See below for a summary of requirements to earn the PhD degree in Clinical Psychology at Montclair State University, and information about professional licensure.
Students must complete a total of 86 credits to earn the PhD in Clinical Psychology. This includes credits for required and core coursework, elective coursework, and supervised clinical practica.
Students must also pass a comprehensive examination, successfully defend a second-year project and dissertation, and complete a one-year, full-time internship in health service psychology.
In addition to required and elective courses and credits for clinical and research activities, students complete courses representing core domains of general psychology, as well as a core foundation in research and statistical methods.
Students may also complete an optional emphasis in either clinical child psychology or forensic psychology, which includes taking four elective courses in those areas, in addition to completing practica and a dissertation in that area. As an alternative to completing an optional emphasis, students may complete four elective courses of their choosing.
Click here for Montclair State University’s disclosure on professional licensure. Contact the Director of Clinical Training for further information.
No doctoral program in clinical psychology leads directly to licensure. Rather, licensure requirements are set by state agencies, vary, and can change at any time. However, for many states, earning a doctoral degree from doctoral program accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) meets the educational requirements for licensure. Note again, though, that such an educational requirement is typically only one of several requirements for licensure.
To determine if a particular state’s educational requirements for licensure align with the curriculum of Montclair State University (MSU)’s PhD Program in Clinical Psychology, students are encouraged to review the Consumer Information Disclosures document developed by the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Licensing Boards (ASPPB).
Note that ASPPB plans to update this document annually until it is added to the PSY|Book on the ASPPB website, ASPPB’s online reporting tool for licensure requirements.
In addition, students are encouraged to review the licensing board websites of individual states to ensure they are accessing current information about licensure requirements. Links to these websites are available from ASPPB at the following link: https://www.asppb.net/page/BdContactNewPG
In general, unless you know where you will live and pursue licensure, following the APA’s training requirements reflected in the Doctoral Student Handbook for MSU’s PhD Program in Clinical Psychology will likely be sufficient as to the doctoral educational requirements for licensure for most states.
Ultimately, it is the responsibility of each student to determine the licensure requirements—educational requirements and other requirements—for each state in which they want to become licensed, and how they can meet those requirements. Students are therefore encouraged to review the above links; consider joining a particular state’s psychological association (such associations often offer state-specific resources concerning licensure for students and early career professionals); contact alumni of the program about their licensure application experiences; and direct questions about licensure in a particular state to that state’s licensing board. Students can also contact program faculty and the Director of Clinical Training about this topic.