Your Roadmap to CSPP Success

By Zoë Brew, Winter 2010

It starts out innocently enough. An undergraduate class sparks your interest and perhaps you’re lured in by the cheap thrill of pop psychology. The human mind, the somewhat voyeuristic exploration, the feelings … It excites you and before you know it, you’re graduating with a major where another degree is the default setting. It’s time for graduate school. C’mon you like the way it sounds—instant credibility among your peers. You must be clever; you’re going to be a doctor. All that heady anticipation, the interviews, the waiting … And then you’re accepted.

There’s a moment when the novelty wears off and the brutal reality floods over you. My awakening happened sometime around 2 a.m., when not even the almighty powers of Red Bull could fuel my flash-card production line. Turns out grad school can be hard.

However, hard should not be confused with impossible. Do not fret—there is an end—and knowing exactly how to get to that end will help. So here I am, intrepid traveler on the road to graduation, ready to share my map with you.

Now there are those who walk among us that are determined to complete the PsyD degree in 4 years, and they start out looking just like everyone else … Whether they are overachievers, academic kamikazes, or just sick of being impoverished students, the mission is clear.

Summer school: Not only do you need 5 units to secure your financial aid for those long cold summers in San Francisco, but taking classes over summer break accelerates your trajectory. I recommend cognitive and biological bases of behavior—it’s much easier to navigate all that reading when you aren’t drowning in assessment and statistics.

The literature review: Just do it. The literature review (and anything dissertation related) is an open wound and can turn gangrenous quickly … Monitor regularly and heed the doctor’s warnings. You want an operational first draft by the close of Fall semester. It will be painful, and you will want to amputate, but this will pass.

Proposing: Remember that you need 2 core faculty members for your committee. Start courting them in the spring. If you intend to apply for APA-internships, there’s a proposal deadline that will hound your thoughts until you pass—this year it was October 22.

Aim to propose during the Spring semester. It’s not impossible to propose in the fall (I lived to tell the tale), but whatever quality of life you managed to scrape through with will be temporarily suspended.

Comps: Yeah, you know those assessment and ethics exams that you spend all of G2 pushing into some small dark corner of your mind. You’ve got two shots—one in June and the other in August. Study. Follow the core-concepts guide, memorize some code-types, and try to understand the Rorschach as best you can. Depending on who you flag down, figuring out which exam is “easier” will vary … The disappointing truth is that there are no shortcuts here. Just more of those flash cards.

The “mandatory’s”: Social, bio, and cognitive bases of behavior, lifespan, history and systems, and a social diversity class are all due by the close of your G2 year. Lifespan is hard to find over summer, so tread with caution.

Which brings us to G3…4 units of consultation/supervision need to be rounded up along with 6 units of advanced clinical seminar. At some point you are going to have to complete your CPPR—try to pick a class that compliments your G3 practicum—it just makes life a little easier for you.

By this point you may have a serious case of Senior-itis. Treat the symptoms and try to remember things you used to like doing before you came to grad school—you’ll need hobbies when you enter the real world.