Counseling Psychology

Overview

Counseling Psychology at Purdue is a scientist-practitioner program that prepares students to be both practicing psychologists and serve as professors in colleges and universities. As a result, our graduates go on to work in a variety of settings, such as higher education, private practice, counseling centers, and hospitals.

You’ll become a competent practitioner while seeing clients in the program’s in-house clinic and in placements in the Greater Lafayette area. Our coursework and program experience are woven with elements of diversity, ethics and professional identity, and our program is accredited by the American Psychological Association.

If you have questions about the program, please contact:

Amanda Case
amandacase@purdue.edu

Questions related to the program’s accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:

Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 1st Street, NE,
Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202) 336-5979 / E-mail: apaaccred@apa.org
Web: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation

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Admission Requirements

The Counseling Psychology program offers ONLY a Ph.D. doctoral degree. No master’s degree is awarded, only the doctorate. Students who are unsure that they can or will complete a doctoral program should apply to a master’s program or to a doctoral program that awards a master’s degree as a part of the doctoral requirements.

Student Handbook

December 1st is the deadline for admission consideration. We are hosting a virtual open house from for interested applicants to know more about the program before the application deadline.

All program information is available online. The faculty encourage students to inform themselves about the program. At a minimum, please check the Student Handbook.

Your application should be submitted through the Purdue University Graduate School application portal. Please select College of Education -> Educational Studies -> Counseling Psychology to proceed with your application. We require all applicants:

  1. Academic Statement of Purpose The academic statement of purpose should be 300-500 words concerning your purpose for undertaking or continuing graduate study at the Purdue Counseling Psychology program, your research interests, career goals, and the faculty member(s) with whom you would prefer to work and why.
  2. Personal History Statement The personal history statement should be 300-500 words concerning how your background and life experiences contribute to your ability to be both persistent and resourceful in graduate school. Describe how your life experiences have prepared you to contribute to an academic community where scholars with diverse research interests, abilities, backgrounds, and experiences are supported, respected, and valued.
  3. Submit a Curriculum Vita. Your CV should include a section listing your experience with (a) research and statistics, including courses, (b) teaching, and (c) professional related activities (e.g., organizational leadership, social advocacy, community engagement).
  4. Description of Previous Program. Please print and fill out the description of previous program.
  5. Submit three letters of reference describing research skills and potential, counseling skills and potential, and capacity for graduate study.
  6. Official transcripts from all undergraduate and graduate schools attended.
    • Graduate School E-mail Address: gradadm@purdue.edu
    • Graduate School Mailing Address: Graduate Studies Office, Purdue University, 100 N. University Street, Room 3229, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2098
  7. Optional:
    • GRE scores
    • One academic writing sampling
  8. International applications may be required to submit proof of English proficiency.

Admission Process

  • Faculty meet shortly after the application deadline to review applications and identify candidates for admission.
  • Screening is based on compatibility of program training goals and applicant professional goals, academic achievement, and work experience. Quality of references and standardized test scores are also important. Applicants who are successful in being offered admission to the program:
    • Articulate research interests and questions.
    • Link their research interests to a core counseling psychology faculty member’s research interests and identify a primary and, perhaps, a secondary core counseling psychology faculty member to work with. Currently Accepting Students: Amanda Case, Emily Boswell, Eric Deemer, and Xiang Zhou.
  • Faculty select and invite specific applicants to an interview. Current students are actively involved in the recruitment and interview process.

Admissions offers

  • After invited interviews are completed, the faculty contact students who they recommend for admission to the program. The program recommends admission, and the Graduate School sends an offer for a position in the program.
  • Because program admission is competitive, a few students are wait-listed each year. Faculty communicate with applicants who are offered positions and communicate with applicants who are waitlisted until all program positions are filled.
  • By voluntary agreement, the Council of Graduate Programs of Psychology has set April 15th as the deadline for students to accept or decline offers of admission.
  • If offered a position, students should read through the Counseling Psychology website, prior to accepting the position.

After you accept

  • Start looking for housing.
  • Subscribe to the COEGRAD email list and be on the lookout for assistantship offers you may be interested in applying for.
  • Master’s admits: Review the transfer credit policy and start compiling any necessary documents (e.g., syllabi).
  • Keep in contact with your advisor and current students with any questions you may have before coming to campus in the fall.

Practicum Placements

Students begin the application process to off-site practicum sites following consultation with their advisor the academic year prior to starting off-site. Often this is during student’s 2nd and 3rd years. In the spring semester, the program’s Off-Site Practicum Coordinator hosts a practicum fair for students to learn more about practicum partnerships in the community. After the attending the practicum fair, students contact practicum sites they are most interested in to set up an interview. Students should not contact sites directly before the practicum fair. Below are select examples of off-site practicum locations where our students receive training.

Please note: students may need to satisfy certain eligibility requirements (e.g., background check, drug screening) for some site placements. The placements change regularly as the program adds new sites and other sites become unavailable. Some sites accept only advanced students.

University Counseling Centers
Purdue University, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) – West Lafayette, IN
Indiana State University Student Counseling Services – Terre Haute, IN
IUPUI Counseling & Psychological Services – Indianapolis, IN
Butler University – Indianapolis, IN
DePauw University – Greencastle, IN

Veteran’s Hospitals
VA Illiana Health Care System – Danville, IL
Richard L Roudebush VA Medical Center – Indianapolis, IN

Community Mental Health Centers
Indiana Women’s Prison – Indianapolis, IN
Willowstone Family Services, Inc – Lafayette, IN
Wabash Valley Hospital, Inc., Outpatient – Lafayette, IN
Four County Counseling Center – Logansport, IN

Hospitals
Wabash Valley / River Bend Hospital – West Lafayette, IN
Logansport State Hospital – Logansport, IN

Funding Opportunities

Funding for Counseling Psychology doctoral students is complex and comes from multiple sources. Students generally receive in three ways, and each comes with tuition remission.

First, students find assistantships in offices across campus, including the Academic Success Center, the Military Family Research Institute, and the Center for Career Opportunities. Students must apply and interview for these positions. Faculty and peers are supportive in filtering assistantship information to students, and faculty assist students in preparing their application materials. Nonetheless, the student is responsible for following up with the information and securing the assistantship. Although our students are very competitive for these positions, the process can be stressful.

Second, students may have opportunities to teach sections of undergraduate courses. These include EPDS 105: Academic and Career Planning, EPDS 315: Collaborative Leadership – Listening, EPDS 316: Collaborative Leadership – Cross-Cultural Settings, and EPDS 317: Collaborative Leadership – Mentoring. Students have also secured teaching assistantships in the Department of Psychological Sciences.

Finally, some students obtain faculty-nominated fellowships, which guarantee funding but require 20 hours per week of work for our home department, Educational Studies. Only a few fellowships are available each year, and they are competitive.

Although funding can be stressful, all current students in the program who want funding have at least a .25 FTE appointment. Regardless, some students obtain federal or private loans to supplement their income.

Additional funding information can be found on through College of Education graduate funding.

Our Faculty

The core faculty members have interesting and diverse research and applied interests. Even so, a common thread runs through the research programs, namely, college student development, adjustment, and well-being.  The faculty have active, programmatic research lines in culture and parenting, community-based youth development, grief and bereavement issues, multicultural and international issues, and STEM career development.

Faculty accepting students for 2024 Fall admission:
Amanda Case, Eric Deemer, Emily Boswell, Xiang Zhou

Clinical Assistant Professor Counseling PsychologyEducational Studies
Work Phone: 765-496-0119
Associate Professor Counseling PsychologyEducational Studies
Work Phone: (765) 494-9742 Website: Vita Website: Personal Website
Professor and Training Director Counseling PsychologyEducational Studies
Work Phone: (765) 494-6420 Website: Research Site Website: Vita
Professor Counseling PsychologyEducational Studies
Work Phone: (765) 494-0837 Website: Vita
Director C.A.R.E. Lab, Assistant Professor Counseling PsychologyEducational Studies
Work Phone: (765) 494-0086
Assistant Professor Counseling PsychologyEducational Studies
Work Phone: (765) 494-9739 Website: Personal Website

Helping you in your persistent pursuit

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