Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology

Application Deadline

• November 15, 2024 – Priority Deadline – Application and all required materials must be submitted by this date to be considered for a priority review.
• January 2, 2025 – Regular Deadline – Application and all required materials must be submitted by this date.

Faculty will review and issue interview invitations prior to the on-campus Admissions Weekend event. Virtual interviews with faculty will take place prior to Admissions Weekend.

Prerequisites

Psy.D. applicants must:

• Hold a B.A. or B.S. from a regionally accredited college or university. Acceptable degrees include those in counseling, psychology, or related human behavioral fields. If your degree is in a different discipline, a minimum of 18 semester hours in psychology coursework is required. The following courses are recommended: Introduction to Psychology, Psychological Statistics/Research Methods, Personality Theory, Human Development, Abnormal Psychology, Psychological Tests & Measurements, Social Psychology and Physiological Psychology.
• Have a minimum of a 3.0 GPA for all undergraduate coursework or 3.5 GPA in all master’s level coursework. Average undergrad GPA of admitted students: 3.57 (average for last three years).

Admissions Requirements

Step 1: Apply to Regent University

Submit your application using the Regent University Online Application.

Note: If you are unable to complete our application due to a disability, please contact our Admissions Office at 757.352.4990 or admissions@regent.edu and an admissions representative will provide reasonable accommodations to assist you in completing the application.

Step 2: Submit Your Unofficial Transcripts

Submit your unofficial transcripts to regent.edu/items.

Upon submitting your application, you will receive an email requesting authorization for Regent University to obtain your official transcripts from your U.S. degree-granting institution. International transcripts must be evaluated by a NACES, AACRAO or NAFSA approved agency.

Step 3: Complete an Admissions Questionnaire

Please complete a brief admissions questionnaire based on your professional goals and interests. This should only take a few minutes to complete but please answer the questions completely and thoughtfully. This enables you to demonstrate your interest in clinical psychology with a particular emphasis on practice. Once completed, it will be sent directly to an admissions counselor who will be in touch with you right away to help complete the rest of your application.

Step 4: Submit Your Resume

Submit a professional resume or curriculum vitae that highlights your professional experiences, any research, or academic projects you have completed, and includes thorough job descriptions of each position held. This can be submitted to regent.edu/items.

Step 5: Collect Recommendation Letters

Use the Recommendation Request Form to submit two recommendations below, one faculty recommendation and one either clergy or professional recommendation. These recommendations may not be completed by family members. Recommendations received from family members will be rejected and the applicant will be required to submit a new recommendation request for a non-family member.

• Faculty Recommendation (required) – This recommendation should be completed by a former professor or instructor capable of evaluating your academic preparation for the type of degree you seek to complete. If it has been more than five years since your last schooling, a supervisor recommendation may be submitted in lieu of the faculty recommendation. You are welcome to submit more than one faculty recommendation, but please consider selecting professors who can address different aspects of your academic abilities.
• Employer/Professional Associate Recommendation – This recommendation should be completed by an employer or professional associate, or you may use an additional faculty reference.
• Clergy Recommendation – This recommendation should be completed by someone who has the ability to evaluate your spiritual maturity and understands your spiritual goals and objectives, such as a pastor, priest, rabbi, or, other religious/moral leader.

Step 6: Submit Your Government-Issued ID

To ensure academic integrity, Regent University requires a copy of a government-issued ID. Please submit a scanned copy or photograph of it to regent.edu/items.

Step 7: Faculty Interview | Admissions Weekend – Friday, February 21, 2025 and Saturday, February 22, 2025

Interviews for the Psy.D. program are by invitation only after review of the completed application. Interviews include both a group interview and a personal interview with our faculty. These interviews will take place in person on our campus in Virginia Beach on designated dates, usually in February. Participation in this interview process is expected, and applicants will bear any travel expenses. Additional details will be provided to those invited for an interview.

Applicants invited to the interview should keep in mind that an interview does not assure admission. We use a “whole person” review philosophy in making admissions decisions. No one area, either strength or weakness, is something that would cause an applicant to be admitted or denied. However, applicants should know that those with lower than a 3.0 undergraduate GPA would be unlikely to be admitted into the program without some very unusual demonstration of abilities to compensate.

Please feel free to contact the Office of Admissions at 757.352.4990 or admissions@regent.edu should you have any further questions about the application process.

Note: All items submitted as part of the application process become the property of Regent University and cannot be returned.

*Rates are subject to change at any time.

Psy.D. Specific Scholarships: The School of Psychology & Counseling offers a variety of Psy.D. specific scholarships: Academic Merit Scholarship, Teaching Assistantships, Minority Student Merit Scholarship, First Generation Merit Scholarship and Christian Leadership Scholarship.

Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.) 

What is a Psy.D.?

The Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) degree is designed to be responsive to society’s need for psychologists functioning in a variety of leadership roles. The program promotes well-being and the alleviation of suffering from the unique professional and scientific identity of clinical psychology. The mission of the Regent Psy.D. program is to:

• Educate doctoral students in a broad and general clinical practitioner scholar model, to obtain careers in health services psychology.
• Educate students in the integration of psychology and Christian worldview

The APA-accredited Psy.D. program combines scholarship with intensive practitioner training that prepares graduates to provide scientifically informed servant leadership in their communities of practice. The Psy.D. is designed to provide students with a broad training in psychological practice. Students also have opportunities to pursue elective concentrations in specialty areas such as clinical child psychology, marriage and family therapy, health psychology, forensic psychology, and consulting psychology. The program has an integrative approach: integration of clinical work and coursework, integration of faith and practice, and integration of multicultural, ethical and diversity issues in both didactics and practice.

As an APA-accredited doctoral program in clinical psychology, Regent’s Psy.D. is designed to fulfill the typical training program requirements for licensure as a psychologist in various U.S. and Canadian jurisdictions.

How long does it take to get a Psy.D.?

Regent’s Psy.D. program is a five-year, full-time course of study consisting of 116 semester hours beyond the bachelor’s degree. It culminates in a 2,000-hour internship and dissertation project. Admission into the Psy.D. program is limited to the fall semester, due to carefully planned fixed-course progression and clinical training sequence.

Do I need to have a master’s degree to apply for the Psy.D. program?

Actually, most of the students enrolled in the Psy.D. program do not hold master’s degrees. Regent’s Psy.D. program is structured to allow you to combine your master’s and doctoral degrees. The admission requirement is a completed four-year bachelor’s degree from a post-secondary institution with state and regional accreditation.

If I have an M.A. in Counseling, may I skip some of the coursework and shorten the program?

While a student with a master’s in a mental health field (i.e., clinical or counseling psychology, counseling, social work) may generally be able to get the equivalent of about one year of credits waived, we discourage shortening the duration of the program. For instance, the clinical training sequence is required for all students regardless of prior training. That sequence is set up over five years and to shorten the program requires third and fourth-year clinical training activities be done concurrently, which is not ideal. A better option is for students to take the five years to complete the program, but to take lighter semesters or pursue more elective work. This will enhance their training experience. All students not already holding a master’s degree in clinical psychology, earn the master’s as part of their doctoral training sequence. The other issue to remember is that if your master’s is not in clinical psychology, your training at Regent will be also aimed at helping you reorient to a clinical psychology perspective on courses that you have already completed in a related discipline.

May I transfer credits from a master’s program into the Psy.D. degree?

You may transfer up to 25 percent of our program’s credit hours as long as the credits have not been used to complete a degree and are similar at least 75 percent with our courses.

Some courses from a completed degree can be used to waive certain courses in our program. Courses that are not transferable or that cannot be waived would be any type of clinically-focused course (e.g., practicum, therapeutic skills, etc.), and some required program didactic courses.

Am I eligible to receive a nested Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology?

Students who have completed 64 credit hours toward the Psy.D. and the full PSY 733-735 Practica course series are eligible to receive a nested Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology. Students must complete and submit the Graduation Application found on the Registrar’s Office web page and pay the appropriate graduation fee in order to obtain the degree. Application for the M.A. is required as a condition of doctoral candidacy unless a student petitions for exemption based on having already obtained an M.A. in Clinical or Professional Psychology elsewhere.

Am I required to attend full time, or may I go at my own pace?

The program is set up in a cohort model and requires that you attend full time in a fixed-course progression. During the fall and spring terms, the course load is 12 credit hours; and in the summer term, the course load is nine credit hours. Therefore, you would be enrolled in classes year-round for four years with a full-time internship in the final year.

How many hours do you recommend a Psy.D. student work per week?

Due to the number of hours you will be spending in and out of class studying, we suggest you work no more than 20 hours per week. There are a number of part-time graduate assistant positions available every semester at Regent that allow for flexible schedules.

I didn’t major in psychology at the undergraduate level, so what do I need to do to make up for this?

Admission requires 18 credit hours in undergraduate psychology, so you would need to make up any credit hours that fall short of that.

Are there any technology requirements?

Students need to have access to a laptop computer that can install SPSS program for their Statistics (PSY714) and Research Design (PSY617) courses. Students can rent or purchase the SPSS program. Note that SPSS cannot be installed on a tablet, Chromebook, or similar device. Classroom assignments and exams will utilize SPSS within the class. More information about the SPSS program and system requirements can be found here.

How many applicants do you have each year and how many are admitted?

Annually, we admit and enroll 23 students into the new cohort from a group of about 100 applications.

What is the average age of the students?

The average age is 26.

What is the path for licensure for graduates from your program?

Licensure is different in each state. However, the general standard for licensure is the completion of a doctorate, including the full-time, fifth-year internship, a year of residency, and state and national licensure exams, which are taken after graduating with the doctorate. Residency can vary widely in different states. Students should examine the requirements for licensure in the state or states where they would like to practice in the future.

What types of clinical or practical training experiences do students gain in your program?

The clinical training sequence is a planned course of study incorporating instructive and supervised experiential training. The first two years of training occur on campus often in our Psychological Services Center. During the third and fourth year, students are typically placed off campus in a community setting. Practica training is facilitated by intensive supervision provided at training sites combined with secondary practica seminars instructed by Regent faculty. Because of the practitioner-scholar model adopted by the doctoral program, a substantial amount of the student’s time will be spent applying/refining psychological knowledge and skills in clinical contexts.

What are some of the career options for graduates of your program?

Typically, clinical psychologists work in one of five settings after graduation: colleges and universities as professors; mental health centers as administrators, conducting assessments, diagnosis and treatment (psychotherapy); medical hospitals as consultants or liaisons to medical professionals, as well as performing similar duties to those at mental health centers; psychiatric hospitals; private practice. A survey conducted by Norcross, Krag and Prochaska (1997) found that 15 percent of clinical psychologists were employed in academic settings, 30 percent in hospitals or clinics, and 40 percent in private practice.

• Internship Match Listing
• Clinical Training Sequence
• Psy.D. Program Handbook
• Psy.D. Clinical Training Handbook

The Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation (CoA) of the American Psychological Association (APA). Contact the APA at Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242 or 202.336.5979.

• B.S. in Psychology
• B.S. in Psychology – Clinical & Counseling Psychology
• M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
• M.S. in Psychology
• Ph.D. in Counseling & Psychological Studies
• Ph.D. in Counselor Education & Supervision