Psychology Grad School on the West Coast- considering my options

Graduate School
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Hi, I graduated with a BA in Liberal Studies, and a minor in Psychology and Philosophy in December and am looking into going on to get my Masters, but am having a difficult time figuring out what programs are out there and whether they can offer me a quality education. I’m not just looking for a piece of paper, I want a program that will prepare be for life outside of academia, and preferably give me the skills to succeed. I know that sounds so generic, like something you’d find on every admissions essay ever written, but that’s what I’m looking for. Of course, the piece of paper is also very important. I’m a fairly good student with a 3.29 GPA, although I did have a 3.67 GPA until right before I took a break from school after failing an entire term. I won’t go into the details, but my poor performance was due to medical issues that I’ve since resolved.

I’m looking at programs in Washington, Oregon or California, and ideally I’d like to stay close to Portland, Oregon. The quality of my education is priority, however, so I am willing to move. I’ve been looking into both clinical counseling programs as well as industrial and organizational psychology programs. So far I’ve found that for a degree in counseling, some of my options are Lewis & Clark University in Portland, OR, University of Oregon in Eugene, Washington State University in Pullman, Oregon State University’s Campus in Bend, San Francisco State University, as well as many others.

Grad programs for Organizational Psychology are offered at Portland State University (where I completed my BA), Seattle Pacific University, San Jose University, Humbolt State University, etc. I’ve spoken with recruiters from Kaplan University and American Intercontinental University (they got my phone number) but I’m really not interested in exclusively online programs, and obviously not interested in scams disguised as grad programs.

Basically, I don’t know which program to chose and can only gain a limited perspective of each university through university websites and online comments. I can’t afford to visit even half of the schools I listed above, and I don’t think it would be reasonable to do so. I’d like to narrow it down to a few schools and was hoping to get some advice.

I don’t need to attend a top rated or Ivy League school, but I’d like my degree to be worth something (i.e. no DeVry degrees please) Are there any programs which you could recommend and, if so, why would you recommend them? Are there any schools I should avoid and why? I would really appreciate any information or opinions you could give me about grad programs on the West Coast or psychology grad programs. Even if you know of any other grad programs that are especially worthwhile or praiseworthy I’d love to hear about it since I’m also looking into other career paths as well. Thank you!

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There are many excellent graduate programs in psychology on the West Coast. Adding to the schools you mentioned, US News just published this list a few days ago: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/psychology-rankings Good luck with your search.

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Thank you for the link. I didn’t know that the top ranking schools list just came out. Although, I’ve heard that I shouldn’t rely on the list too much. I’m not sure all the reasons for this, but I’ve I’m come across that bit of advice several times while researching schools. I know that some schools have refused to submit the information required by US News to be ranked. Also, I have doubts about whether they would accept me. I’m really more concerned about the cost of the top ranked schools. Is it really worth it to go to a top ranked school and pay their exorbitant tuition costs? Would I really have that much more of an advantage? From what I’ve heard, for the most part, as long as a program is accredited, my ability to be successful after school depends more on what I specialize in and how much effort I put into my education. As long I don’t attend a school with a bad reputation, which school I attend isn’t so much a factor. Am I correct in that assumption?

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Don’t worry about the rankings, because most top psychology departments don’t actually offer a master’s in psychology. Those programs are ranked based upon their doctoral programs, which are usually research-based - and the rankings are sort of screwy anyway, because psychology is a subfield-based field. A school that might be tops for social psychology might not be great in developmental psychology - or might not even have a developmental psychology program. So U.S. News isn’t really the best source for psych rankings, although they do give you a rough idea of the reputation of psychology departments. Besides, many counseling psychology programs are in schools of education, so the department of psychology’s reputation won’t matter - you won’t be taking classes there.

If you want a master’s in psychology with the goal of becoming a professional counselor, what’s most important to you is finding an affordable program (because they rarely give aid) that leads to professional licensure in the state in which you want to practice, or has reciprocity with that state. Rankings and prestige don’t really matter that much in this case. You might want to stick to schools that are CACREP-accredited, like Oregon State’s MCoun degree. You also want to make sure that the school will license you to counsel - most clinical psychology MA programs actually * do not*. For example, University of Oregon’s M.Ed in counseling does not lead to licensure. CACREP [has a tool](Directory - CACREP) that allows you to look up CACREP-accredited programs by state - I used it to look up the ones in Oregon.

One way to narrow it down is to choose which route to go - rather than apply to both counseling and I/O, pick one to pursue. Personally, I would go after I/O - more lucrative and more jobs in that field.

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Thank you so much Juillet! That’s enormously helpful information. I had no idea that some counseling programs don’t lead to licensure! That would be awful, completing a program without a license to practice! Thank you for the link! You also make a great point about school rankings. I checked US News for the top ranked I/O Psych Grad Programs and they only list four schools-and none of them are on the west coast-which is where I’d really like to stay.