Important MA-PsyD question!!!

[Anise]

Well, it's important to me, anyway. ;)

Is it true that you really need (in practical terms) a master's before starting a PsyD program?? This is not something I've seen in written literature, but a woman I just spoke to who has an LCSW and a PsyD said that everyone in her PsyD program (and all the other people she ever heard of) had a master's first. I REALLY need to know this!!! As a practical consideration... maybe not an actual, on-paper requirement, but the way that it actually turns out... is this true? What have people seen/found/heard of? All replies appreciated!!

[Shagnasty]

There may be something weird dgoing on with the people she associates with. I have never heard of that before and I know one PsyD that ever got a Masters. I know several Ph.D. clinical psychologists including my SIL and one that went straight to a Harvard PhD program and they all went straight into their Ph.D. program without a Masters. I once considered that field very seriously and I never heard of a Masters requirement for any school and most of the more prestigious ones want qualified BA and BS candidates right off the bat. Masters programs can be time wasters for many although they may help people that got sidetracked. Professional psych is not geared towards people with Masters degrees at all.

PsyD's can be strange though. They emphasize clinical practice and greatly play down research. There is probably some schools out there that specialize in helping Masters level psych practitioners help gain better legal status. Maybe that is what she was referring to.