Personal statements are an important component of applications for counselor education and psychology doctoral programs. However, a paucity of empirical information exists about what types of content are viewed favorably and how this content influences admissions decisions. In the current study, 97 faculty members from clinical psychology,…

Although past research has documented the prevalence of misconceptions in introductory psychology classes, few studies have assessed how readily upper-level undergraduate and graduate students endorse erroneous beliefs about the discipline. In Study 1, we administered a 30-item misconception test to an international sample of 670 undergraduate,…

Graduate students in psychology frequently receive training to prepare them for teaching responsibilities. However, little is known about the different types of teaching courses that exist or what leads graduate programs to offer such courses. This study explores archival data to determine the prevalence and predictors of formal teaching…

This study used a national sample of PhD students in clinical psychology (N = 1,034) to explore when students decided to pursue their graduate degree, reasons for their decisions, and associated satisfaction. Results indicated that immediately after completing their undergraduate degree, 57% of current graduate students reported postponing…

As a requirement of APA accreditation, many PhD programs in applied psychology subscribe to some variant of the scientist-practitioner model. However, critics have argued that integrating science into an applied psychology curriculum may be too challenging a task. This article describes the development of The New School Psychology Bulletin, a…

Four year project, involving 34 MA and five PhD psychology students, studied factors which might improve graduate training procedures. The effect of weekly specification of research tasks, meetings with supervisor, deadlines, feedback, and incentives were studied. Students' performance was highest when all components of the supervisory system were…

Examines graduate recruitment and admissions processes for ethnic minority students in clinical psychology by surveying graduate admissions directors. Reports that 98% of programs reported efforts to recruit minority applicants with 82% using flexible criteria when evaluating applicants; directors identified community characteristics, financial…

Describes a Teaching of Psychology course required for University of Alabama psychology doctoral students. Reports that graduate students take full responsibility for teaching an introductory psychology section and participate in a weekly seminar on practical and theoretical issues. Suggests that both faculty and graduate students are satisfied…

Identifies the doctoral psychology programs producing the most mentors (identified as dissertation supervisors). Assesses the quality of these programs as rated in past research. Discovers a strong correlation between those programs assigning mentors and those rated highest in quality. (MJP)

Doctoral-level training in psychology places importance on helping students acquire facilitative research-related attitudes, skills, and interests. Training models in PhD applied psychology programs also value sound teaching of research. We demonstrate how a research training environment can be evaluated using both standardized instruments and…