health. Training emphasizes acquisition of counseling skills through exposure to specific educational experiences according to the developmental perspective held by the faculty. The program's approach is based on a scientific framework that stresses commitment to empirical and objective evaluation of theory and technique.

Admission requirements

To be admitted to the counseling psychology doctoral program, you must meet the admission requirements of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies, have a bachelor's or master's degree in psychology or a related field, and have completed a minimum of 24 hours in psychology. At least 12 of those hours must be advanced, including a statistics course and three of the following psychology courses: experimental psychology (or research methods), cognition, learning perception (sensory processes), motivation, physiological psychology (biological psychology), psychological measurement or research thesis.

You can earn a master's degree en route to the Ph.D. if you have a bachelor's degree. If you have a master's degree, you may receive transfer credit subject to approval by the counseling program. The maximum amount of transfer credit for appropriate master's work is 30 hours. You may transfer a maximum of 12 hours of post-master's degree work, subject to approval by the counseling program.

In addition to required course work, you must submit your GRE verbal and quantitative scores, and one of the following criteria must also be met:

• 3.0 GPA overall on the B.A.
• 3.5 GPA on the last 60 hours of the B.A.
• 3.5 GPA in undergraduate Psychology course work
• 3.5 GPA on a completed master's degree (exclusive of practicum and thesis)
• completed doctoral degree in another field
• first or second author on an article in a peer-reviewed scientific or professional journal

Admission to the counseling psychology program is not determined by one criterion or quantitative measure of achievement. Motivation, aptitude, self-awareness and interpersonal poise are highly valued, as are skills in communication, research methods and professional/scientific writing.

You must submit a resume and a statement of goals. The goals statement is an essay in which you describe your interest in seeking a doctoral degree in counseling psychology. The statement should convey a fuller picture beyond the scope of a review of past academic records, test scores and reference letters. It can include descriptions of the ways you can enrich diversity of the program, such as language fluency, life experiences and commitment to working with diverse populations; reasons for applying to the program and to UNT; academic goals; research interests; applied practice goals; etc.

The doctoral program regards admission as a serious commitment on the part of you and the faculty. The counseling admission committee's goal is to make an optimal match between your qualifications and goals and the training program's resources and objectives. Detailed departmental admission requirements and an application may be obtained from the graduate coordinator or online at www.psyc.unt.edu.

Degree requirements

The Ph.D. degree in counseling psychology requires a minimum of 111 semester hours beyond the bachelor's degree, including a one-year supervised internship. If you are a full-time student, you could complete the program in five years. Most students take about six years.

General core studies

You are required to demonstrate competency (grade of B or better) in 20 hours of core psychology course work:

• PSYC 5060 History and Systems
• PSYC 5090 Social Psychology
• PSYC 5640 Cognitive and Affective Bases of Behavior
• PSYC 5700 Quantitative Methods I
• PSYC 5710 Quantitative Methods II
• PSYC 5790 Physiological Psychology

Counseling concentration

The counseling concentration core consists of 45 semester hours of course work in assessment, ethics, group work, human development, multicultural issues, personality, psychopathology, psychotherapy and vocational and career counseling. The goal is to train psychologists in traditional hallmarks of counseling psychology. An emphasis is placed on developmental and intervention issues as they relate to normal and atypical or disordered behavior.

Counseling practicum

The applied training experience in counseling psychology begins in the first semester and may continue throughout your on-campus work. The bulk of applied training occurs at the Psychology Clinic and the UNT Counseling and Testing Services. The Psychology Clinic practicum team is composed of first-, second- and third-year students and the supervising psychologist. In the second and third year of the required practicum sequence, students divide their training between the Psychology Clinic and the Counseling and Testing Services.

Elective cluster

You can select an elective cluster of 12 to 15 hours in marriage and family, aging or sport psychology. You may design other elective clusters with approval of the counseling committee.

Research

During your first year, you will formulate a thesis-related research project to complete during your second year. You are also encouraged to get involved in faculty members' research. Second- and third-year counseling students take on increasing responsibility in research projects that will culminate in the student's completion of a dissertation. The dissertation is a rigorous demonstration of the Ph.D. student's understanding of the scientific base of psychological work and the student's ability to integrate concepts into a system from which assumptions and hypotheses can be tested and interpreted.

Internship

A full-time, calendar year internship is required. Internships are independent of academic training programs. You are responsible for applying for and gaining acceptance to an internship.

Foreign language

Beyond the 111 hours required for the degree, you must satisfy the graduate school requirement of a reading knowledge of a foreign language or have demonstrated competence in a research tool subject that has been approved by the Department of Psychology and the Graduate Council.

Evaluation of knowledge and skills

Throughout training, the counseling program faculty members will assess your progress. Evaluation focuses on development of general knowledge in psychology and the specialty area of counseling psychology, competence in the delivery of applied services, skill in scientific investigation, and appropriate interpersonal and ethical functioning. If you do not demonstrate satisfactory and continuous progress in these areas, you may be terminated from the counseling psychology program.

Financial assistance

You may apply for departmentally funded teaching assistantships and fellowships. The department strives to support all doctoral students for at least two years (generally the second and third year). Additionally, competitive scholarships are available from the graduate school and other sources. International students and non-resident students who receive competitive graduate school scholarships are entitled to pay Texas resident tuition for the term of their scholarship.

Facilities

The recently renovated Psychology Clinic is used for practicum training. The clinic includes psychotherapy and assessment rooms and rooms with one-way mirrors for live observation of individual and group sessions. Extensive videotaping capabilities are available for supervision in training. The counseling psychology program also uses training resources at UNT Counseling and Testing Services.

Student body and program statistics

The rate of attrition from the Ph.D. program in counseling psychology is very small. At this time, the program has a larger percentage of women than men. Its students are diverse in age, backgrounds and interests. Most facilities on campus, including the Department of Psychology, are accessible to students with disabilities. The Ph.D. program has about 50 students and admits approximately eight students annually. The internship placement rate in the counseling psychology program has been about 85 percent over the past six years.

UNT's doctoral program in counseling psychology provides data concerning applicants, admitted students, internship acceptance rates, time to program completion, licensure, student attrition rates, and financial cost in response to directives from the APA Office of Accreditation. The information can be found at www.psyc.unt.edu/gradcounselingdoct.shtml.