Psych PhD programs in Atlanta? (credit, transfer, schools)

[DustyJarhead]

My wife and I are planning to move to the Atlanta area this summer and I'm looking for a good PhD program in psychology - GSU and Emory both have programs; any recommendations, for one of those or another in the area? I have an MA in counseling psych and have been in practice for about 13 years but feel like going back to school. Thanks for any pointers anyone can offer.

[CMMom]

That's pretty much it as far as Ph.D. programs go. But we also have Argosy University (formerly known as Georgia School of Professional Psychology), and they have a Psy.D. program. Costs big bucks, though.

[OhioNative]

Originally Posted by DustyJarhead

My wife and I are planning to move to the Atlanta area this summer and I'm looking for a good PhD program in psychology - GSU and Emory both have programs; any recommendations, for one of those or another in the area? I have an MA in counseling psych and have been in practice for about 13 years but feel like going back to school. Thanks for any pointers anyone can offer.

Both those programs are very competitive - GSU most recently had 386 applicants for the clinical Ph.D. and made 15 offers - approximately a 4% acceptance rate. Emory takes about 7-8 students per year, and I'm sure had at least as many applicants as GSU, likely more.

[sahara18]

Follow up question...my boyfriend is looking to start his PhD in Immunology and/or PhD in Pathology and has applies to Emory. Are there any other schools around that offer this? I'm assuming his chances of getting in are slim, but does anyone know just how slim that might be? I've encouraged him to apply to the Biology PhD program at GSU as another option, but after that I'm out of ideas.

[CMMom]

Agreed with Ohio Native re: how competitive GSU and Emory are. If you're wanting to apply, make sure that there is a professor there with research interests similar to yours and that he/she is accepting students. You'll waste a lot of time, energy, and $$ applying if your research interests don't match any of the professors in that program.

[DustyJarhead]

Thanks. I'd want to do research on the treatment of trauma and complex PTSD, particularly for veterans who've been exposed to IEDs and suffered some degree of concussive effects on the brain; PTSD is one of the things I've specialized in (I'm a disabled vet with PTSD myself.)
I'm hoping I'll be competitive enough to have a shot at getting in - I finished an MA in education in '93 and a second MA in counseling psych in '96, both with 4.0s, and I've got three books in print on addiction treatment. I can apply at both schools, but from what I can find online the GSU program sounds like a better fit for me. I'm patient - if I don't get in on the first try I'm willing to keep applying in future years.
Thanks again!

[CMMom]

The only potential problem is that many Ph.D. programs don't allow people with Masters' degrees to transfer credits, and some don't accept those students at all. They often like to "get" you fresh with a Bachelor's so that they can teach you "their way." Just my experience, not necessarily true of GSU and Emory, but I'd certainly ask the questions.

[DustyJarhead]

Thanks. I will need to look into that. If they do insist on that I'd probably end up redoing that if necessary, but it would be quite a bit of extra time, work, and expense. It might depend on whatever theoretical orientation they treat as orthodoxy. In my program it was a strong emphasis on cognitive-behavioral methods with a strong humanistic undertone; the only one I think I'd really have a hard time with would be a heavily behaviorist slant. I took the first course in the PhD program at the U. of NM here at one point, a survey course, but didn't go farther both because it was clear that the department's 'religion' was behaviorism and because they made it clear that I couldn't both hold a job and be in that program at the same time, and at that point I couldn't do without the job, as I could now.
I definitely need to do some reconnaissance on those programs before I solidify any plans. The feedback I've gotten here gives me a couple of valuable questions to ask.

[CMMom]

I think Emory is pretty heavily cognitive-behavioral, particularly in the child area. GSU, I think, has a greater variety and probably a few professors who are more "touchy-feely" (Gestalt, psychodynamic, etc...).

[CMMom]

And, yes, a lot of doctoral programs put restrictions on you holding an "outside" (e.g., non-RA or non-TA/non-Department affiliated) job. My program would not allow grad students to be servers or anything like that, even part-time. Better ask about that too.