The PsyD Program in School Psychology will admit students at various levels of training. Some of those admitted to the Program will be beginning graduate students directly from undergraduate school; others will be advanced practicing school psychologists who wish to obtain doctoral training. Full time study will be typical of most students, and the Program is geared toward full time study. All students enrolled in this Program must meet a residency requirement for full-time study of at least 24 credits taken in two consecutive regular semesters and must complete an internship. The program is committed to promoting diversity. Individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
 
Policy on Acceptance of Transfer Credit

Some students, particularly experienced practitioners, enter the PsyD degree with graduate credit earned at other institutions or other experience that may be applicable to the PsyD degree. University policy allows the acceptance of up to 45 hours of transfer credit for the PsyD Program. Each new student will review the Program with an advisor after being accepted. In those instances when the student's transcript and prior experiences suggest the possibility of awarding transfer credit for didactic courses or practicum experience the following criteria will be followed:

A. When there is a question of accepting credit for didactic courses taken at other graduate institutions, students may be required to submit the course syllabus, a list of the texts used, qualifications of the course instructor, or other relevant material. When there is a question about the comparability of courses, the advisor may require the student to meet with the instructor at University at Albany who teaches the course. The instructor will indicate to the Division faculty whether the courses appear comparable. In those cases in which the instructor has a question about comparability the student will be required to take a proficiency exam. Proficiency exams will be taken only when the student has prior course work that she/he thinks  meets the requirements of one of the courses at University at Albany.

Credit for previous coursework in Psychological Foundations and Research, Measurement, and Statistics areas will be considered only when based upon evidence that the psychology coursework was taught at the graduate level and was offered through a Department of Psychology, Department of Educational Psychology, or Department of Counseling Psychology.

B. When there is a question of accepting prior field experiences in lieu of field training requirements (i.e., Field Experiences I-II) the student will meet with his/her advisor to discuss whether prior experience is comparable to one or more of the two practicum/field experience components of this program. If the advisor agrees that the experiences appear to be comparable, he/she will inform the Division Director and provide a rationale for this assessment. To make the determination at this level the student must submit a validated description of the experience, including information as to:

• activities engaged in
• nature of placement(s)
• duration(s)
• nature and extent of supervision
• qualifications of supervisor

If there are any questions with respect to certain skills (e.g., assessment, report writing, consultation, etc.) associated with the field training, the student will be required to demonstrate these skills to the program faculty.

Credit for experience can be granted only for experiences obtained prior to enrollment in the PsyD Program. Any experience engaged in during the time that the student is enrolled in the Program must be an approved field placement or internship meeting the requirements described above. Regardless of prior experience, all students enrolled in the PsyD Program are required to have participated in supervised practicum/field experience prior to internship. The following guidelines must be met in order to receive credit for prior experience:

1.	The experience must have been completed after a practicum that is equivalent to ESPY 790 and it must have been completed after obtaining a master’s degree in psychology or its equivalent.
2.	Supervision for prior experience must have been provided by an appropriately credentialed psychologist as determined by the Division faculty in school psychology.
3.	The duties of prior experience must have been psychological in nature.
4.	Three years of prior experience are required to waive experience in this category unless the experience submitted is a credit bearing formal CAS level internship associated with an approved graduate program in school psychology.

C. Decisions concerning student requests to be granted credit for a course or field experience in the PsyD Program will be made soon after the student is enrolled. The one exception to this is when a student needs to demonstrate a particular skill or competency. Under these circumstances the decision will not be made until after the student demonstrates such competency.

Residence Requirements

Students in the PsyD Program in School Psychology complete a minimum of 4 years of academic study and 1 additional year of internship prior to the granting of the degree. Of the 94 minimum credit hours undertaken to complete the degree, 45 credits (equivalent to approximately 2 years) must be taken at the University at Albany. Division residency requirements stipulate a minimum of one academic year in full-time residence. Because admission to the PsyD Program is based on a general commitment to full-time study, students in the PsyD Program in School Psychology typically conduct their entire course of study on a full-time in residence basis.