Of Course: Prerequisite Courses for Admission into APA-Accredited Clinical and Counseling Psychology Programs

Students often inquire about which psychology courses to complete in preparation for graduate school. This study provides data that enable students and their advisors to make research-informed decisions. We surveyed the directors of the 304 American Psychological Association-accredited doctoral programs in clinical and counseling psychology (97% response rate) regarding prerequisites for doctoral study: the psychology courses, number of psychology credits, undergraduate psychology major, or some combination thereof. About 20% of the doctoral programs required the psychology major for entry, and 8% of the doctoral programs (virtually all in counseling psychology) required a master's degree. The remaining doctoral programs required either specific courses or specific courses and a minimum number of credits. In clinical psychology, PsyD programs were far more likely to require abnormal psychology, personality, and psychological testing as prerequisites, whereas PhD programs were more likely to require a laboratory course and research experience.