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Admissions | Research | Curriculum | Clinical Internship | Graduates | Accreditation The Clinical Science Program in Psychological Sciences at Vanderbilt University subscribes to the clinical scientist model of training, with the primary goal of training clinical scientists. The Clinical Science Program is part of the outstanding program in Psychological Sciences at Vanderbilt that includes over 60 faculty spanning two departments (the Department of Psychology and the Department of Psychology and Human Development). All students complete a core set of required coursework, research and clinical training. This includes courses in the biological, social, cognitive/affective bases of behavior; human development; individual differences; research design and statistics; psychopathology; psychological assessment; psychological intervention; and professional ethics. In addition to these core requirements common to all students, the program has sufficient flexibility to allow students to concentrate their training and to develop specialized expertise in given areas that draw on the strengths of our faculty and the opportunities for research and clinical training. Students can focus their training in the following areas:
A strong focus of Clinical Science at Vanderbilt is the integration of research with professional expertise. Students are actively involved in research throughout their graduate training. The primary orientations are cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, and neurobiological. The program provides students with a wealth of training experiences, both scientific and professional, that is unmatched even by programs much larger in size. Students engage in clinical practica at a number of Vanderbilt sites and more broadly throughout the Nashville community. They receive supervised research and clinical training in a wide variety of agencies that serve children, adolescents, and adults, and that address a wide spectrum of psychological problems. Admissions. We typically receive from 200 to over 300 applications each year to our program. Applicants apply to the Clinical Science Program.
A number of criteria are considered in reviewing applications for admission. These include undergraduate grade point average and performance on the GRE. However, we also carefully consider applicants’ research and applied experience and the degree to which applicants’ research interests represent a good match with the research of our faculty.
Program Costs. For the 2008-2009 academic year, semester tuition rates are approximately $12,200 per semester for students taking a full graduate course load of 9 credits (if accepted through the Peabody college) or 12 credits (if accepted through the College of Arts and Sciences) per semester. However, tuition costs for all students admitted to the program are covered through support associated with teaching assistantships, research assistantships, or fellowships for up to 5 years. Financial Support. All admitted Ph.D. students receive funding for up to five years of study. The financial package includes full tuition, a monthly stipend that is highly competitive with comparable programs around the country, and a health insurance package. Based upon presented qualifications, selected students are nominated for additional honor scholarships and fellowships awarded by both the college and the graduate school. These merit awards supplement the baseline financial package. Financial support for students comes from a wide range of sources. Teaching assistantships and fellowships are available from Vanderbilt University. As of September 1, 2008, our program is supported by two Training Grants from the National Institute of Mental Health that provide fellowships for several of our students. Students are also supported by research assistantships on grants awarded to our faculty; as of September 1, 2008, the Clinical Science faculty held over $30 million dollars in current research grants. Our students have been successful in obtaining individual predoctoral fellowships, including National Research Service Awards from the National Institutes of Health and predoctoral training fellowships from the National Science Foundation.
Research. Clinical faculty research areas include:
A strong focus of Clinical Science at Vanderbilt is the integration of research with professional expertise. Students are actively involved in research on a continuing basis throughout their graduate training. The primary orientations are cognitive-behavioral, interpersonal, and neurobiological. The program is able to provide students with a wealth of training experiences, both scientific and professional, that is unmatched even by programs much larger in size. Students are involved in clinical practicum work at a number of Vanderbilt sites and more broadly throughout the Nashville community. They receive supervised research and clinical training in a wide variety of agencies that serve children, adolescents, and adults, and that address a wide spectrum of psychological problems. Curriculum. All students take the following courses as part of their core training in clinical science: Advanced Statistics (two semesters), Clinical Research Methods, Psychopathology, Psychological Measurement, Theories of Psychotherapy, Cognitive Assessment, Psychological Assessment, Ethics and Cultural Diversity, and courses in the fundamental areas of psychological science (biological bases of behavior, cognitive/affective bases of behavior, human development, and individual differences).
The following are examples of the additional courses and research and clinical training for students in some of our areas of concentration. Developmental Psychopathology Course work: Psychological Interventions with Children; Pediatric Psychology; Developmental Psychopathology Proseminar. Research: Ongoing faculty research includes mechanisms and treatment of developmental disorders; processes of risk and resilience in the development of depression; cross-cultural influences on the development of psychopathology; prevention of depression in childhood/adolescence; biopsychosocial processes in chronic and recurrent pediatric pain; psychosocial and neuropsychological processes in pediatric cancer. Clinical Practica: Vanderbilt Division of Developmental Medicine and Cognition (Department of Pediatrics); Vanderbilt Outpatient Mental Health Center Child and Family Services; Vanderbilt Pediatric Behavioral Medicine; Vanderbilt Pediatric Oncology; Vanderbilt Center for Excellence for Children in State Custody; Vanderbilt Kennedy Center TRIAD Parent Support and Education Program and Summer Camp for Children with Autism. Adult Psychopathology Course work: Cognitive Therapy; Seminar: Schizophrenia; Seminar: Anxiety Disorders. Research: Ongoing faculty research includes the psychophysiology of emotion; psychopathy; cognitive therapy for depression; cognitive- behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders; cognitive and neurobiological bases of schizophrenia; neuropsychology and neuroimaging of psychiatric disorders; nutrition and behavior in chronic diseases; health disparities. Clinical Practica: Vanderbilt Adult Psychiatry; Vanderbilt Forensic Psychiatry-Neuropsychology; Vanderbilt Dayani Center for Health and Wellness; Tennessee Valley Health Care System; Luton Community Mental Health Center. Clinical Neuroscience Course work: Neuropsychological Assessment; Brain Imaging Methods; Seminar: Neuroscience. Research: Ongoing faculty research includes cognitive and neurobiological bases of schizophrenia; neuropsychology and neuroimaging of psychiatric disorders; neuroimaging of long-term effects of treatment of pediatric cancer; neurpimaging of developmental disorders. Clinical Practica: Vanderbilt Forensic Psychiatry-Neuropsychology; Clinical Neuropsychology Community Practice. Prevention and Intervention Course work: Cognitive Therapy; Psychobiology of Stress and Coping; Developmental Psychopathology Proseminar; Psychological Interventions with Children. Research: Ongoing faculty research includes cognitive therapy for depression; cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders; prevention of depression in children and adolescents; treatment of developmental disorders. Clinical Practica: See intervention practica listed above in the Developmental and Adult Psychopathlogy concentrations. Clinical Internship. As with practicum training, the clinical internship is carefully planned to meet each student’s career goals and needs. Our students typically intern at highly regarded, APA-approved internship sites. The vast majority of our students are matched at the internship ranked as their first or second choice. Evaluations of internship placements indicate both that our students are well prepared for internship by our training program and that they find the internship experience to be highly rewarding.
2009-2010 Internship Class. We congratulate our interns on the outcomes of this selective process. All of these sites are highly competitive, and were the respective top choices of each applicant.
Our Graduates. Graduates of the Clinical Science Program over the last decade occupy important positions in academic as well as service institutions, and have research interests that are at the cutting edge of clinically and socially relevant issues. Their success is evidence of the effective combination of research and clinical training we offer, and of their own commitment to professional, research, and academic careers in clinical psychology.
These figures include the internship year. For example, a student who graduated in 6 years spent 5 years in the department and 1 year away on clinical internship. Attrition. Over the past 7 years, 55 applicants have enrolled in the Vanderbilt University Clinical Psychological Science program. Seven of those students have left the program, an attrition rate of 12%. Three of these students have transferred to the Vanderbilt Cognition/Cognitive Neuroscience Program, one student transferred to a clinical psychology program at another university, one transferred to pursue a different graduate degree, one left after completion of the Masters Degree, and one left to pursue a career outside of psychology.
Licensure of graduates. From 1997 through 2007, 70 students received their Ph.D. from the Clinical Psychological Science Program. Of these graduates, 43 are licensed psychologists, 6 provisionally licensed (pending meeting final requirements), 6 are not licensed, 4 are not yet eligible for licensure, and we do not have current information on 11 graduates. Thus of those graduates for whom we have current information and who are eligible, 89% are either licensed or are pending final approval of licensure. Accreditation. The gradute training program in Clinical Science is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association (last accredited 2005; next site visit 2009). For more information concerning accreditation, contact:
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation American Psychological Association 750 First Street, NE Washington, DC 20002-4242 Phone: 202-336-5979 Website: http://www.apa.org/ed/accreditation For more information, please contact the program Co-Directors: Jo-Anne Bachorowski (j.a.bachorowski@vanderbilt.edu) or Bruce Compas (bruce.compas@vanderbilt.edu). |
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Clinical Science Overview