Welcome to the PsyD webinar.
My name is Bradley Seifer, and I am the PsyD admissions adviser at Divine Mercy University.
This afternoon, I'm joined by alumni relations quarter coordinator at Divine Mercy University, Michelle Drennan.
And the way this webinar will proceed is we'll be going to begin with Michelle, giving some introductory remarks about, alumni, certain, activities that they've been up to, different jobs that they've had, and opportunities that would likely avail themselves to you as a, PsyD graduate of Divine Mercy University.
If you're new to this if you're new to us, go ahead and put your questions in the chat box, and we will attend to them as they arise.
In the chat box, you will also find my email, prior testimonials from Divine Mercy graduates, other webinars, and the Psy d application.
We are currently taking applications for the fall of two thousand and twenty four.
So, Michelle, without further ado, take it away.
Hello, everyone.
Thank you so much for your gift of time joining our webinar today, and I'm delighted to be invited.
I was in admissions for a long time with Divine Mercy University, and I tried to retire and Fogg Charles wouldn't let me because I had mentioned forming an alumni association.
Well, the good news for you all, considering this degree is that the demand is higher than the number of students we have to fill them.
And that's always a good thing as you're looking at an investment, a career change, adding to your career.
So I thought I'd take just a few moments and, just give you some really interesting information regarding what direction our graduates go upon graduation.
A major part of it is to share these opportunities with you, and I will say that a lot of times where a graduate takes their first role is with their clinical and their last portion of the degree.
Then they may go on to open their own practices, sacred ground psychotherapy, dynamic healing psychotherapy, Catholic Psych Institute, Journeys Counseling Center.
And an interesting little fact, many of our graduates, especially in PsyD, since it is, the on campus degree, have met their spouse and married.
And the other piece is that several of our graduates now are in practice but continue to be closely allied being adjunct adjunct professors for other programs.
I wanna just highlight some comments on a few graduates before we get started.
One is doctor, Margaret Laracy.
She recently said that our program was one of a kind.
She was able to write her dissertation and on the beauty of psychotherapy, and she could, look at the topic from an interdisciplinary point of view without being confined to the social, scientific, and neurobiological theories of aesthetics, which she found to be inadequate.
Doctor Margaret is in private practice and is one of our most wonderful graduates in the Maryland area.
In closing, it was interesting.
She says, you know, we're deep and complex beings, and all of our varied and often muddled and confused ways, we're still just trying to communicate.
I hope what I do, and I believe I will want to keep doing this work as long as I listen, think, and talk.
And she's done some wonderful webinars.
I actually work remotely for Divine Mercy University, outside the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky area.
And one of our very esteemed graduates, doctor Andrew Sodergren, opened up Cincinnati.
Ruah Woods has already hired two of our graduates, and he vets seminarians, b corp become priests.
He works with individuals who have pornography addictions, all kinds of family counseling, and he even has branched out and hired individuals that teach in Catholic schools the theology of the body.
He will be speaking in San Diego on the topic of becoming man and woman, And, it's the, healing and sexual identity.
It is gonna be at the Catholic psychology conference in San Diego, twenty first through the twenty third, if I have any California people on here.
One other graduate I'll tell you about was doctor Garrett Boyer.
He is a military guy, and I love what he said.
He says, my current role is to serve as the deputy chief of the Department of Behavioral Health in all of Fort Stewart, Georgia.
He feels that it's a job that was normally held by someone with more time and experience in the army.
But because of his PsyD degree, he has gone to a very, very high level.
We have graduates all over The United States, several internationally, Germany, Ireland, I believe.
And so it's very important to know that once you come forward with Divine Mercy University, you are not only with people from your own states, but all over, and you make lifetime friendships.
And we we work in cohorts, so you're together with these people for a very long time.
You do write a dissertation, needless to say, as happens in all PsyD programs.
And some of the titles, just really blow me away.
I'll give you a couple of those before I have Bradley start to give you the rest of the interview.
Things like hope as a mechanism of resonance, I think is a wonderful top topic by Patrick McNeely.
A replication of the historic.
What is that?
The representation of the historic adult study of information as far as becoming a young woman.
Things like, wilderness and spirituality program and the development of the mindfulness in that, a virtue of the secure attachment figure.
So many of them are well thought.
They are presented.
We all get to hear them, and it is the crescendo to a wonderful, wonderful journey of education.
So if you have questions, as Bradley said, we do have a chat box.
I'm gonna let him go ahead and start.
And then if we have questions or comments throughout, we will stop and and answer those questions.
Thanks again for being aboard today, and we hope this might be an opportunity for you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Michelle, for that.
So as she mentioned, if you do have a question, during the presentation, please do so.
Put it in the chat, and we can talk about it.
Give me a second.
I will upload, the presentation.
We can get this started.
So this is the overview of the doctoral program in clinical psychology at Divine Mercy University.
Welcome to Divine Mercy University.
Divine Mercy is a Catholic graduate school of psychology founded in 1999 as the Institute of the Psychological Sciences.
It's dedicated to the scientific study of of psychology with a Catholic Christian understanding of the person, marriage, and family.
Its expansion from IPS to Divine Mercy occurred in 2016 to facilitate growth and added counseling program on the graduate level.
So So as this diagram depicts what I've mentioned, it was founded in '99 as IPS.
In 2014, we launched our masters in psychology program online.
And then in 2015, IPS was named Divine Nursing University with the school counseling.
So this, illustrates further that we're one school.
We have two excuse me.
We're one university.
We have two distinct schools.
The school of counseling is most, offers the master's program, which is mostly online, though we do have a hybrid dimension that our counseling students do come to campus, episodically for clinical instruction and time.
We also have the Institute of Psychological Sciences, which houses both the residential doctorate, which we're talking about today, and the master's in psychology, which is offered exclusively online.
Our mission is to provide students with an effective academic and educational environment that supports the integration of the psychological sciences and a Catholic Christian understanding of the person through teaching and learning both knowledge and critical skills.
It also assists students intellectually and professionally as they prepare themselves to respond to their vocation as mental health professionals or as men and women in helping professions.
Okay.
So we are located outside of Washington DC.
We're it's more specifically in Sterling, Virginia.
And this is, being a, a native of this area, I can I am partial to it, but I I can say that is, despite that, a wonderful place to live and to work and to study?
We have easy access to city life if you enjoy urban environments.
So Washington DC is probably, forty five minutes to an hour away, at most from us.
So, of course, there's all kinds of artistic and cultural opportunities in in in the big city.
If you're more of a country type and you enjoy outdoorsy activities, or athletic things outside, we have the whole western, side of Loudoun County that is available to you as well.
And, also, of course, the Blue Ridge Mountains, you know, to the west of that.
So if you enjoy hiking or camping or canoeing or you love vineyards, things of this nature, that is also certainly on offer.
And, I this this is you know, it depicts the ski slope.
And while we don't receive tons of snow in this area, if you are an avid ski, a skier or snowboarder, that that is within a few hours away often, you know, in Pennsylvania or in West Virginia.
So while we're not exactly Colorado, if you would like to ski, that can that can work here too.
Okay.
In terms of our accreditation, we're institutionally accredited by SACS, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
SACS is recognized as an accrediting agency by the Department of Education, and Tavon RC voluntarily participated in this accreditation process.
And in met and in doing so met or exceeded all standards and thorough evaluation.
We're also approved to operate by SHEV, the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia.
And the Psydu programs been recognized in 2006 as a national registered designation program by the Association of State and Provisional Psychology Boards.
And probably most notably of all is that the Psydu programs been accredited by the APA, the American Psychological Association since 2016 we're very proud of that.
And Zona Mercy has also been approved to participate in the National Council for State Authorization of Suprisey Agreement.
So as you can see we're thoroughly and utterly accredited at every level possible.
As a therapist or a practitioner in the mental health lens, you'll be able to perform psychological assessment and testing and diagnosis, journeying with your clients toward flourishing and healing.
Now a key differentiating attribute of a clinical psychologist in particular, which is what you would be, if you went through our PsyD program, is precisely the ability to conduct psychological assessment and testing.
So a doctorate in psychology certainly involves additional training and supervision in diagnosis and treatment.
Okay.
So this slide is is a rather important one.
It is gives you a nice overview of our program in general.
And as you can see, it is a five year program total.
It's a hundred and twenty two credit hours, which does include a master's of psychology in passing on route to the doctorate.
So in other words, after successful completion of years, one and two, you'll be awarded a master of psychology degree on route to the doctorate.
And so two years to the master's an additional three for a total of five all told for the doctorate.
And this, of course, will prepare you for licensure as a clinical psychologist.
Now in year one let let me break down each of these for you.
Now in year one, the major task is to complete your core science classes in psychology at the graduate level, of course.
The other major task is to get begin your preliminary search for your dissertation.
Now here, you want to sort of think of a topic that, is one that would be, doable, but also one that you're interested in.
So something that's, entry equate it to enter to address a question that's intriguing to you, but also one that, you know, that hasn't been done right.
Because, I mean, they're really the the essence of a a doctoral level education, is completing a dissertation and contributing to the preexisting field of psychology.
So, more than simply, synthesizing or regurgitating or reformulating preexisting knowledge, as a doctor of psychology, you'll be expected to to kind of push the barriers of that knowledge, right, to to think of a new and creative idea, in psychology.
And I should I should add here that there we distinguish between two different types of dissertation here at Divine Mercy.
There's theoretical dissertations, and then there's empirical dissertations.
So theoretical dissertations are often more philosophical in nature in the sense that they typically engage our philosophical and theological dimension of our curriculum.
But that said, they're also want to take those ideas, the the way in which we understand the human person, and apply that to a therapeutic setting.
So it can't simply be a philosophy dissertation or a theology dissertation, but it certainly would often does include those ideas and apply them to, therapeutic practice.
The other type of dissertation, the empirical dissertation, is often more quantitative in nature.
And by this, I mean, the student will often make greater use of statistics and psychological experimentation to to drive a more of a data driven kind of thesis.
Now to kind of give you some further sketch of those two projects, the the theoretical dissertations, the more philosophical based ones, tend on average to be longer.
Right?
So, oftentimes, a theoretical dissertation will be 150 pages.
I've seen that up to 400, in some cases, 300, 400 pages.
But quantitative excuse me.
Empirical dissertations are often, shorter in in in total length.
So they have a lot more, empirical data in them, but that lends themselves to kind of a shorter paper.
So those can and in fact, some of those are less than a 100 pages, as I've seen, you know, in our library.
Okay.
So that's the big that's the big two things in the first year is the is thinking about your dissertation, getting a director, getting a topic, figuring out the the broadway of the land, and then also your your coursework, kind of getting your your feet wet in the graduate realm of psychology.
Okay.
So in year two, the the big thing is that your courses will continue on a full time basis.
But the big thing here that shifts is that you're actually gonna start seeing clients on our on campus clinic on a on a part time basis, mind you, because, again, the major task remains the the coursework.
But this is a great, first foray into your work as a clinician.
You're going to be it's not like you're going at it alone.
You're certainly gonna be supervised by our, stellar faculty.
And all of all of your sessions will be recorded, and you'll have postmortems conducted on all of them.
So consider okay.
So what did you do really well in the therapy session?
What could you have said that would be more helpful and more insightful to lead the to lead the client so, healing and flourishing?
Okay.
In years three and four, it does shift somewhat in terms of its folk focus.
So you're still going to have courses on campus, but it will be more on a part time basis.
And then your clinical work that you started in the second year will augment.
Okay?
So you're gonna have you're gonna divide your time, pretty evenly between courses and clinical, hours.
I should also add that your clinical hours will likely be spent on an off campus but local clinic.
Okay?
So your assignment and your clinic will depend, in part on your own sort of area of psychology.
Though it could also be the case that you could get an assignment where you're you're stretched to include a clientele, that sort of forces you to engage, sort of other psychotherapeutic modalities that maybe you would have used, differently in another sort of situation.
Okay.
So then in year five, the this is where things take a a quite a different turn that you're actually going into your internship.
Okay?
So what that means is it's similar in in some sense to a medical residency and that you are something to which you apply in your fourth year.
So in your fourth year, you apply to internships in your fifth year, and these internships could be, all over the country depending on where you apply, where you're accepted, in what psychological specialties that you wanna become invested in, that kind of those kinds of things.
Now these are a few, areas that are local to us, that are internship sites.
So Saint Elizabeth's Hospital in DC, the Psychiatric Hospital of Washington, the Virginia Medical Center.
So all of those are are frequently, are frequent, you might say sites that our many of our graduates have gone to and with great success that are local in our area.
But, certainly, if you didn't want to stay in the area, you wouldn't have to.
You could apply again to anywhere, in the country.
I should also add that, this year, we've had a 100%.
All of our, PsyD students, excuse me, were admitted to APA accredited internship sites or APIC membership sites.
In the year before last year, we also had a 100%.
In the year before that, we had ninety eight percent.
So the chances of you getting into a rock solid, distinguished internship in your fifth year from for coming from our program is very high.
K?
And this is will only benefit you because that will often set you set yourself up for a great deal of success moving into your supervised year after graduation just prior to licensure.
Now, this is, you know, one of the great benefits, you know, coming from Duvalier University being APA accredited is just this.
Is that is the transition from being a doctoral student, being a doctoral candidate to becoming a fully fledged licensed clinical psychologist is made so much easier by coming from a a program that's fully APA accredited like our own.
Unfortunately, you know, without that, the the road to becoming a licensed a licensed professional can be somewhat more difficult.
So there can be more red tape put up in your, in your view, and and that can be sort of, frustrating to say the least.
So Bradley, if I can interject one thing, and congratulations to Bradley.
He just completed his own doctoral degree.
Thank you.
We feel so strongly about those choices of the dissertation topics that what I was reading from you later is actually we print the topic of your dissertation in your graduation program.
So it is definitely, as I say, a wonderful crescendo to many years of hard work that the outcomes are opportunities that are beyond your belief because of being APA accredited.
And that's why I say the demand for graduates is stronger than I have graduates to fill them.
So that's a a good investment from that vantage point.
Thanks.
That was great information, Bradley.
No.
Absolutely.
Alright.
So these are some questions to consider in terms of your own discernment.
We know whether this ID is right for you.
Do you want to help people flourish?
Are you interested in the science behind human behavior?
Do you want to become an instrument of healing through the psychological sciences?
Are you interested in performing psychological tests and assessments to diagnose your clients and create a treatment plan?
Are you looking to start a career as a licensed mental health professional and specifically as a clinical psychologist?
And do you have the ability and desire to work with all types of clients from acute care to more challenging long term client cases?
So if the answer to most or all these questions is yes, then you probably come to the right place.
Okay.
These are the major areas of competency that we do aim to inculcate in our students over the course of their five years.
These first five, foundations in psychological science and research, integrity and practice, assessment and diagnosis, therapeutic intervention professionals.
Those are all rather common goals for a lot of APA programs that that are, approved by the APA.
The sixth, however, is quite unique to our to our school.
Clinical practice from a Catholic integrative perspective.
It really is what differentiates us from so many other, excellent, PsyD programs out there.
But we're different in that we we take all of the best science, and we integrate that with the Catholic vision of the human person, that that the human person is made in god's image likeness and therefore is the subject of of compassion and love and and rights and all of these things.
And so this this is it really creates a wonderful harmony between faith and reason.
So, let's get into each of these in turn.
Alright.
So the first is foundations in psychological science and research.
Graduates will attain foundational psychological science knowledge of biological, cognitive, effective, social, and developmental aspects of the human person as well as history and systems of psychology, psychological measurement, research design, and statistical method.
Graduates will have the skills necessary to conduct their own psychological research.
Two, integrity and practice.
Graduates be knowledgeable in the areas of diversity and ethics, display critical thinking, software and reflective practice, and self care.
Graduates will demonstrate responsiveness of supervision, collegiality, and professional comportment and professional practice.
Three is assessment and diagnosis.
Graduates be able to conduct clinical interviewing, perform intake evaluation, demonstrate knowledge and administration, scoring, and interpretation of psychological assessment, integrate multiple sources of test data and clinical interview information into a report, diagnose and develop a treatment plan.
Four is therapeutic intervention.
Graduates will be able to to demonstrate case conceptualization, treatment planning, building and maintaining a therapeutic relationship, psychotherapy skills, crisis management of urgent and special circumstances, and discharge planning.
By these professional roles, GradTools will be able to function in a variety of required roles for professional psychologists to include consultant, educator, supervisor, practice manager, and program evaluator.
They'll be able to work collaboratively within ISBRA teams and clients.
Six, clinical practice from a Catholic and integrative perspective.
Graduates will develop a Catholic understanding of human flourishing in the individual person and marriage and family life and be able to integrate this with the psychological sciences and clinical practice.
Okay.
So as Michelle mentioned, in sort of our poll going on to this, there are so much diversity in clinical psychology.
There are so many different fields in psychology and so many areas in which you could, function and thrive and flourish as a clinician.
So for that reason, I in the interest of time, I I can't get into all of them here, but I do want to highlight the main goal of this program is this first one, becoming a licensed clinical psychologist.
Okay?
So all of our curricula is really, ordered to this to this main task is to to get you that LCP, after your name, to become a fully fledged psychologist, a doctor of psychology being requisite for for this licensure in The United States.
Now with this highest level of training in psychology, lots of opportunities will likely avail themselves to you, not just in terms of diversity that I mentioned before, but also in terms of leadership positions.
So if you're the type of person that wants to take on the helm of leadership within psychology, this is the degree for you.
It's very much likely that if you want to, you could certainly become, you know, a clinic director, employing, different master's level clinicians, counselors, social workers, and the like.
Or, you know, if you wanted if you're more medically inclined and you wanted to work in traditional medical establishment, there will also be an offer.
In in that case, you'll be working alongside, MDs, psychiatrists, and and things of this nature.
So lots of opportunity, with this ID.
Okay.
Now we've had just legions of students come to us and truly flourish at our school.
Divine Mercy is is what we might call, like, a very much of a, cooperative and nurturing environment in the sense that we really want all of our students to succeed.
And that ethos pervades, not just the student cohorts, but also certainly with the professors as well.
And by that, I mean, all the students want every other student to succeed.
This is not, you know, a cutthroat environment where, you know, people are trying to one up each other.
Rather, it's it's each student that's really trying to help each other, find their place in psychology and to become the healer that that they can the best healer they can possibly be.
And, certainly, the mentorship, part of faculty facilitates just that kind of process.
Now these are a few testimonials people who have come to us and, said the following.
So James Baldisch.
In our clinical psychology program, the training is healing is focused on healing the whole person.
Person.
Kristen Law, I was drawn to the program and desire to serve others in more profound way than in previous positions offered.
Timothy White, the school is not afraid to teach you what it means to be human at every level, psychologically, philosophically, and theologically, and that's why I like it.
And Kirsten Curtis, I'm so thankful for DMU.
The faculty members are very supportive, and I received lots of hands on and clinical experience.
Okay.
This is a video testimonial.
This one is from one of our current third year doctoral students.
William Johnston has done work with, PTSD and combat veterans himself having come from a military background.
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 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 theology core, in addition to the psychology curriculum, has provided me growth in terms of my faith, and my role as as a husband and father and, of course, a psychological clinician.
So 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.
We we hear that time after time that even after the very first coursework, people start to say, I was amazed at how it impacted me personally, and then I knew it was gonna impact me professionally.
And I think that's a great thing to think about in the kind of PsyD program that you go into is the ability to not only serve, their needs, their mental health needs, but also that whole human person.
So that's a great point.
Absolutely.
Okay.
This is, yet another video testimonial.
This one from my recently graduated alumna.
I would say that being a student at DUI Mercy 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 supervisor.
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.
So we have a generalist program in psychology, which means that we have faculty with expertise in every area within the psychological discipline, everything from abnormal psychology to developmental child psychology, personality psychology, social psychology.
Moreover, you're going to be exposed to all the major fields within psychotherapeutic, healing.
So things like CBT, you'll be trained in CBT therapy, psychodynamic and attachment theory, e EBT, DBT, IFS is also, here as well.
Also humanistic theories and access and existential, strength based, the Seligman School.
So, really, you're wanting to get exposed to every, major psychotherapeutic school of psychotherapy here at Divine Mercy University.
These are a few among many of our, wonderful professors.
So this is doctor Lisa Kulwicki, who's our program director.
She's a specialist in adolescent adult and couples therapy.
To her right is doctor Diane Graves.
She's our assistant program director and a specialist in child and developmental psychology.
To her right, doctor Anna Piccaroro is a specialist in addiction and trust.
And the three gentlemen at the bottom here, doctor Scruffani the well, I should say, first of all, all these three gentlemen were the founding faculty members of our school back in the late nineties.
So doctor Scruffani is a specialist in CBT and group therapy, doctor Nordling in child marriage and family, and doctor Biss's work.
Doctor Biss's work is sort of situated at the the nexus between Catholic theology and modern psychology.
So his work is very much, foundational for our integrative approach to, psychology.
Okay.
Licensing.
So is licensing required?
Yes.
A license to practice is certainly required by you state or jurisdiction where one might practice is a psychologist when licensing begins after the student, completes the practicum internship and officially graduates from DMU.
States can often do have additional and different requirements.
So students are responsible for checking the state requirements that plan to work and adhere them, and these typically include national and state exams.
So DME will provide general information related to licensure during student experience.
Who initiates licensing?
Licensing is a student driven process, so it's important for the students to begin research or licensing requirements in the state that he or she intends to work in as early in the program as possible.
Now will students be fully licensed, immediately after graduation?
No.
Graduates must work about a year in a supervised clinical environment in addition to other state requirements to be licensed.
So the graduate may be required to obtain a provisional license for an entire year period, so be sure to check your state for individual requirements.
So this is somewhat of a long way of saying that getting the doctor doesn't immediately confer licensure as a psychologist.
It does, however, provide provide the the needed degree and, of course, the training that comes with that degree to get into a supervisor in the year after graduation and, of course, to successfully pass, your exams, become a clinical psychologist.
So in in that sense, it's not unlike, you know, if you went to medical school or went to law school, getting those degrees doesn't mean that you can practice immediately as a physician or as a, attorney, but you have would have to, of course, pass the bar to pass the, medical school licensure exam.
So or the met the, physician licensure exam.
So that's that.
These two charts illustrate, I think, an important distinction between simply buying something or a purchase that's entirely material in the case in this case, the example is a car.
Right?
And a car is famous example because it's one that loses its value rapidly after in the years immediately in the immediate years after its purchase.
So it's an investment.
It's a purchase that will depreciate sort of quite rapidly.
By contrast, however, we see this as an educational investment.
You know, when you're investing in your own self, in your mind, in your soul in in a way that especially in a discipline such as psychology, one that has such massive, demand for these days.
And there's so many people, that are hurting.
They're alone.
They've experienced anxiety and depression, and they they need they need mental health clinicians.
They need psychologists to to help them move through sometimes arduous periods of their life.
And so for all of those reasons, because of its demand, because of its value, it's it's welcome it's well compensated, especially, in certain fields within psychology.
Of course, you know, you would have to the exact compensation or it varies very much from depending on where you, practice and and and what capacity that is and what field.
But it's one that will pay itself forward, especially in the long haul.
You know, this is not a a one and done kind of kind of thing.
It is a investment in time and money, and but it's one that is immensely rewarding.
It's one that's, very much, able to to help you, and help others over the course of your career.
Okay.
The investment itself is a thousand 95 per credit for a 122 credits for a total of $133.05 90 over the course of five years, which is not, of course, include fees or indirect expenses such as gas or food or lodging, things like that.
There are many different options through which our students, fund this education.
Many of our students do take out federal loans or they get grants from the government.
And this is something that, you know, if you are interested in moving forward with us, upon your receipt of your application, the financial aid department will get in touch with you to help work with the work with you on this very issue.
We do offer different ways to defraying this cost, however.
So for example, we do have student assistantships on campus, which is a federal work study program, which means that students will work in our different departments.
For example, in the admissions departments, we have a number of side u students who work with me and my colleagues, in admissions to do various tasks for us to help promote the school, in in marketing and other ways.
And these are fairly I should say that these are fairly, straightforward jobs.
You know?
They're not super difficult.
They're low stress, and often between just ten and twenty hours a week at most.
And, of course, you know, that kinda fits in well with an otherwise rather stressful doctoral level, schedule outside of that.
There are other different financing options that would be on offer to you, which financial aid can explain a lot more detail than I would.
But what I do like to highlight, especially, for our Catholic students is this diocesan investment.
It's an MOU, a memorandum of understanding, between you, you, the student, the Catholic student, and the diocese where the diocese is typically able to fund up to 15% of tuition for Divine Mercy University students.
So if if that applies to you, if you're a Catholic and you want to take advantage of this, this is certainly, something to look into.
Okay.
Other options include these whole array of scholarships to which you would be able to apply upon admission to our program.
They pay out in the amount or up to the amount indicated here, next to them, and they're relevant to different demographics.
Okay?
So, they depending on your, background and and your state in life and things like this, different scholarships will apply to different persons.
So be sure to look at our website at imercy.edu and go ahead and see which ones might, you know, be relevant to you once once you get into our school.
Another scholarship that I would be remiss not to mention is our top merit scholarships, which range between fifty, five zero, and 25% off of tuition.
Now these are, scholarships, to which you don't necessarily apply to rather they're well, indirectly so and and so far as our faculty will rank all of our applicants.
So, in the top typically, I would say the top three to five, students will receive a merit scholarship.
And how they make these determinations is based on a number of factors relevant to admissions such as, you know, GPA, GRE scores, but also certain maybe more subjective elements like how you do in your in your interview, how compelling are your essays or your letters of recommendation, these these types of things.
So, really, it's a it's a holistic assessment of your, you know, your promise as a psychologist and a and a doctoral student of psychology.
And so that's how that's how it works.
That's how they make those determinations rather than, you know, something that you would apply to specifically for scholarship in the way that you would for for all of these.
Alright.
In terms of our entrance requirements, so what do you need to, be, eligible to get into our doctoral program?
So we at the least, we do require a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited, or internationally recognized school.
And we do prefer that students have studied psychology.
That cert does give one a certain advantage, not just in terms of, well, I would say, yeah.
I mean, it it sort of does kind of, like, give you a good overview of the discipline of psychology, prior to, getting into a deeper level, at a master's and doctoral level here.
But if you don't have a psychology background, fear not.
Don't despair.
It's totally fine.
We take students from all backgrounds, academically.
I mean, we've had students come to us from science, hard science backgrounds, and, and but also the humanities in history, philosophy, theology, English, those kinds of things.
People in those languages.
People say arts and music or chemistry and math.
So it it or economics and business.
It doesn't really matter.
The main the main thing is that you have a bachelor degree, and, we do also prefer that you have at least a three o and a four o scale.
Now if you have slightly less than a three o, this might not necessarily be a deal breaker.
So if that's you, let's say you have, like, a three seven or a three eight or something like that.
Get in touch with me, and we can talk about it because sometimes that may not be disqualifying, you know, in an a priori manner.
So, that's that's also something to consider if if you fall into that category.
But generally speaking, three o and up is is what we're looking for.
Okay.
In terms of the admissions process, so the first thing to do is provided that you feel comfortable moving forward and and you feel that this is, something to which you want to apply for, you would complete an online application online.
Now this can be found on our website.
So if you go to divinemercy.edu, you'll see, on a big apply button on the upper right hand corner.
Smash that, and then you'll see through four different applications emerge.
And then the one you want is the PsyD, program, the, one for, clinical psychology, and that's us.
Also, as I mentioned in the chat, there's also an application there too.
So hit that, and that will also bring it up.
But once you submit your application, and this is a fairly straightforward application that can be done online in twenty, thirty minutes probably tops.
The like I had mentioned, the financial aid office will get in touch with you, to help you work through the different financial elements of completing our degree.
We maintain communication.
And once all the other app excuse me.
Once all the other documents are received, the competitive applicants are invited for an interview, and we have three different on campus interviews per year.
Okay.
So, one will be held the first in November, the second in January, and then the third and final one will be in March 2024.
So these are all, application excuse me.
These are all interviews for the for the term beginning in the fall of two thousand twenty four.
So we're no longer receiving applications for this for the fall of twenty three.
So, just keep that bearing that in mind.
So this is for the for students that want to begin or, in the fall of two thousand and twenty four.
Okay?
And if you're watching this video now, here we are in in April, you would likely be able to get into this early interview, and there's certain advantages that does come with this early interview.
And the first, maybe most obviously and notably is that there's a $3,000 tuition remission that comes with getting into the interview.
So in other words, if you get into the November interview and you are admitted, you'll have $3,000 off of your first year's tuition.
No questions asked, basically.
So the other reason is, this is popular is that most of our merit scholars, scholarships are doled out in the first admissions, cycle there in in this interview.
So, for that reason, I think it's very much would be beneficial to you to get your application in early and get into this, interview, but has certain benefits.
And the other reason for that is it does take time to decide where you're gonna live, if you're gonna have a roommate, if you're gonna move your whole family.
And so I really like the way we do the admissions because that way for someone who has those long term goals and those long term plans and student success and me as an alumni relations person, I mean, I found opportunities where a person was a nanny while they were taking their degree.
So, really stress the aspect of of being those first because it is selective.
So it's good to know that you have that time, but it goes fast, doesn't it, Bradley?
Totally well said, Michelle.
I I exactly.
I just want to kind of reinforce that point.
It's important one because, you know, getting things done sooner rather than later is crucial because this is for for most people, you know, I mean, unless you're local to this area, it require it does require relocation or an in per a fully in person program.
This is not an online program in any way.
So all of those components often for a lot of people, that involves a lot of different moving parts, and so you wanna keep that in mind.
And this is a good, practice.
You need to get it done soon.
And that way, it's it's less, you can kinda plan for the future, and then it's a lot easier.
So thank you for that, Michelle.
Okay.
So in terms of the application process itself, the as I mentioned, the first step, the first stage is to complete the the part the first part.
Okay?
So the the online application.
And, it it does say that that does include a $55 application fee.
But, if, I could waive that for you if you would just only get in touch with me, and I could provide for you the code, and that wouldn't be a problem.
Now in terms of the second part, so this is we need it's in order for the application to be approved by the dean, it does need to be complete, and this does include a number of other elements here.
So among them is the the essays.
Now we do require two essays.
The first of which will ask about why you wanna be a psychologist, why you want to go to Divine Mercy to do that, why you think you'd be a good fit for us and vice versa.
And then the the the next question asks about, you know, what are your academic and clinical interests?
You know, what would you perhaps like to explore in a dissertation or perhaps in an internship in your fifth year, that that sort of thing?
Okay.
And then, your resume will also be required and then three recommendations.
Two, which should be from professors, academics.
So if you're an older student and it's been a long time since you've been in school, typically, if you can get three, supervisors, people who have observed you in a professional setting, that might that would that would suffice.
But if you are able to get in touch with professors who know you, and then and and I should say they don't have to be psychology professors.
You know, if you studied chemistry or or economics, the those professors would do just fine.
What's more important is that they're able to give, us a good sense of you as a student and your promise, in in graduate school.
Okay.
And then the so the so in order to recap that, we do prefer three two academic and then one professional.
But but here's what we don't want.
Okay?
We don't want, recommendations from friends, from family members, from, counselors or therapists or spiritual directors, things of the people, that that observe that are have relations with you that are somewhat more that are not professional, strictly speaking.
Those are not what we're looking for.
We're looking for either academic or professional, recommendations.
And then finally oh, well, almost finally, penultimately, we do require, transcripts.
Okay.
So if you've got, you know, going to call your college transcripts, if you've gone to graduate school, those as well, need to be sent to us.
And then the GRE.
Okay.
So the thing to say, about the GRE is this, while required is probably not the most important element of our application.
So it is considered, but, it's seldom, if ever, a disqualifying factor in itself.
So by that, I mean, if you didn't do super well on the GRE, please do not despair.
The more important thing is to get it done rather than getting it done perfectly.
Now that said, if you do have time to study and you are inclined to do so and you want to, increase your score, please don't let me I would be the last person just letting you not study for the GRE.
If you want to do that, great.
In fact, it can be if you do well, it can only help you in the admissions process because the faculty do they do look at the GRE.
And if especially if you're competitive for a merit scholarship, that can that can tip the balance in your favor.
You know?
So doing well in the GRE is always always, advantageous.
But I'm just saying for those of you that, maybe you're not a great test taker, please don't let the GRE get in the way of fulfilling your dreams in life.
Okay?
So if you wanted to be a psychologist for a long time or even recently, this has become a passion that you, something that you really wants to do, please don't let this single standardized test, jeopardize that.
Okay?
And, oh, and I should also say that on the day of the test, please make sure that you send us your scores.
So the code here is 5639.
Go ahead and put that into the ETS system, and they'll send us the scores.
It typically takes, a week to two weeks for us to get the scores, so keep bear that in mind.
It does take a little bit of time, but, the is required.
Okay.
This is a bit about, for international applicants.
So for those of you who have degrees, earned outside of The United States, please note this.
So, these these, degrees, these international transcripts seem to be submitted to NASES for approved evaluation service for a course by course evaluation.
So it's something like, a west.org would be fitting.
Also, applicants holding degrees outside The US must demonstrate post secondary education, at a minimum equivalence to United States bachelor's degree.
And then if their credentials on English, it must be it must be translated into English.
And, of course, this cost, is yours.
And finally, and this is an important point.
For applicants whose primary language is not English, you will need to take the the TOEFL or the IELTS academic test.
And the reason we do this is we wanna make sure that our individuals who come into the program can handle it.
And many, many times, we have many, many applicants that are indeed international, and we want them to succeed.
So that's the reason behind that as well as the accreditation.
Before we close out, I wanna tell you all a very funny story.
I have an employer in Louisville, Kentucky who hired one of our graduates quite a while ago, and she does happen to know father Charles.
So she is actually coming to graduation.
She's gonna set up a table out by the PsyD graduates.
And I've told her most of them are probably knowing where they're going, but we've extended the invitation to all the current PsyD students.
And she says, I'll even help with real relocation if I find the right person and they're you know, know they wanna come to Louisville.
So I I will tell you that stories like that happen all the time, and this is actually the first time we've ever let an employer come to graduation, but it's because she'd already hired someone.
So I I can only know that from my end, I see everybody at at the end and that the opportunities get more and more exciting every day because the reputation of DuPont University graduates.
That was great information, Bradley.
It's the first time I've sat through this ID.
And thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
And, Michelle, again, thanks very much for joining me.
It's wonderful to to hear about where our alumni go and how they very much flourish in the world of psychology.
Are there any questions in the chat?
Because we're we're very free to answer those, you all.
Yeah.
I don't know if there are any.
Yeah.
No.
There are no there aren't any.
That means we've we've answered them all.
So we appreciate everyone's gift of time and Yeah.
Certainly wish you a joyous and blessed Easter, and Brad is always available by phone or text or email.
And, we're big communicators at Divine Mercy University.
We don't keep any stone turned when it tries to help you as far as your future career opportunities.
Indeed.
And I just wanna second that and wish whichever one of us is true to him.
And, again, you know, to to reiterate what Michelle said, you know, if you do have a question, feel free to get in touch with me either by Mike Hall of Lee or by email or by phone.
I look forward to speaking with all of you.
Take care.
God bless you.
Thank you, everyone.