Choosing a Program
This is one of the most important decisions you can make!
All accredited programs are required to report student outcome data. This data is valuable for learning more about programs you're interested in. All accredited programs are required to present these data one click away from their main site page, under a link called "Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data." Although the APA Committee on Accreditation is working to make sure these data are consistently and accurately reported, you may find it hard to locate this page for some programs. And, unaccredited programs are not required to report these data.
All accredited programs are required to report student outcome data. This data is valuable for learning more about programs you're interested in. All accredited programs are required to present these data one click away from their main site page, under a link called "Student Admissions, Outcomes, and Other Data." Although the APA Committee on Accreditation is working to make sure these data are consistently and accurately reported, you may find it hard to locate this page for some programs. And, unaccredited programs are not required to report these data.
worksheet.xlsx | |
File Size: | 10 kb |
File Type: | xlsx |
Click the link above to download our excel worksheet for helping to decide which programs to apply to!
Read more about the importance of accreditation, understanding internship, and types of programs in the other sections of this web site.
Read more about the importance of accreditation, understanding internship, and types of programs in the other sections of this web site.
I. Required Data: Time to Completion
This is an example of these data from a program web site:
As you can see, the web site for the program doesn't match exactly what it's supposed to look like! Sites will be moving to compliance with the new formats soon, but some pages may still look like this.
II. Required Data: Cost
This is an example of these data from a program web site:
In this program, the cost is listed as about $3000.00 per semester. The second part of the table and notes let applicants know that there is a tuition waiver (i.e., the student does not pay the tuition fee) and that students receive $19,000-$20,000 per year in the form of an assistantship.
III. Internship Match Rates
An example from a program web site:
This program had between 8 and 17 people apply for internship this year (first line), and all of them matched (fifth line)!
Fact-checking
Even more important than C-20 data is the data that APPIC collects independently. Research has shown discrepancies between how programs have been counting students in their C-20 data and reality, and so checking with this third-party source of info is really important!
APPIC's records of APPIC-member-site match rates are here, under Match Rates by Doctoral Program. Here is an example:
APPIC's records of APPIC-member-site match rates are here, under Match Rates by Doctoral Program. Here is an example:
You can see, by year, how many students have applied for internship from this program and the match rate (the first column). In this example, the match rate is consistently below the national average of about 75%.
Here, in contrast, is a program with consistently strong outcomes for students (many years at 100%, or at least above 75%).