Careers of professional psychologists: a comparison of the career experiences of the graduates of the clinical Psy.D. and Ph.D. programs at Rutgers University

Concerns have been raised about the quality of the training programs at institutions that grant the Psy.D. degree. This study sought to compare the career experiences of graduates from the Psy.D. and Ph.D. programs at Rutgers University. The following dimensions were compared: demographic information; educational history; professional activities; work as a practicing clinician; memberships in professional organizations; theoretical orientation and view of self as a psychologist; career satisfaction; attitudes towards training; and acceptance of the Psy.D. degree among Psy.D. degree holders. Participants were graduates of the clinical Psy.D. program (n = 443) and of the clinical Ph.D. program (n = 208). A survey was sent to all graduates of the two programs over the 32-year period from 1976 to 2008 who could be located. A total of 356 Rutgers Clinical Psychology alumni from 1976 to 2008 completed the survey, representing 54.7% of the total sample (N = 651). Significant group differences were found for 43 out of the 88 variables used to compare Ph.D. and Psy.D. graduates. Most findings were consistent with the philosophies of the different programs or prior research. The presence of multiple significant differences suggests that the Psy.D. and Ph.D. programs train and produce different individuals, which lends support for continuing to offer the Psy.D. degree program. However, fewer Psy.D. graduates attended APA accredited internship programs (88.2% for Psy.D. vs. 94.9% for Ph.D.), although further inquiry is needed to determine if attendance of APA accredited internships is tied to any temporal pattern, given that that survey pertains to alumni spanning 32 years. Psy.D. graduates (but not Ph.D. graduates) were asked questions about the acceptability of their degrees. Results indicated that 10.8% perceived that their degree was a disadvantage when applying for internship. Additionally, 9.9% of Psy.D. graduates believe their degree is received differently from one state or country to another. Interestingly, a greater proportion of Psy.D. graduates hold New Jersey psychology licenses. Also of note, a number of survey participants commented that they felt their professional achievements were not properly captured in this survey. A greater number of Ph.D. alumni received “other honors and awards,” and Psy.D. graduates did not out-perform Ph.D. alumni on the proportion of those who received other types of recognition assessed by this survey. Future research is needed to address questions raised by findings of this study, although many of the other results can immediately be used to inform the field of professional psychology.Psy.DIncludes bibliographical referencesby Kara Mia Biond