Why is there a negative view towards Argosy University?

[ExpressYourself]

When I was in undergrad, my professors told me that Argosy was a good school? I'm about to be a second year Psy.D student at chicago's Argosy University, but I've been reading comments about how it's a "diploma mill," how it's a place for rejects to seek a piece of paper certifying them in the clinical psychology field, how some people think they're "too smart" for such a school, how they just want your money and don't give a care about your actual abilities, etc. Has anyone actually attended Argosy or are you just basing things on what you hear? Will getting my degree from there really hinder me in the job market? What's interesting though is that our clinical director said that the school is purposely being tough on the students, so they can earn a "better reputation and show that their students are highly intelligent." I don't know what he meant by that, or if he's implying that the school really does have a bad reputation.

I find all of my classmates to be competent and bright (certainly not the average joe that is just trying to find the easy way out), and we feel that the program is intense enough. Most of our professors are Ph.D's as well, and it certainly isn't a blow-off program. Someone said that professional schools don't match well with internship sites, but a girl did get an internship at Yale University. She's the first Psy.D student they ever had.


Any information would be appreciated. I just hope I didn't make the wrong decision by going to this school.


I made the mistake of only applying to 4 grad schools during undergrad (2 Psy.D's, and 2 Ph.D's). I got rejected by the Ph.D programs, but I had a 3.8 GPA, Gre scores in the 1200's range, and some clinical/research experience. I'm thinking about maybe stopping at my master's degree at Argosy, and re-applying to get a Ph.D again.

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[Ollie123]

I warn you this will likely turn into an all out war very very quickly.

I don't know terribly much about the individual Argosy's (though rumor has it Chicago is one of the better ones). Without getting too much into my personal views on them, I think part of the lack of respect stems less from the education itself and more from the acceptance process. Clinical psych is insanely competitive with many(most) schools accepting < 10% of applications. I think the highest acceptance rate of the 13 places I applied to was 8%, and I was by no means only applying to the most competitive schools. Given that schools like Argosy frequently accept 50, 60, even 70% of applicants, you can see where the concern might be. I think when many people say it is the "easy way" to get a doctorate what they really mean is that it is the "easy way" to get ACCEPTED to a doctoral program. Given most PhD programs have a low attrition rate, getting accepted is perhaps the greatest "weed-out" process in this field, and one can essentially avoid that entire process by going to schools that have 10-20x the acceptance rates of other programs. If you look at the average accepted stats at these schools they are often horrific...3.2 GPAs (one school even lets you submit a form to basically get your GPA waived if you can explain why its low), low/no GRE requirement, etc.

This, coupled with the CRAZY tuition rates charged by some of these schools when most of us pay little to nothing and in fact are getting paid to go to school, and the SUPER shady practice some professional schools have of charging students tuition during their internship year leads many to believe these schools are more concerned about profits than producing quality psychologists. Is that fair? No, but nor is it completely unfounded.

FYI I just checked Insider's and Argosy Chicago matched 95%, which is quite good so I don't necessarily think you'd need to concern yourself with that. It doesn't say WHERE they matched, but if you're matching at 95% chances are the schools is okay in that regard.

For the record, the above views are meant for explanatory purposes and are not necessarily indicative of my personal views because I really don't want to go down this road again.

 

[RayneeDeigh]

I've actually heard very good things about Argosy Chicago. It's just that quite a few of the Argosy schools don't have good reputations. There are a lot of professional schools who accept amazingly high percentages of their applicants, charge huge tuition fees, don't help their students get internship placements, and have questionable stats in general. I know that a lot of people are aware of the differences between Argosy Chicago and some of the less "reputable" ones though, so I think you'll be just fine.

Good luck. If you decide you want a PhD from a University-based program, that's a choice you'll have to make for yourself 'cause we can't tell you what's best for you. We've all got our various biases for/against professional schools so it's all about what feels right for you.

 

[JockNerd]

The Argosy campuses have poor internship match rates. This is a big problem for graduates if they intend on going into practice. Combined with the high tuition costs, that and the problems that come out of that mix are the sum of my personal dislike for the programs *in general*. I'm sure many exceptionally qualified people choose to go there for their own very good reasons. If you want to find places to call "diploma mills," there are significantly worse offenders.

About the Yale young woman... well, every program has outstanding people. It's really more important to know where *most* students are going, not the few who do amazing.

Is Argosy at Chicago listed as something else under the APPIC match rates? I couldn't find it.

 

[ExpressYourself]

Thanks everyone. And please, no rude comments or fights as I wasn't intending this to turn into. Haha, I was amazed at some of the Psy.D vs. Ph.D quabbles.

Let me correct that I go to the Schaumburg campus in Argosy, which is a suburb of Chicago. Then, you have the campus in the downtown city of Chicago. When you say you hear good things about Chicago Argosy, you're including the Chicago suburbs too right?

JockNerd-My argosy campus is also called the "Illinois School of Professional Psychology" (ISPP).

Ollie-What you said makes sense. Thanks for clarifying, and I can see your point.



I have one more question. Does having a master's degree and some graduate school experience help when you're applying to Ph.D programs? Or they don't care? I read that most incoming students hold bachelor's degrees. Would you recommend applying to 10-13 programs?

A lot of people in my undergrad wanted to stay in their hometown when applying to graduate schools, and I was one of those people at the time. There seems to be more Psy.D programs than Ph.D programs in Chicago, if I'm not mistaken. But, I I don't mind now applying to out of state Ph.D programs since that will maximize my chances of getting in.

 

[RayneeDeigh]

I have one more question. Does having a master's degree and some graduate school experience help when you're applying to Ph.D programs? Or they don't care? I read that most incoming students hold bachelor's degrees. Would you recommend applying to 10-13 programs?

A lot of people in my undergrad wanted to stay in their hometown when applying to graduate schools, and I was one of those people at the time. There seems to be more Psy.D programs than Ph.D programs in Chicago, if I'm not mistaken. But, I I don't mind now applying to out of state Ph.D programs since that will maximize my chances of getting in.

I definitely recommend applying to at least a dozen schools. And definitely don't limit yourself geographically. That (in my opinion) is the #1 reason qualified people don't get in when they should.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I definitely recommend applying to at least a dozen schools. And definitely don't limit yourself geographically. That (in my opinion) is the #1 reason qualified people don't get in when they should.

Yup. This happens *a lot* in NYC and places in CA.

-t

 

[KillerDiller]

Re: having a Masters degree when you apply, a lot of people make a logical fallacy when looking at the admissions statistics of doctoral programs. Many programs report that the majority of incoming students only have a Bachelors degree while a minority had already earned a Masters. This does not mean, however, that schools prefer those who have no graduate school experience. Out of the whole applicant pool, having a Masters degree is relatively rare, and thus it is certainly possible that, when you look at the base rates, those with a Masters have a slight edge in the admissions process over those who do not.

That being said, it's not so much the degree that matters when applying to Ph.D programs as the added research and practical experience. Having a Masters is not necessarily better nor worse than having worked a few years in the field.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I think a major knock on Argosy is quality control. It isn't that a person can't graduate and be a great clinician, it is that the overall product is not what it should be. I think size plays a part, but I think psych is a pretty self-selected group, so it isn't Joe Shmoe off the street applying (I hope). Small programs aren't exempt, there can be quality control issues too.

I need to run, but i'll come back later today and write a bit more.

-t

 

[Baloo]

OLLIE: "FYI I just checked Insider's and Argosy Chicago matched 95%, which is quite good so I don't necessarily think you'd need to concern yourself with that. It doesn't say WHERE they matched, but if you're matching at 95% chances are the schools is okay in that regard. "

Can someone tell me what Insider's said about Georgia School of Professional Psychology (match rate, etc.)?

THANKS!!!

 

[terrybug]

I'd say before you quit the program and apply for a PhD, talk to someone in your internship placement office and find out from them what sort of help they provide, and what their results look like. And while you're there, you can get a sense of how much time and care they spend on each individual student. If it seems like they really do their research for you and are highly committed to getting students placed, then I'd probably ignore all the rumors and stick with your program.

 

[lakewood]

My opinion is that professional schools are less respected for financial reasons. Why pay 100 thousand dollars on an education when there are programs out there that are free? But as more and more professional schools exist (and as they have such large class sizes), there are many more psychologists not only looking for internship positions, but also for careers. Thus with a large supply and a steady demand, salaries are not as competitive as they might otherwise be.

I think that since Argosy has SO many campuses, they become an easy target for these criticisms in general. Of course there are others, but since there are so many Argosys, they are widely talked about. As far as I know, the education itself is not in question (though others have mentioned lower intern %). Some people criticize the practitioner-scholar model in general (I am not one of them), but when people refer to the "degree-mill" schools I think they are criticizing the system itself. That is, more schools with more students simply means more private institutional profits, while the field itself has more psychologists without more demand. That's why people call into question the true motives of these programs.

This is the opinion of just one person (who could not afford a similar education!). So that's my bias, and take it for what it's worth.


Also, my disclaimer: I am not trying to put down anyone's school, and I don't have a disrespect for anyone based on their program, etc. I'm just trying to look at things objectively.

 

[Ollie123]

Afraid I must retract the 95% - that is for Argosy Chicago, not ISPP (two different schools it seems - sorry, didn't know). ISPP hasn't released that information to Insider's. Take from that what you will. Could be bad, could just be they are newer and don't have the data, could be they never got the phone call

Is GSPP the same as Argosy-Atlanta?

If so, their APPIC match rate was great last year - 100%. Unfortunately, most of their acceptance stats are still embarassingly low. GRE mean 500 verbal, 500 quant, no Psych GRE, average GPAs of 3.25. 226 applied/89 admissions offers/53 incoming. So an acceptance rate of ~40%. Not as bad as some, but still far from selective in my eyes. Others will of course have varying views of where the line for "selective" should be drawn.

I also think I just violated copyright law. So shhhhhh

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I also think I just violated copyright law. So shhhhhh

Nah....you took a snippet, just don't go scanning and posting the info.

-t

 

[JockNerd]

Illinois School of Professional Psych match rate is 70%. Higher than the other Argosy campuses, but not what I would consider "good."

Match rates are here http://www.appic.org/downloads/APPIC_Match_2000-06_by_Univ.pdf for anyone who hasn't seen them.

You know, it really seems to me that often the APPIC match rate given to the Insider's Guide didn't match what APPIC reported. Same goes for the Insider's Guide data not always matching full disclosure data on financial support.

 

[Ollie123]

Part of that is attributable to the fact that the website you linked to gives the stats of the school as an average over the past 6 years (or so) whereas Insider's only gives the match rate for the previous year.

Concerns me my schools rate was only 85. That doesn't seem bad overall, but I was expecting it to be at least in the 90's. According to Insider's it was 100 last year so perhaps some improvements have been made or something like that.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Part of that is attributable to the fact that the website you linked to gives the stats of the school as an average over the past 6 years (or so) whereas Insider's only gives the match rate for the previous year.

Concerns me my schools rate was only 85. That doesn't seem bad overall, but I was expecting it to be at least in the 90's. According to Insider's it was 100 last year so perhaps some improvements have been made or something like that.

Rates will vary from year to year. My rule of thumb is be concerned if your school can't at least beat the average year in and year out.....and also WHERE they place because not all sites are created equal.

-t

 

[clinpsychgirl]

Slightly off topic, but just wanted to say don't worry Ollie

While its always a big plus to attend a reputable program and to have a good overall match rate, IMHO, it's more important to know how/where your advisor's students end up than the success of students in the program overall. Thus, I think Ts rule of thumb is a good one for clinical applicants to consider when they apply. If you can also be aware of your lab's match rate- I think that goes a long way as well.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

...I think Ts rule of thumb is a good one for clinical applicants to consider when they apply. If you can also be aware of your lab's match rate- I think that goes a long way as well.

Definitely.

-t

 

[Ollie123]

nt

 

[Neuro-Dr]

I've worked with some grads from ISPP-Schaumburg and their fine. I know their DOT and he is pretty engaged in forcing students to get adaquate training (they require 2000 hours minimum). I have heard from him that their match rates are about 80% over the past 10 years to APPIC/APA (I assume the others go to non-APPIC/APA) so that seems like one of the better schools in the system. Plus they are relatively small by PsyD standards. Just enjoy yourself.

 

[davect1]

I am currently a student at Argosy University/Washington DC. The following is my opinion only, and based on my only experience with the campus.

Argosy's acceptance rates are poor. Students are able to succeed without a good knowledge base and with poor therapy and assessment skills. Classes are challenging, but professors grade so that almost all students are able to pass. The pricetag is absurd.

However, I have had a great experience with the program thus far. My practicum sites have been excellent. The professors are VERY knowledgeable and, as was said before, most have Ph.D's from various programs across the country and many have tons of experience in the field.

It's a good program and you can learn a lot if you work hard at it. Or, you can slide by with mediocre grades and not learn a thing. I am proficient in a number of assessment techniques from the classes I've taken. Again, this is a FOR PROFIT business, which may explain why acceptance rates are so high and anyone can get through it (no one is weeded-out).

Lastly, at least for DC and Chicago - internship rates are fairly high (DC is 76.2%).

I hope this helps. And I don't mean to put my program, or any program, down. All I'm saying is that at Argosy your education is what you make of it.

 

[Baloo]

Illinois School of Professional Psych match rate is 70%. Higher than the other Argosy campuses, but not what I would consider "good."

Match rates are here http://www.appic.org/downloads/APPIC_Match_2000-06_by_Univ.pdf for anyone who hasn't seen them.

You know, it really seems to me that often the APPIC match rate given to the Insider's Guide didn't match what APPIC reported. Same goes for the Insider's Guide data not always matching full disclosure data on financial support.

Other Argosy campuses are on the APPIC Match 2000-2006. The Atlanta campus (GSPP) has an 86% and Hawaii is also in the upper 80's. Some campuses are just better then others, just because they are under one name (ARGOSY) doesn't mean they are the same institution. All of the Argosy's are their own independent institutions. Remeber they once all made up the American School's of Professional Psychology, and then Argosy bought them and put them under one name. Essentially, each campus is different, just as each PhD program is different.

 

[JockNerd]

dave-- thanks for that informative post! I was wondering if, in your experience, the work students put in reflects internship application success. In other words, are those "coasters" the people who bring down internship match rates and people who work hard have much more success?

 

[Banon]

As a 4th year student at Argosy Univeristy/Twin Cities, I agree with this wholeheartedly. I've had a wonderful experience here and have learned a great deal. Others in my program have not, it's a matter of what you put into it. The pricetag is, of course, the biggest tradeoff, but there are plenty of NHSC opportunities around here for those willing to live a bit outside the metro.

Does it pain me that Argosy has a questionable reputation? Of course. Given what both davect1 and I have said though, it's only natural people will wonder if they're dealing with a "coaster" or not. If you go to a program like this, it just means that you have to work a bit harder to distinguish or prove yourself. The letters after your name won't matter as much a few years into the field. If you go to school and work hard, your reputation will follow.

I am currently a student at Argosy University/Washington DC. The following is my opinion only, and based on my only experience with the campus.

Argosy's acceptance rates are poor. Students are able to succeed without a good knowledge base and with poor therapy and assessment skills. Classes are challenging, but professors grade so that almost all students are able to pass. The pricetag is absurd.

However, I have had a great experience with the program thus far. My practicum sites have been excellent. The professors are VERY knowledgeable and, as was said before, most have Ph.D's from various programs across the country and many have tons of experience in the field.

It's a good program and you can learn a lot if you work hard at it. Or, you can slide by with mediocre grades and not learn a thing. I am proficient in a number of assessment techniques from the classes I've taken. Again, this is a FOR PROFIT business, which may explain why acceptance rates are so high and anyone can get through it (no one is weeded-out).

Lastly, at least for DC and Chicago - internship rates are fairly high (DC is 76.2%).

I hope this helps. And I don't mean to put my program, or any program, down. All I'm saying is that at Argosy your education is what you make of it.

 

[ExpressYourself]

I am currently a student at Argosy University/Washington DC. The following is my opinion only, and based on my only experience with the campus.

Argosy's acceptance rates are poor. Students are able to succeed without a good knowledge base and with poor therapy and assessment skills. Classes are challenging, but professors grade so that almost all students are able to pass. The pricetag is absurd.

However, I have had a great experience with the program thus far. My practicum sites have been excellent. The professors are VERY knowledgeable and, as was said before, most have Ph.D's from various programs across the country and many have tons of experience in the field.

It's a good program and you can learn a lot if you work hard at it. Or, you can slide by with mediocre grades and not learn a thing. I am proficient in a number of assessment techniques from the classes I've taken. Again, this is a FOR PROFIT business, which may explain why acceptance rates are so high and anyone can get through it (no one is weeded-out).

Lastly, at least for DC and Chicago - internship rates are fairly high (DC is 76.2%).

I hope this helps. And I don't mean to put my program, or any program, down. All I'm saying is that at Argosy your education is what you make of it.

Does your campus also have the rule where if you get more than 2 C's, you get dismissed from the program? A C is considered a failing grade over here, ahd you get put on academic probation if your GPA falls below a 3.0. Since our school gives out minuses on report cards, even getting an A minus can cause your GPA to fall below a 4.0 because an A- doesn't count the same as a regular A. I'm not sure if someone with mediocre grades could easily get by then, but like you said----it depends on the campus. The Schaumburg website says they require applicants to have a minimum GPA of 3.25, but I don't know if they do take people with lower GPA's.

Does anybody have the acceptance information of Argosy Schaumburg, like how many people applied and how many were accepted? There's no information in my insider's guide to graduate programs in clinical psychology book.

 

[nononora]

Does anybody have the acceptance information of Argosy Schaumburg, like how many people applied and how many were accepted? There's no information in my insider's guide to graduate programs in clinical psychology book.

According to the APA Graduate Study in Psychology book, for 2004/2005:

PsyD
Number of applicants - 142
Number accepted - 95
Number enrolled - 55

Median undergrad GPA of incoming 03/04 class - 3.48

 

[KillerDiller]

Does your campus also have the rule where if you get more than 2 C's, you get dismissed from the program? A C is considered a failing grade over here, ahd you get put on academic probation if your GPA falls below a 3.0. Since our school gives out minuses on report cards, even getting an A minus can cause your GPA to fall below a 4.0 because an A- doesn't count the same as a regular A.

This is actually fairly standard for grad school. No wonder grades have "inflated".

 

[davect1]

I really believe this is the case, but I'm not sure. Also, when applying for internships, I've been told that it is a good idea to apply to sites that well-liked Argosy students from your school have attended.

 

[davect1]

This is actually fairly standard for grad school. No wonder grades have "inflated".

Yes, this is why so many can "coast" by. Most grad programs, including this one, consider anything below a B- a failing grade. I have not heard that more than 2 C's and you are out of the program. But you do have to re-take the courses. Also, when you retake them, they exclude the old grade from calculating your GPA. If you have less than a 3.0 you are on academic probation, and eventually you may be dismissed from the program.

 

[ExpressYourself]

Yes, this is why so many can "coast" by. Most grad programs, including this one, consider anything below a B- a failing grade. I have not heard that more than 2 C's and you are out of the program. But you do have to re-take the courses. Also, when you retake them, they exclude the old grade from calculating your GPA. If you have less than a 3.0 you are on academic probation, and eventually you may be dismissed from the program.

It might say so in the school catalog, because a few of my classmates weren't aware of this rule until I showed it to them online. They told me this when I was at orientation, as a few students got dismissed after getting a 3rd C in the past.

Or maybe it varies from campus to campus.

 

[ExpressYourself]

(and as they have such large class sizes)

Sorry to bump this thread up, but what is the average class size for a Psy.D program? What would you consider too big?

 

[Neuro-Dr]

Sorry to bump this thread up, but what is the average class size for a Psy.D program? What would you consider too big?

There was an article on this in the January 2005 American Psychologist- the average PsyD program is 39 students per year. This is likely bi-modal as free-standing professional schools can be up to 100 and University based can be as low as 10-15. The average admissions is 40% compared to 11% for PhD programs. The range for PsyD is 20-80%. The average GPA is 3.38. So, if it is 80+ students at 80% admissions, this would be hard to swallow.

Your AU-Schaumburg program reported an average of 40 students over the past 7 years, average GPA 3.52 and admissions percentage 49%. So, it looks about average for PsyD in terms of admissions and high for GPA.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Just a point of clarification, I think the range you listed 20-80% is a bit off (I'm thinking of Rutgers, Baylor, and Loyola have much lower acceptance rates than 20%).

Neuro-Dr makes a good point about the overall class size. My biggest gripe with large class sizes is the range of quality student. I think the bottom %'s are what drag program stats down and cause a lot of the concerns that people have.

-t

 

[Neuro-Dr]

My quote comes from Norcross in 2004 and Peterson 2003. The range in these articles is 5th to 95th percentile, which equates to 20%-80%. The APA listed Psyd admissions at 41%, PhD at 11%, Norcross put PsyD at just under 50% and Rutgers was the lowest of all PsyD programs at 6%. Incidentally, the December 2005 American Psychologist article (again from Norcross) put average PsyD enrollment at 28 per year and 6.8 for PhD.

Although the data is not identical, it is fairly consistent, which would make Rutgers an outlier by PsyD standards and in the top 25% of most competitive PhD programs if admissions acceptance rate was the only criteria.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

My quote comes from Norcross in 2004 and Peterson 2003. The range in these articles is 5th to 95th percentile, which equates to 20%-80%. The APA listed Psyd admissions at 41%, PhD at 121%, Norcross put PsyD at just under 50% and Rutgers was the lowest of all PsyD programs at 6%. Incidentally, the December 2005 American Psychologist article (again from Norcross) put average PsyD enrollment at 28 per year and 6.8 for PhD.

Although the data is not identical, it is fairly consistent, which would make Rutgers an outlier by PsyD standards and in the top 25% of most competitive PhD programs if admissions acceptance rate was the only criteria.

Ah okay. Thanks for the clarification.

-t

 

[ipsychologist]

It seems that most of you are fortunate to be living within a drive to a university. I live in Tokyo, Japan and Agosy online seems to be the only option. I have so many extra credits boxed away and collecting dust so I have decided to complete my BA at Argosy University online.

I have heard mostly good things about Argosy, especially in Chicago, but what about their online degree program?

Once I complete this, I plan on going to University of Texas (with the Hazelwood act benefit) to further myself and obtaining a Ph.D.
With the degree that I will be working on lessen my probability in being accepted at a brick and mortar university?

I have 8 years in instructing English classes, 2 of which were teaching cops crim-psyc. Does this also help with being accepted?

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I think many would make the distinction between taking some classes online for a BA/BS and taking online courses for graduate level work. I know some who have taken gen ed courses and the like online, and it seemed to work fine. I think the level of work between a BA/BS and grad work is significantly different, especially at the doctoral level. I'm not sure if Argosy has an online program for clinical, but I think a lot of the issues revolve around the varied level of training/experience that happens between the many Argosy campuses.

-t

 

[Jon4PsyD]

So which Argosy Schools are considered good and which are considered bad?!

I spoke with one a few months ago by phone, which I told them I was a year away from my Master's degree and was told "Well you can still apply for Fall '07 and you can join us without finishing that Master's degree." That seemed a bit alarming to me. I wasn't overly interested to begin with but wanted more info once I heard they were still taking people in Mid-July for a PsyD program starting in September.

I was also told by this particular Argosy school that their match rates were excellent but they choose not to disclose such information (Hmmm) then said, "But it's about 80%" .. does that make sense? I felt like they were playing around, but I could be wrong.

So I got into NO doctoral programs the first time around, and this fall I'll be trying again (being once semester shy of an M.A.). Which programs ARE good? Because I may apply just due to the fear of not getting in anywhere else...

Jon

 

[ipsychologist]

I think many would make the distinction between taking some classes online for a BA/BS and taking online courses for graduate level work.........training/experience that happens between the many Argosy campuses.
-t

If I were an employer, I may consider those as well unless there was some reason for taking online classes. But if anyone were to have taken some online classes, they would know that its very hard to push themselves in doing the work without the instructor. I sure hope that the times have changed.

So which Argosy Schools are considered good and which are considered bad?!

I spoke with one a few months ago by phone.......Which programs ARE good? Because I may apply just due to the fear of not getting in anywhere else...

From my understanding, a lot of colleges dont care if you have a masters or not to enter into the degree program although it does help. What Argosy said to you....... I dont know. They told me that they didnt have an online masters course. As for entering the doctrate course (not online), one can have just a bachelors.

 

[keshavarzi]

Hey guys, I just got accepted from both schools, The chicago school of Professional psych and Argosy (masters)_.

Argosy has somewhat of a joint program where the masters leads to the 3rd year Psy.D whereas you would have to formally apply from the masters to the Psy.D at the Chicago School.


Im having trouble deciding. Schaumburg told me they matched 79% on APPIC last year vs. chicago school saying they matched 82%. Not sure where to go. I may save some time by going to schaumburg, can anyone shed some light on the reputation of both and which is better?

 

[erg923]

Hey guys, I just got accepted from both schools, The chicago school of Professional psych and Argosy (masters)_.

Argosy has somewhat of a joint program where the masters leads to the 3rd year Psy.D whereas you would have to formally apply from the masters to the Psy.D at the Chicago School.


Im having trouble deciding. Schaumburg told me they matched 79% on APPIC last year vs. chicago school saying they matched 82%. Not sure where to go. I may save some time by going to schaumburg, can anyone shed some light on the reputation of both and which is better?

I wouldn't go to either. But if i had, to I would pick the one with the highest match rate, balanced against how many arms and legs each one would cost you.

 

[Spatial]

I am a current Argosy student on the west coast. I can tell you that while I was impressed with the faculty initially, I was very disappointed. I am completing a 3 year program for the MA in Counseling and the staff turnover rate is horrible. The only two faculty members that are still there are the Head of the Department and the Director of Training, both of whom have very little respect from the students. I also discovered that I was lied to by my admissions representative after I had compelted the first 2 years of my program. I found out that the school was aware of the lies and fired the rep approximately 6 months after I enrolled, however the administration found it "unnecessary to notify the students." While I've heard good things about the Chiago campus, I would avoid the west coast.

 

[PsyDr]

snow,

i don't disagree with some of your points. However, how do you propose to fight these institutions?

economic theory dictates that expansion of supply (of education) will continue until such time as demand is met.

i believe we should do a better job affecting the supply in undergrad, explaining to people what psychologists earn. and encouraging many individuals to simply seek treatment as opposed to going to grad school.


also, if we could do away with the "i want to be a forensic psychologist because silence of the lambs is my favorite movie", that would be great.

 

[psychmama]

Jon,

No seriously...Don't hold back. Tell us how really feel about those professional schools!

For the record, I do agree with many of your comments. It's just that they ignore that for some people, the Argosy/Alliant option may be a tolerable choice, despite its many drawbacks.

Oh well -- I don't expect to change your mind about this. Different strokes, and all that...!

 

[nl2008]

Essentially with Argosy, Alliant, etc. you are paying an extremely high price for something of lesser quality, when on the other hand, you can go somewhere more respectable/prestigious, get better training, and go for free. In my opinion, it would be better to take time off, boost your resume, and reapply to funded PhD programs instead of jumping at the chance to get in anywhere. With some time and effort, you can save alot of money.

 

[Cosmo75]

Did anyone else read this month's Monitor? The front cover had a piece on the "Corporitization of Higher Education."

 

[Cosmo75]

I really don't know. As I see it, the reproduction rate of professional schools has already reached critical mass. Maybe, the economic collapse might help a little. But I think the market for people that want to be psychologists isn't really going to wane much. They can just keep lowering the bar as people figure our the supply/and demand issues.

I would think with the drying up of the credit markets, it'll be much more difficult to finance these places. Especially those with $200K+ price tags.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

+1 to the last 2 posts.

 

[Cosmo75]

Hey JS, thanks for the kudos. I will be staying here in lovely, snowy Chicago. Though some of those post-docs at the VA in Hawaii sure looked tempting