College of Social and Behavioral Sciences PsyD Frequently Asked Questions

Yes! Our program is APA-accredited, which means that the PsyD Program has met the highest quality standards available for doctoral training in Counseling Psychology. Graduating from an *APA-Accredited program significantly increases your chances for job-placement and postdoctoral placement in the U.S. and in Canada.

The program is five years in length; however many students take longer to complete their dissertation or internship requirements. You will spend most of your first four years doing coursework and attending class. The fifth year of the program is spent in your internship (may be anywhere in the USA). Northwest University requires that PsyD Students complete their degree within seven years of starting the program. Having a Master’s degree does not mean the program will be shorter for you. Please see number 2 of the Admissions Questions for more details.

Please refer to the Graduate Costs page for cost information. Or consult the Graduate Catalog for more information and contact the Student Financial Services Office if you have additional questions about the cost.

Unfortunately, no. Our program is built on a cohort model and does not allow for part-time enrollment. Even though all of your classes happen in the evenings and occur two to three times a week, the program requires a minimum of 40 hours per week (including class time and homework).

We do not recommend that you work, and students should not work full-time if they do. The program requires a minimum of 40 hours per week. However, our faculty understand that students may also be parents, partners, and at the very least—everyone has the cost of living expenses which might require you to work part-time throughout the program. Therefore, we do not prohibit our students from working during years one and two, and you are encouraged to make a plan for how you will manage your resources in years three through five as clinical training (i.e., practicum, internship) significantly affects your ability to work. Frequently, students may work less than 20 hours per week during years one and two and discontinue work during years three, four, and five. Federal aid, graduate loans, scholarships, and other financial resources will help to alleviate a lot of the financial pressure during the school years. Please contact our Student Financial Services office for more information.

The program is specifically designed to satisfy Washington State requirements. However, many states accept APA accreditation as satisfying their state’s educational requirements. Check out this licensure information by state page to learn about the specifics.

Washington State requires doctoral students to complete 3,300 clinical hours before they can apply for licensure (300 practicum, 1000 pre-internship or postdoc and 2000 internship) – our program is built so that students could complete all of those hours, but some students may need to do a post-doc if they don’t complete their hours during the program. We utilize the APPIC Match to place all of our students in pre-doctoral internships where they work to complete their clinical hours. Learn more about the APPIC Match.

We serve a diverse age range. Some of our students enroll in our program right after completing their bachelor’s degree. Others return to school after some time developing their careers or starting families. We also have students who join us as they are about to retire. Here is a breakdown of the age categories of NU’s 476 graduate students enrolled in 2023.

No, an undergraduate or graduate degree in Psychology is not required to apply. Additionally, you do not need a graduate degree to apply to the Doctor of Counseling Psychology Program; but you will need a Bachelor’s degree in some subject area. If you do not have a BA/BS Psychology degree, you must complete our five prerequisite courses before beginning the doctoral program. Applicants who have a Bachelor or Master degree in Psychology, or completed all their prerequisites before submitting their application will be considered more competitive during the admission process. Prior experience studying psychology demonstrates the applicant is (a) invested in the profession and (b) equipped with a strong foundation in psychology and is prepared to dive deeper into the subject area.

Probably not. Washington State requirements for doctoral level licensure restrict the number and type of credits which can be substituted or transferred into the program. All classes that you wish to transfer must have an identical amount of credits as offered in our program, the textbooks used in the transferred course must be up to date with current psychological research, and the name of the course and the content of the curriculum must match the course and curriculum listed in our PsyD Program. Please reference the current Graduate Catalog to see which courses are required for the PsyD Program.

If you don’t have a BA/BS in Psychology, you will need to submit six prerequisites to enter the PsyD program. Even if you have a minor in Psychology, you might not have taken all six foundational classes in your program. The prerequisites are:

1. General Psychology or Intro to Psychology
2. Theories of Personality or Theories of Psychotherapy
3. Developmental Psychology or Lifespan Development
4. Abnormal Psychology or Psychopathology
5. Statistics

Statistics from an Economics or Business department will not be accepted. If you believe one of your classes is titled differently but still meets the prereq’s requirement, please contact our enrollment office.

Yes. Although having your undergraduate degree completed by the time that your application is reviewed will improve the chances that you will be accepted into the program, it is still possible to apply with a strong application, strong recommendations, solid current undergraduate grades, and get accepted into the PsyD Program before your undergraduate degree is completed.