Welcome to our PsyD webinar.
I am doctor Bradley Seifer, and I'm the admissions adviser for the doctoral program here at Divine Mercy University.
The format of today's webinar is fairly straightforward.
Going to first move through a PowerPoint presentation where we're gonna talk about some of the most, importance and salient aspects of the doctoral program, and then we'll finish with some q and a.
So if you have any point in the conversation have a question, go ahead and lodge it in the chat box, and I will field your question at the end.
Also note that I placed my email and my phone in the chat box.
So after we're done today and you want to learn more about the doctoral program, go ahead and get in touch with me through email or phone.
Okay.
So if you'll bear with me, I'm going to upload the presentation.
So I'll give you just a sec.
So, again, this is the overview of the PsyD program at Divine Mercy.
That's me.
So, a bit about our program.
So, Divine Mercy University is is one overall school.
It has two programs within it.
It's the school of counseling and the, Institute of Psychological Science.
The counseling school, has a online program or you might say hybrid program that's designed for master's level clinicians.
And then we have the institute of psychological science, which houses the residential doctoral program, namely the Psy BA.
We also offer a master's in counseling, which is or excuse me, a master's in psychology, which is a totally online program, and that is, for mostly for working professionals.
Alright.
So our mission is to heal and honor the whole of the human person, right, the the whole totality of man, by integrating psychological science and psychological insights with the Catholic theological anthropology.
And in so doing, forming mental health professionals of the highest caliber through rigorous academic and clinical formation.
So, hopefully, we will have you, maybe in our marketing materials when you're, a doctor of psychology someday.
Now, we are located just outside of Washington DC in Northern Virginia area.
We have really easy access to the city if you enjoy city life with all of the resources, the cultural, and art scene there.
But if you like, you know, the the country, we have that also is on off to the West.
At the for example, the Appalachian Trail runs through the Western Part of Virginia.
Now, we had as may be evident, we have a whole host of institutional accreditations that I think speak to our commitments to really the top academic standards.
Most importantly, though, would be the American Psychological Association, the APA, which we are indeed APA accredited.
And this is super helpful for people that want to be psychologists because, of course, the APA bills out licenses, to be a psychologist.
And coming from APA school is extremely valuable and helpful in that process of finally getting licensed.
A common question that I get is, you know, how does the, doctoral program compare to the master's in counseling, program?
And there are, to my mind, at least three major differences.
The first is that, in in PsyD, there's a much stronger focus on testing and assessments, getting all the major personality and cognitive assessments learned so that as a clinician, as a psychologist, you can use them in practice.
So your in other words, your practice since your I should say your scope of practice is broader than than the typical master's level counselor.
So you get to do testing too.
The other major difference is the sheer volume of clinical preparation you get at the PsyD program compared to the masters.
It's actually fivefold.
It's five times as many as many hours, 3,500 compared to 700.
This is, of course, very significant.
Right?
Because, I mean, the the relationship that's forced between client and clinician is extremely important.
In fact, it's, like, the most valuable thing, when it comes to patients getting healed by, the therapeutic alliance.
And, yeah, so the more you do it, the better you become at it.
And so it stands to reason that, you, will have more practice, right, and to become a better therapist.
The other the third, difference is the, dissertation.
Right?
And the dissertation, is certainly part of it as an as an academic affair and insofar as you're researching and writing.
But this has also clinical application because, you will be on the vanguard of your topic.
You will be, sort of, thinking of a new idea and extending the the the, knowledge of your field in psychology, and you can bring these insights to your clients.
Right?
And in the clinic, you you know, they will sometimes even come to you precisely for that reason because you will be the expert in whatever field, psychology you choose to specialize in.
Okay.
So the PsyD is indeed a five year program.
You received a master's in passing on route to a terminal doctorate.
And let me show you what the curriculum looks like here.
So, it's a five year program.
All told, The first two years, as you can see, are are nice and dense with good, meaty science courses in psychology.
So it does have a theoretical orientation in the beginning, especially in the first couple of years.
Now your first foray into clinical practice happens in year two when you see maybe a handful of clients on our on campus clinic here at Divine Mercy, which is specifically designed for second year doctoral students, and you, of course, would be among them.
Now the the nature of the of the program does shift somewhat in years three and four when you, start to see more patients.
You start to see maybe seven to nine, clients in years three and four, and then you split your time between seeing your your patients and then going to courses.
Now in the fifth year, this is the internship year.
It is a nonacademic year.
You spent it entirely with your clients.
And this is not unlike, you know, a medical school residency where you are specializing in sort of some area.
In your case, it might be working in a certain demographic.
Maybe you love working with kids or with the geriatric populations, or maybe you have a a focus on certain pathologies.
You really wanna do work with bipolar individuals or addicts or, people with schizophrenia.
Whatever the case may be, chances are you may find a internship that's in your area of psychology so you can sort of focus in on that realm, and you can really be kind of a specialist.
These are a few overall broad discernment questions that you might consider to see whether or not this could be the program for you.
You know, do you want to help people flourish?
Are you interested in the science behind, human behavior?
Do you want to implement an instrument of healing to the psychological sciences?
Are you interested in performing psychological tests and assessments, like, diagnose and treat your clients?
Are you looking to start a career as a licensed health professional, but specifically as a clinical psychologist?
And do you have the ability and desire to work with all types of clients, your more acute care, sort of more challenging and long term client cases?
So if this if you're hearing this, if this is resonating with you, then this might be it for you.
This might be the thing.
Now a common question I get is, you know, how does our program being APA accredited compare to other APA programs?
And I would say that in in many ways, we are indeed similar to a lot of the other APA schools because we abide by the same standards set forth by the APA, foundations in psychological science and research, integrity and practice, assessment and diagnosis, therapeutic intervention and professionals.
We are different, however, in this one particular and very consequential way.
Namely, we are Catholic, and we are proud to be so.
We believe firmly in the church's teaching and has taught about the human person as a being that's made in God's own image and likeness.
Right?
It has this inner radical, and beautiful dignity and therefore, it lends a lot of intelligibility, straight to the psychological profession.
Right?
That that you're concerned with treating, a being of immense grander and immense goodness, right, at at its core.
And, of course, we we believe too and and and original sin and personal sin too.
But at its core, we we firmly believe that man is good, being created by God.
Alright.
Now when, you finish your PsyD, there are any number of places in where you might find yourself depending on your specialty and where you wanna end up.
These are a few of them that we've listed here, in psychological or psychiatric hospitals.
Right?
If you wanted to work within more of a traditional medical setting, that's the place to do it.
A military establishment, the the military, thankfully, has taken a lot of interest in getting their people better, especially those that have suffered from PTSD.
So there's a lot of funding that they're allow allotting for psychologists to help, get their people the the help that they need.
The other is private practice might be the most common or or maybe the most popular of all of them for for obvious reasons.
Right?
There's a lot of wonderful freedom that comes with having your own private practice.
And, you know, I mean, this is, of course, not for everybody.
I mean, that sometimes, you know, people really would rather just do the clinical and don't have to worry about the business side of things.
But if if being something of an entrepreneur is inspiring to you, being a psychologist that is also engaged with business and selling and marketing and and having a website and so forth, if that's attractive, this can be a wonderful life, a wonderful career for the right type of person.
Also working in any outpatient clinic or with a diocese is is a great option, especially at Divine Mercy being, having the reputation that we have as, like, as a Catholic and integrative school.
Many of our graduates have gone to work with the church in some capacity.
And especially, I would say the testing can come in very handy if you ever are, working with seminary applicants, you know, young men that wants to become priests perhaps.
You are evaluating them for psychological, and emotional maturity in in different cases.
And, really, you need those tests to be able to do that kind of work.
So that's why the PsyD and the the broader knowledge that comes with it can be so valuable.
Alright.
Now, these are a few of our alumni, PsyD alumni, and here they are.
They're speaking to their experience with us.
James Wallovich, he says, in our clinical psychology program, the training is focused on healing the whole person.
Right?
That's a big thing with us.
We believe in the whole, man or woman.
Kristen Long, I was drawn to the study program as our Disturb Others in a more profound way than my previous positions offered.
Of course, there are lots of ways to help others, and and and this is found in so many professions.
But there's a special way, of course, that psychology and psychologists are able to help in in a way that that few people, if any other, are.
Alright.
So if you look, the school is not afraid to teach you what it means to be human at every level, psychologically, philosophically, and theologically.
That's why I like it.
And, Kirsten Curtis, I'm so thankful for doing you.
The faculty members are very supportive.
I see lots of hands on clinical experience.
Alright.
This is the story of William Johnson, now doctor William Johnson.
He just graduated from the program on Saturday.
So let's hear about his story.
He's done a lot of work with PTSD and combat veterans who came from an military family.
So let's hear doctor now doctor William Johnson.
Use me for just a minute.
It sounds seems like it's low.
It's it's back up here.
Let's try it again.
Hi.
My name is William Johnston, and I'm a PsyD student at Divine Mercy University, currently approaching the end of my third year in the program.
Military service runs in my family, and, and so both my grandparents served.
My parents both served.
This door, the PsyD program at Divine Mercy University opened the opportunity for me to continue to get back, to conduct research and hopefully implement a more robust program to treat PTSD as it relates to combat veterans.
DMU has certainly provided the integration that I saw in terms of my formation, both the philosophy and and theology core, in addition to the psychology curriculum, has provided me growth in terms of my faith, and my role as a husband and father, and, of course, a psychological clinician.
So in in essence, the Catholic Christian meta model of the human person is is why I'm here, both for my own sake as well as the sake of my future clients.
Alright.
I'm gonna move on to these stories.
This is from a recently graduated alumina.
I would say that being a student at DY University or DMU is one of the best things that happens to me.
I really appreciate a great support from faculty members and also classmates.
I have gained a great deal of knowledge in all aspects of clinical practice, research, and also professional development.
DMU not only provides students with strong academic skills, but also prepares them for a career in psychology.
I personally benefit from mentorship with academic advisor and clinical supervisors.
As a person, what I most appreciate from DMU is that its mission helped broaden my perspectives in understanding a human person through the lens of Catholicism.
Catholic principle, especially in hope, love, and faith, are very valuable and certainly helped me become a better clinician.
Alright.
And one more, video for you.
This is Isaiah Lamb.
Actually, again, doctor Isaiah Lamb.
He graduated too this past weekend.
And his journey, to Divine Mercy, he was a Catholic seminarian, and now he's a psychologist.
So this is doctor Isaiah Lamb.
I'm originally from the the state of South Dakota, and so I grew up there most of my life, went to school at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, was I studied psychology there, but I kind of intended to go into the medical field.
And then after, kind of in the midst of my undergraduate, I, assumed that I wanted to go to the seminary, the Catholic seminary, and just study to be a priest.
And so I had this love for psychology that was kind of there, I think, from an early age, just wanting to know how people function, why they do the things that they do.
And then I found myself in seminary learning all these philosophical truths about humans.
One of the first courses I took was, philosophy of the human person, learning person body and soul and that there's this profound dignity attached to to being human.
Later discerned out of the seminary, returned to Nebraska to finish up my degree and, deciding at this point, well, I don't really want to go into medicine but I do like have this desire to care for people And I also have learned, again, like this philosophy about humans and and their goodness.
So I took a year off.
I built pipe organs for a year.
I always love telling people that.
It's a pretty unique job.
It was fun.
But ultimately, that led me, I decided to then do a year of service with the homeless in Denver with an organization called Christ in the City.
And there, I like to say that all the things I had been, learning about and dreaming about psychology, philosophy, it was this incarnational experience of encountering people on the street in this profound suffering, mental anguish, I mean, substance abuse, what have you, and just actually experiencing that firsthand made everything kind of click for me, like, okay, I have the ability to, affect change and bring hope to people in the worst moments of their life.
And so for me at that point it was just very clear everything was starting to converge and I, felt more so that I wanted to pursue psychology and so DMU was kind of my first choice because everything that I had been learning about kind of just again converged here, right?
The psychology, the philosophy, the theology, and it just seemed like the perfect fit.
So I applied and long story short I got in and in my second year now and it's been absolutely more than I could have hoped for.
I've had so much knowledge shoved in my brain the last year.
I, like, don't even know how it's possible, but it's just been a beautiful and awesome journey.
Okay.
This is a word about our faculty.
So a lot to hear is doctor Kulikke.
She's a specialist in assessment therapy.
In the middle here is, doctor Reyes.
She's a specialist in child developmental psychology.
To the right is doctor Liana.
She's a she's the director of the clinic.
Now these men at the bottom here were the founding, members of our school dating back to late nineties, early two thousands era.
Doctor Striffany in CBT and group therapy, doctor Nordling, who's actually still on the faculty going strong, is, expert in child marriage and family therapy.
My own hero, though, is doctor Pulvitz, very much a specialist at the intersection between theology and psychology, and his whole very life is bound up in his conversion even to Christianity.
He he actually was an atheist when he was young, and converted to, Catholicism.
He was in his late in his late thirties.
So, anyway, he's a personal hero of mine and, one of the big fit main contributors to our founding.
Alright.
Let's talk a little bit about, the funding, for the program.
So it's a thousand $1.07 lead per credit for a 122 credits.
It's a $142.07 40.
That does not include, you know, indirect expenses like housing and gas and so on.
You may, of course, apply for a, federal, use a FAFSA FAFSA form and get federal, aid.
There's also certainly on campus work available for you if you want us to take advantage of that either in the admissions office or in business offices.
We have a whole host of institutional scholarships which you could apply, following those admission.
Maybe our biggest one is probably the, merit scholarship.
That is somewhere between half and 25% off tuition depending on the the type of scholarship that you get.
Now these are very competitive, scholarships, and they're usually given out to maybe the top three or four candidates in any given admission cycle.
So they are difficult to do.
But, I mean, if you've done well in school and you've interviewed well, this could be you.
I know you never really know.
So let's in terms of the requirements for admission, pretty straightforward.
It's really just a baccalaureate degree, so a bachelor's degree from a recently accredited school.
And we do prefer that you add, say, psychology just because, I mean, you know, it's it's it gives you a a nice advantage on getting into another psych program.
But if you don't if you hadn't studied psychology, it's not the end of the world.
We've received applicants and admitted people, from across the academic spectrum, everywhere from the hard sciences and engineering to arts and humanities, English, history, music, and so on.
So, if you haven't studied psychology, don't fear.
It's it's just one of those things, you know, to that is this preferential but not required.
Alright.
And, also, we want at least a a three o GPA on a four o scale, to to to apply.
If you haven't quite a three o, if you've maybe looked at 2.89 ish, something like that, let me know and and and email me or call me or text me, and we can talk about it because it might not be a deal breaker because sometimes, you know, there are exceptions that are made.
So just let me know if that's you, and we can see what to do next.
Okay.
So the next step, if if all this has made, any sense at all to you and and you might want to move forward, the next step is an application.
And the application is pretty easy.
It's straightforward.
Basically, it's a lot of data entry just talking about yourself and where you live, where you went to school.
At the bottom of the application, it's going to ask you about, people that might recommend you to the program, you know, things people like, professors or work supervisors, those types of people, and then you put in their data and then submit it.
They do not get contacted, though, so don't worry if you worry about them sort of getting in.
I noticed from us, they they don't get, notified at all.
The way that they do find out, though, is when you email them after the submission of the online form and you just call them, hey.
You know, I'm applying to Divine Mercy.
I'd appreciate your reference.
That's how that works.
Now, after the online application is submitted, right, you wanna turn in all the other elements of the application, like your essays, your resume.
The essay to ask about, you know, why you wanna be a psychologist or why do you wanna be a student at Divine Mercy.
And then the resume, you know, we're talking about, you you know, updating it and and sending it in, basically.
Do also send us your transcripts.
Undergraduate and done graduate school, send those to anything that's post secondary you want to receive.
Now this might come as bad news to some of you.
You do have to take the GRE.
The GRE is required.
We do take it seriously.
It is considered.
Right?
At the same time, it's probably not the most important element of the application.
So if, you know, you didn't do as well as maybe you'd hoped, it might not be a deal breaker.
But if you have more questions about the GRE and the role it plays, just let me know.
Again, email me, text me, that kind of thing, and we can we can chat, chat about it.
Okay.
If you are an international student, right, you you have a citizenship outside United States, we will probably or maybe we we may need a evaluation of your transcript.
So if you've done your undergraduate or graduate work at a foreign university, and especially if it hasn't been done in English, it will probably have to be evaluated.
So if you can't produce an American GPA with from your transcripts, it will probably have to go through an evaluation.
And I highly recommend educational perspectives.
It's an excellent evaluation service that you can go to their website and it can evaluate, your transcript, have your transcript sent to to, ed perspectives, and they can take care of that for you and then, of course, send this to us.
And for those for whom English is not their first language, you you may very well have seen the TOEFL exam.
And this is an English competency examination just to make sure that you have, English competence that can handle doctoral level academics.
Right, that's no small feat.
So if if you have any questions on whether or not you would need to take the TOEFL, again, let me know, and we can talk about it and see whether it would be required if you could take a TOEFL.
Alright.
The last thing is the interview.
So once we've received all the information, the online application, the transcripts, and and essays, and GRE, once everything's in, then you might get offered a invitation to interview on campus, and they are it is an in excuse me.
It is an, on campus in person interview.
And the first one and and probably the most popular one is October 7 excuse me, November 7.
We posted, October 24 as the deadline for submission.
And and that is, I would say, if you wanted to be a little more conservative, maybe it would be better to get yourself in even earlier than that because this is a popular, interview.
There's few slots, and it's a on a k we received them on a, rolling admissions process.
So, the first sort of like first come, first serve.
And once the first few spots are, taken up, then everyone gets moved to the next interview.
And and this is an advantageous interview to get into because you get a $30,000 scholarship off off of your first year's tuition, and you're also, very much considered for a merit scholarship.
So this is a great one to get into, if you're serious about Divine Mercy, becoming a psychologist.
So let's see if we have any questions.
I wanna check out, the q and a.
Carlota, did you have to leave in the DC area to deliver in the DC area to your time?
Yes.
So this is again, like, it isn't an on campus in person school.
This is not an online program.
It's APA accredited, and that's part of what the customer comes with the territory.
Getting APA creation usually means that the school is in person.
Right?
So, yes, since it is a residential on campus, and it does require residency, in the DC area, or the Northern Virginia area.
Alright.
Was that it?
No other questions from anybody?
Okay.
Well, you guys are easy.
Okay.
Well, listen.
It was good, to to, you know, be able to do this for everyone.
Again, if you have any questions at all, just let me know.
I've listed my email and, my phone in the chat box, so just get in touch with me.
I look forward to hearing from you, and God bless.
Take care.
Bye bye.