The Scholar Practitioner Model

When an individual decides to pursue a doctoral degree in clinical psychology, one of the many decisions he or she has to make is what type of programs to apply to. Although there are several types of programs, an individual may choose the scientist-practitioner model, which will award a Ph.D. degree, or the scholar practitioner model, which will award the Psy.D. degree. The scientist practitioner model emphasizes a balance between conducting research and applying that research to clinical training. The scholar practitioner model also emphasizes applied clinical training, but, instead of producing original research, students will typically be a consumer of research. Moreover, Psy.D. students are trained to evaluate research and then apply

was much more appealing to me for several reasons. First, my overarching goal within the field of psychology is to become a therapist. Second, I wanted to get a degree that would create a platform for me to do most anything within the field of psychology. Having almost completed one year of training, I am reminded nearly every week that I choose the program that best aligns with my professional goals.

Evaluation of Competencies Within the Program Goals

The first program goal highlights research and evaluation/foundations of psychological science. Specifically, this goal stresses the importance of competency in research and evaluation, test construction, statistics, scholarship, and scientific mindedness. In addition, this goal focuses on the development of knowledge related to psychological sciences. For this goal, I would rate my self as developmentally appropriate (3). Prior to starting this program, I was fortunate enough to obtain a significant amount of research experience. Specifically, I completed three independent research projects during my undergraduate training. In addition, I had the opportunity to give poster and oral presentations at several psychological