The Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology: Longitudinal Program Evaluation

The usefulness of a master's degree in psychology as a facilitator of admission to doctoral programs or as a means of securing full-time, psychology-related employment still remains a debatable issue. All persons who received degrees over a 28-year period (1958-1986) from a terminal master's program in psychology were surveyed on two occasions: in 1973 and in 1986. The data presented focus on the responses of the 105 persons who received clinical MS degrees. Over the 28-year period, 61% of the MS clinical graduates entered doctoral programs in psychology or related areas. Also, except for those who chose to become full-time homemakers or those who were still working toward doctoral degrees, all respondents were employed full time in psychology-related settings. A review of the empirically based reports on master's-level training in psychology between 1971 and 1987 is also presented, so as to provide a continuing historical overview of the master's-level issue in psychology.