Guidance for Students Considering Graduate School in Clinical or
Counseling Psychology
Clinical psychology and its close relative, counseling psychology, are graduate-level programs. Clinical and counseling psychology are the areas within psychology that train a student to do psychotherapy/ counseling. As an undergraduate you can’t major in these areas, but you can prepare yourself for graduate work in clinical or counseling psychology.
Clinical psychology focuses on the study, assessment, and treatment of psychological disorders and the individuals who suffer from them. If you like courses like Psychopathology or Personality Psychology, you may find clinical and counseling psychology of interest. Education in clinical psychology prepares an individual for careers in academia (e.g., teaching and research at a college/university) or in more applied settings (e.g., conducting psychotherapy, doing psychological testing, and managing mental health programs). Disciplines related to clinical psychology include psychiatry (for those who go to medical school), counseling psychology, and school psychology.
The suggestions below are oriented toward those students who are considering attending graduate school in clinical psychology or related programs. Many of these recommendations are taken from Norcross, Sayette, & Mayne’s Insider's Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology. This book is a good resource for students; we have a copy in the St. Olaf Psychology Department office that you can check out, or you might want to buy a copy for yourself (cost is around $20). This book comes out in a new edition about every two years, and it includes chapters describing what clinical psychology, counseling psychology, and related fields are; how to prepare for graduate school; and how to select and apply to schools. In addition, it lists graduate programs in clinical and counseling psychology, giving basic facts about each program including entering students’ average GPA, etc.
Required courses: Most clinical psychology graduate programs require you to have taken:
Psych 125: Principles of Psychology
Stats 110 or 212: Statistics
Psych 231: Research Methods
Psych 264: Psychopathology (also known as Abnormal Psychology)
Recommended additional courses: Courses that are highly recommended and/or required by some graduate schools:
Psych 271: Psychology of Personality
Psych 236: Conditioning & Learning OR Psych 237: Cognition, Learning and Memory
Psych 238: Biopsychology OR Neuro 234: Intro to Neuroscience
Other particularly relevant courses: Other psychology courses offered at St. Olaf that may be of special interest/relevance to you include (and of course no one is able to take all of these!):
Psych 375: Introduction to Clinical and Counseling Psychology
Psych 342: Positive Psychology: The Science of Optimal Human Experience
Psych 338: Neurobiology of Psychopathology
Psych 378: Health Psychology
Psych 241: Developmental Psychology
Psych 249: Social Psychology
Other 300-level Psychology Seminars in areas related to clinical & counseling psych
Internship
Research experience: Finally, additional experience, particularly in research, is quite valuable, some would say essential. Therefore, you should consider:
Psych 298/398: Independent study/ Independent research, or
Summer Research
