Program Requirements

Students enrolled in the MA in Clinical Psychology degree program at the American School of Professional Psychology —Southern California at Argosy University, Orange County are required to successfully complete 51 credit hours distributed as follows: scientific foundations requirements, 9 credit hours; psychopathology requirements, 9 credit hours; assessment requirements, 9 credit hours; interventions requirements, 9 credit hours; diversity requirements, 3 credit hours, ethics requirements, 3 credit hours; professionalization group requirements, 2 credit hours; integrative paper requirements, 1 credit hour; practicum requirements, 6 credit hours. Students who receive a grade below “B-” in any course must retake the course during the next academic year or sooner.

Additional Program Requirements

Meet with your faculty advisor during the academic year.

Master’s Therapy CCE

In conjunction with the master’s Therapy Seminar, therapy students complete a Clinical Competency Examination (CCE). The seminar leader will inform students of what is expected for this task and will hand out materials that explain the guidelines. The deadline for tape submission on the CCE will be announced by the Training Department during the spring semester.

Professionalization Group Requirements

These discussion groups for first-year students are led by a full-time faculty member and meet once a week for one hour. Students discuss topics related to professional psychology and the development of a professional identity. The faculty member leading the group will help students with academic and field training planning, general consultation on the MA in Clinical Psychology degree program, and questions emerging during the student’s first-year academic experience.

The course objectives are as follows:

• To assist and support students in developing identities as clinical psychology trainees and evolving clinical psychology professionals through readings, discussion, role play and classroom presentation.
• To introduce students to the ethical practice of psychology and contemporary issues in clinical psychology
• To orient students to the roles, norms, and expectations of graduate studies and professional practice
• To provide academic advisement and student advocacy

Practicum and Practicum Seminar Requirements

The goal of the practicum at the master’s level is to train students in the application of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes developed by their academic experience. This experience includes the direct observation, interviewing, and treatment of clients. Certain sites also afford some students with the opportunity of limited exposure to psychological testing procedures.

When available, the Master’s Therapy Practicum is designed to introduce students to therapeutic intervention. Because there is such a wide range of therapy experiences available, and because the selection of students for a given practicum is done by the site, students should not expect to experience the total spectrum of therapies during the practicum. The practicum is the first opportunity provided to students for clinical field training. Practicum is designed to provide students with opportunities to work under supervision with a clinical population within a mental health delivery system. The practicum is designed to provide an essential part of clinical training and all students are required to participate in the practicum experience. Liability insurance is included in the cost of the practicum.

The practicum is a required 600-hour training experience, which takes place during an academic year, normally beginning in the fall and concluding at the end of the summer I semester. 150 hours of client contact are required within the practicum. The practicum is treated as a course and carries 3 credit hours per semester or 6 credit hours for the academic year. A practicum may not be done in a student’s place of employment, nor is any student exempt from the practicum requirements. Students who come to the American School of Professional Psychology–Southern California at Argosy University, Orange County with extensive clinical backgrounds are placed in practicum sites in areas in which they have an interest and have not had previous experience.

The MA in Clinical Psychology degree program practicum is not intended to substitute for the PsyD in Clinical Psychology degree program practicum. Students who intend to apply for admission into the doctoral degree program after completing the master’s in clinical psychology degree program may not receive credit for doctorate in clinical psychology practicum on the basis of their master’s-level practicum.

Eligibility for Practicum

All students who enter the master’s practicum application process must be in good academic standing, have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 (on a scale of 4.0) and have completed the academic planning which will allow for all the practicum prerequisite courses to be completed prior to the beginning of the practicum. No student may begin a practicum without being in attendance at the American School of Professional Psychology–Southern California at Argosy University, Orange County for a minimum of two full semesters, including eight courses. The following courses are practicum prerequisite courses and must be completed and/or transferred prior to beginning the practicum:

 The program chair and the Training Department have the discretion to make decisions on any probationary student who is beyond the first year of attendance. This would include the student activities of both seeking a practicum and attending a practicum.

If a first-year student is placed on probation based on fall semester grades, the student may not look for a practicum during the spring semester. If the student has achieved a satisfactory GPA (3.0 on a scale of 4.0) when the spring grades are available, the student, at the discretion of the program chair and the Training Department, may look for a practicum.

If a first-year student who has accepted a practicum is placed on probation after fall grades are received, the student may not attend the practicum if the GPA is below the minimum requirement after the spring grades are received. If the GPA is satisfactory after the spring grades are received, the student, at the discretion of the program chair and the Training Department, may begin the practicum.

Practicum Evaluation

Evaluation of student progress in clinical field training focuses on three areas: theoretical knowledge base, clinical skills and professional attitudes. A thorough review of site and seminar evaluations is conducted by the Training Department, and an overall grade of “Credit” or “No Credit” is included in the student’s academic record.

Please refer to the American School of Professional Psychology–Southern California at Argosy University, Orange County Training Manual for a more detailed description of training requirements and guidelines. All students are responsible for being familiar with the information contained in the training manual.

Practicum Seminar

All students enrolled in a practicum must also be enrolled in a practicum seminar. The seminar meets weekly throughout the academic year and allows the student to reflect on various attitudes useful in field training. The specific content and emphasis of the seminar varies according to the practicum setting, the focus of the enrolled students, and the professional expertise of the faculty member.

 

Clinical Competency Examination Requirements

At the master’s level, the Clinical Competency Examination consists of a competency-based examination designed to evaluate the student’s mastery of basic clinical assessment and therapeutic skills. Students should be capable of demonstrating clinical competence via the master’s Therapy CCE both conceptually and in application. The American School of Professional Psychology–Southern California at Argosy University, Orange County also expects that students who have learned theoretical and applied concepts in classroom courses will have made use of out-of-class clinical contacts (i.e., practicum, practicum seminar group, visiting lecturers) to refine and extend the skills to be evaluated by the CCE. Therefore, passing the seminar and site evaluation do not guarantee a passing grade on the CCE.

Descriptions and Procedures for Successful Completion of the Clinical Competency Examination

Master’s Therapy Clinical Competency Examination requires the student to submit a client history, a tape, a complete transcript of a therapy hour to be reviewed, a client assessment and progress report, and a self-critique of a therapy session that the student is submitting. The student may have received general supervision on this therapy case or elsewhere prior to submission for satisfying requirement of CCE. The Therapy CCE is graded “Pass/Resubmit/Fail.”

The Ethics CCE requires that the student pass Professional Issues with a grade of “B” or better. A grade of “B-” requires remediation to be decided upon by the course instructor; a grade of “C+” or lower requires retaking the course.

Integrative Paper Requirements

MA in Clinical Psychology degree program students are required to complete an Integrative Paper (PP 6011 ) based upon a presentation of a clinical question or problem that has been defined either before or during their practicum experience, integration of the relevant literature on the topic, with inclusion of core course concepts relevant to the subject as well. The purpose of this review is to assess the student’s achievement of a capacity to apply relevant concepts to a clinical topic, and to research relevant areas of the literature so as to demonstrate an independent capacity to approach clinical problems with a scholarly perspective and process. It is expected that the production of this paper will require several drafts and ongoing consultation with a faculty advisor for this project.

The criteria for evaluation of the project will include a clear definition of a clinical topic, appropriate application of relevant literature and major course concepts to that topic, the subsequent presentation of a set of observations based on the major findings of this review, a clear written presentation in APA style. This requirement assesses the student’s capacity to independently complete a relevant literature review of the clinical questions raised in the case, with a fuller understanding how the literature and the core curriculum can extend and deepen the student’s understanding of the topic. The review should include relevant topics from psychopathology, psychotherapy, human development, and diversity courses as well as those derived from the literature review.

Students must abide by the structured meeting schedule set by faculty to complete the Integrative Paper by the end of the fall semester. Failure to abide by this schedule and complete assignments in a timely way will result in a “No Credit” grade and require the course to be taken again in the following academic year.

Integrative Paper Prerequisites

In order to qualify for Integrative Paper (PP 6011 ), students must be in good standing (GPA of 3.0 on a scale of 4.0) and not on probation; must petition the program chair of the MA in Clinical Psychology degree program at the beginning of the fall semester prior to the Integrative Paper; receive approval to work with a particular faculty member assigned to this course, and complete and/or transfer all courses listed below:

• PP 7100 Professional Issues: Ethics, Conduct, and Law  (3)
• PP 7200 Statistics and Research I  (3)
• PP 7300 Psychopathology I  (3)
• PP 7301 Psychopathology II  (3)
• PP 7330 Child and Adolescent Psychopathology  (3)
• PP 7340 Issues in the Assessment and Treatment of Diverse Populations  (3)
• PP 7365 Clinical Interviewing  (3)
• PP 8010 Cognitive Behavioral Theory and Therapy  (3)
• PP 8039 Interventions II  (3)

Recommended Course Sequence for the Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology Degree Program at the American School of Professional Psychology-Southern California at Argosy University, Orange County

Student progress through the program is intended to be sequential. Certain courses are offered to first-year students that are designed to provide a theoretical and practical foundation for courses that will follow in subsequent years. Certain advanced courses also require the student to have the background of more basic courses in order to benefit fully from the course experience. Students must satisfy all stated prerequisites for a course before registration for that course can be considered official.

Course/Credit Transfer

Transfer of Courses/Credit into the Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology Degree Program from other Institutions

Like other institutions which offer graduate degrees,  Argosy University  does not automatically transfer credit from graduate coursework taken at other institutions. Students who have taken graduate courses elsewhere may petition to have these courses apply toward a transfer of courses in the curriculum.

For a course to be considered eligible for a transfer, the following conditions must be met:

• The course must have been taken no more than seven years before the student’s entry into the program.
• The course must have been a graduate-level course, taken for graduate-level credit at a regionally accredited college or university. In the case of institutions outside the United States, the appropriate state or national accreditation is required.
• Any course submitted towards a transfer of a 3-credit hour course must have itself carried 3 or more graduate credit hours.
• A student must have earned a grade of “B” or better on any course submitted for a transfer.
• A maximum of 15 credit hours may be transferred towards the MA in Clinical Psychology degree program.
• The school does not accept any credit earned as military credit, credit by examination, credit by correspondence, credit for life experience, or graduate credit from non-accredited schools.

Any student who desires to submit a course for transfer review should notify the Student Services Department and obtain the appropriate transfer request form. This form should be completed and returned to the Student Services Department. Requests must be made in writing. Transfer requests may be submitted any time during the admission process until the end of the first year of matriculation. Transfers are not reviewed or officially granted until a student is officially accepted. Transfers are not recorded on the transcript until the student has paid a transfer fee for each approved transfer.

Students petitioning for transfer are requested to provide course descriptions, syllabi, exams, diagnostic test protocols and write-ups. Transfers are granted by the faculty if there is an 80 percent overlap in course content and objectives between the course submitted for transfer and the course as it is offered at the American School of Professional Psychology–Southern California at Argosy University, Orange County. Students may obtain the procedures to be observed in submitting transfer requests from the Student Services Department.