Program Features
University-Based Training in Both Professional and Academic Psychology
• Our practitioner-scientist program is housed in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at Baylor University. The department is housed in the Baylor Science Building and is administratively housed with other departments of science in the College of Arts and Sciences. All core clinical psychology faculty are professors, practitioners, and supervisors who model professional excellence and who teach courses based on their own extensive clinical, professional and academic experience. Each clinical faculty member is also very active in applied clinical research and scholarship. The department faculty includes multiple additional members, many of whom provide instruction in areas essential in general psychology such as neuroscience and biological psychology, statistics, research methods, social psychology, and cognitive science. Practicing psychologists from the local area also serve as adjunct faculty, practicum supervisors, and research collaborators. The department and clinical program are committed to promoting an environment that is diverse, inclusive and equitable and are resolved to ongoing professional development, training, and research in culturally-sensitive practices. The curriculum is intended to evidence the best of the science of clinical psychology.
Extensive Clinical Experience
• Students will accumulate 1,000 - 1,200 hours of pre-internship clinical practicum experience and additional clinical research experience. Current practicum placements include community agencies such as community mental health centers, a tertiary care medical center, a probation department, a speech and hearing clinic, a children's residential setting, a university counseling center, a juvenile detention facility, and the Baylor Psychology Clinic dedicated to providing services for underserved populations in the local community. Each student serves as a staff clinician or consultant on a half-time basis for a full year in each of three practicum sites, working in a different setting each year. These sites comprise a diverse range of practice settings serving often underrepresented individuals from a variety of racial, ethnic, spiritual, and social backgrounds. The fourth year is spent working half-time in a faculty member's lab, accumulating 1,000 hours of clinical research experience. In total, students will amass approximately 4,000 hours of direct clinical and clinical research experience prior to internship. Practicum assignments are made in consultation with students and agencies to ensure a match between the individual student's training goals and the service provision needs of the agency.
Exceptional Financial Support
• The financial support provided students by the Baylor Psy.D. program is unparalleled. All students accepted into the program receive comparable amounts of financial support. It is estimated that all students in good standing during the first three years of the program will receive a stipend in the form of a practicum salary of approximately $16,000-$25,000 for the year in addition to full tuition remission. For the fourth year of the program, students in good standing receive a stipend of $19,000 in addition to full tuition remission to enable the student to participate in the clinical research lab and complete the dissertation. While additional clinical or psychological employment off campus beyond the practicum is not possible due to program time demands, there are opportunities for students to obtain either a teaching or research assistantship beyond the general support described above. Additionally, students can compete for supplemental scholarships offered by the Graduate School. In the last several years, our students have been very successful, with the majority of students receiving supplemental scholarships from the Graduate School, ranging from $2,000 to $8,000 per year for three or four years. This amount is paid as a special supplement to the student support awarded by the program. Once admitted, students may apply for loans through Baylor's Office of Academic Scholarships and Financial Aid, One Bear Place 97028, Waco, Texas 76798, Phone: (254) 710-2611, Online: contact the Student Financial Aid office online.
Excellent Clinical Research Opportunities
• In the current research-driven practice of psychology, doctoral level practitioners need to have a thorough understanding of the research process and ways they can integrate research more fully into a practice-oriented career. Therefore, each student, from the beginning of their training, will affiliate with one of the research programs of the clinical faculty. In the first three years, students will become involved in the research through reading, running subjects, designing new studies, etc., committing at least five hours a week to this endeavor. In the fourth year of the program, each student will complete a fully-funded research practicum in their professor's laboratory, working about twenty hours a week. Since all of the faculty members are doing clinical research, this will likely involve clinical-research interactions with subjects and will thus complement the clinical experience obtained on the clinical practica of the first three years. Our hope is to use this mentor relationship to further enhance the role of scholarship in the program, making our students even more competitive in an evolving field.
Small Class Sizes
• The Baylor Psy.D. program deliberately maintains a small class size. The small class size makes for the highest quality training environment characterized by intimacy, intensive instruction and supervision. The students admitted are diverse and exceptionally well qualified and are provided a graduate educational environment we believe second to none.
Evidence-Based Training
• While the program emphasizes a Cognitive-Behavioral approach, students are exposed to diverse approaches (e.g., behavior therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical-behavior therapy, psychodynamic, interpersonal, humanistic, and family systems approaches) to develop a solid understanding of each approach, a repertoire of skills based on each orientation, and the ability to critically evaluate and utilize the various approaches in clinical practice. Students are strongly encouraged to define and articulate their own theoretical framework, all the while attending to the latest in scientific findings in clinical psychology.
Pre-Doctoral Internship Success
• We are very proud of our outstanding training outcomes, which include among the best match rates in the country (See Student Admissions, Outcomes, and other Data Tab).
Waco and the Central Texas Area
• With a population of about 120,000, the greater Waco area offers numerous cultural and recreational amenities, including nearby lakes, rivers, parks, concerts, and plays (especially through Baylor's music and theater departments). Waco has a temperate climate, mild winters, and greenery all year round. Dallas and Austin are within easy driving distance (each about 90 miles) from Waco. Additional information about the City of Waco can be found on their website.