Exploring Psychology Graduate Programs in Des Moines, Iowa

For prospective students seeking career preparation in the field of psychology, Des Moines offers a wealth of exciting graduate study opportunities with highly ranked, accredited programs offered by respected universities and professors. On top of a strong foundation of core courses in psychological assessment, counseling strategies, and scientific research methodology, psychology graduate programs excel in preparing you for the challenges you may face in diverse work settings after graduation—rigorous coursework, supervised clinical experiences, and research apprenticeships produce trained, flexible professionals with advanced skills tailor-made for today‘s job climate.

Psychology is a diverse and ever-evolving field. Majors and elective concentrations available, program formats, licensures earned, and day-to-day duties in the workplace can all vary greatly between different psychology professions. When choosing the right graduate program for your interests and goals from among stellar offerings in Des Moines, in-depth details are key—understanding program requirements, time commitments, specializations available, and targeted career paths following graduation allows you to find the perfect match. Through this expansive guide, you‘ll discover those specifics on remarkable area offerings, spotlight standout professors expanding psychology‘s frontiers with pioneering studies, and gain insider application tips to put your best foot forward on the path towards advanced psychology training at a premier Iowa institution.

The Many Branches of Psychology Graduate Studies

Many don‘t realize psychology itself encompasses a variety of subfields—from research-focused cognitive and biological areas exploring the physical mechanisms driving behaviors, emotions, memory to studies delving into social interactions, community impacts, developmental changes over the lifespan, and clinical work directly helping struggling individuals. Graduate studies mirror this diversity. Before assessing specific Iowa offerings, it helps to understand high-level differences between degree types:

Clinical and Counseling Psychology Programs

Both clinical and counseling psychology doctoral programs—two of the most popular options—emphasize practical skill-building in psychological testing, evidence-backed therapeutic interventions, diagnosis, and treating mental illnesses. Through supervised internships and externships working directly with patients, you gain first-hand experience providing assessments, counseling plans, crisis interventions, and other support under the mentorship of licensed psychologists in hospitals, private practices, community health clinics and other settings.

Clinical psychology students tend to work more with patients exhibiting severe, complex conditions while counseling psychology engages more with daily life stresses, relationship conflicts and emotional issues treatable through ongoing talk and behavioral therapies. Both channels lead towards similar licensures and careers, though clinical psychology curriculums align more closely with medical models and research-based care.

Experimental Psychology Paths

Alternatively, students focused purely on scientific inquiry can pursue experimental psychology specialties like biological psychology studying brain-behavior connections, cognitive psychology investigating internal mental processes that motivate actions, or social psychology analyzing group interactions and social contexts driving individual choices. These research-driven paths do concentrate more heavily on statistics, research methodology courses, lab apprehensitions, and producing publishable studies.

Education Focused Roles

Other psychology grad programs nurture skills specifically applicable to school and education environments. School psychology degrees lead to certification assessing exceptional students, consulting on emotional issues impacting learning, developing Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and assisting administrators to promote healthy development. Alternatively, psychology degrees concentrating in education prepare you for roles managing university-level instructing, shaping curriculums and policy initiatives or directing large-scale assessment initiatives.

Top Psychology Graduate Programs in Des Moines

The stellar psychology graduate programs offered in Des Moines prepare students not only with scientific expertise regarding human behaviors but also real-world capable competencies to compassionately help people overcome hardship. Here we spotlight some exceptional area offerings across program types:

PhD in Psychology – Drake University

Degree Types: Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology;optional joint Juris Doctorate
Key Specializations: Forensic psychology, health psychology, neuropsychology
Standout Details: Extremely competitive 5-year program emphasizing scholarly research and clinical field training guided under faculty mentors

With a clinical psychology doctoral program ranked top 5% nationally that has secured prestigious accreditations from the APA and PCSAS, Drake University offers premier psychology graduate studies taught by award-winning, dynamically engaged professors furthering compelling explorations into emotional disorders, substance addiction treatments, memory formation, behavioral analysis methodologies and beyond.

Hands-on practical experience is a cornerstone of learning at Drake. You‘ll benefit from early patient contact during assistantships at the university‘s in-house Drake Psychology Clinic offering affordable mental healthcare to the community while supervised by licensed faculty. Later, year-long APA approved internships housed within premiere healthcare institutions nationwide capstone your intensive preparation for licensure. With diverse faculty research interests spanning experimental cognitive topics to clinical intercessions, students also have the flexibility to drive independent scientific review of captivating psychology matters through mentored projects, lab collaborations and scholarly articles.

Master of Science in Psychology – Buena Vista University

Degree Types: MS in Counseling, 36-60 credit online/blended program
Key Specializations: Trauma counseling, substance abuse, family therapy
Standout Details: CACREP accredited; built-in certifications

Catering to nontraditional learners seeking flexibility, BVU‘s online Master of Science in Counseling degree option offers robust psychology training and skill-building from the comfort of home. Course modules dive deep into human development theories, evidence-based therapeutic models like CBT and REBT motivating change, procedures for clinical diagnosis and testing, ethics considerations, and treating trauma. With a capstone project, you‘ll solidify learning applying concepts to real counseling scenarios.

Embedded certifications in areas like trauma treatment, family therapy, and substance abuse distinguish BVU‘s adaptable offering—no extra coursework needed to add these sought-after specializations! Tailor studies aligning with professional licensing requirements in your state too. Supported by student success teams from registration through graduation, this affordable MS pathway removes barriers to quality counseling prep for burgeoning psychology professionals.

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) – Des Moines University

Degree Types: Doctor of Psychology (PsyD); 5-7 year program
Key Specializations: Neuropsychology, forensic psychology, addiction therapy
Standout Details: Early patient contact through in-house clinic; leadership development

Seeking to produce forward-thinking clinical leaders in psychology through rigorous scholarly and experiential training, Des Moines University‘s PsyD program is geared towards driven students seeking doctor-level licensure focused on therapeutic disciplines. Coursework across psychological theory, ethics, interventions, testing and beyond establishes scientific foundations while rotations assessing and assisting actual patients at the university‘s behavioral clinic builds real-world expertise. With faculty dedicated to nurturing researching skills through collaborative projects and publishing opportunities, graduates gain competencies to pioneer advancements in emotional well-being treatments throughout prominent careers.

DMU understands modern healthcare environments demand more than clinical acumen alone from psychology professionals—you‘ll be equipped with management, administration and leadership capabilities necessary to guide organizations too. Combined with the choice to specialize in high-demand areas like substance abuse counseling and forensic psychology, the PsyD track breeds commanding, well-rounded psychology practitioners.

Gaining the Inside Scoop from Psychology Graduate Insiders

Navigating admissions to selective Iowa psychology graduate programs and anticipating the student experience can feel daunting without a first-hand student perspective. We spotlight two exceptional professors leading Des Moines psychology departments who provide their insights into thriving in these competitive programs:

Professor Spotlight: Dr. Jennifer Gaffey, Drake University

KNOWN FOR: Groundbreaking developmental disability research using electroencephalogram brain imaging

With dozens of peer-reviewed papers and frequent speaking engagements at national conferences like the American Psychological Association‘s annual convention, Dr. Jennifer Gaffey is an influential research voice investigating medical and behavioral treatments improving functionality for individuals with Down syndrome, autism and other developmental conditions. She brings this specialized expertise into instructing cognitive psychology and neuroscience courses as the Director of Psychobiology Research and Training at Drake University. We spoke with Dr. Gaffey to gain her perspective advising students considering advanced psychology studies:

What core competencies make a strong Ph.D. program applicant stand out to you?

Exceptional candidates display clear research interests aligning with faculty specializations through their personal statements and previous assistantships noted on their application. Drake seeks driven, inventive students who will actively contribute to our scholarly community generating fresh psychology insights. Demonstrating this sort of passion for a particular psychology niche through past projects, related extracurriculars or work experience helps applicants tremendously even without direct patient exposure.

For current Ph.D. students, what‘s your biggest piece of advice for how to maximize their development during Drake‘s early lab rotations?

Treasuring the lab rotation process is pivotal to student growth in our research-intensive program. This offers a low-stakes environment to sample exciting specialty areas by collaborating with professors on ongoing studies before committing to an official concentration and faculty mentor for your dissertation work. Ask thoughtful questions, understand methodologies being used, and don‘t shy away from emerging technologies like eye-tracking equipment and biosensors capturing physiological stress indicators—these translate into hot job market capabilities!

Professor Spotlight: Dr. Sara Dorland, Des Moines University

KNOWN FOR: NIH funded research on emotion regulation implications for adolescent health

An rising research authority exploring relationships between stress, psychological inflexibility, coping strategies and associated health risks during adolescence, Dr. Sara Dorland prepares clinical psychology Psy.D. candidates at DMU through courses on psychological testing, ethics and evidence-backed interventions. We asked her thoughts on positioning students for competitive postgraduate internship applications:

Many top-tier healthcare institutions offer a limited number of psychology residency program slots—what differentiates the most appealing internship applicants?

Success securing residency interviews depends heavily on proper preparation months in advance of deadlines and understanding what facility teams need to see in applications. Highlight specific clinical experiences, assessment competencies and therapy modalities matching their site‘s psychology services. Articulate clear interests in the populations served and specialty areas that brought you to apply there rather than a generic statement. Personalize and specify!

What would you recommend students focus on strategically during their 3rd/4th years to become strong intern candidates?

I always advise students be proactive advancing clinical skills in our campus clinic and community mental health rotations early on. Seek out additional training workshops in areas internship sites require like suicide risk assessment, diagnostic interviewing, CBT certification, etc. Obtain stronger letters of recommendation from supervisors of these direct patient experiences. Together, these efforts can offset lesser quantity internship hours compared to post-doc applicants. Position yourself as the dedicated, specialized applicant an internship site needs.

Launching Your Psychology Career after Graduation

With rigorous curriculum standards aligned with licensing board requirements in most states, Des Moines psychology graduates enter the job market holding certifications and competencies making them extremely competitive nationwide across settings:

96% Iowa psychology bachelor degree holders gain entry to graduate programs immediately after finishing their undergraduate studies compared to 66% nationally entering postgraduate education right away. [1]
Iowa clinical psychology graduates generally secure licensures to practice therapy or school psychology servicesRequired exam pass rates average 90% for recent cohorts. [2]
Average starting salaries for psychology grads in Iowa fall between $28,720 (bachelor‘s degree holders) up to $90,810 for specialized doctorate holders like Ph.D. forensic psychologists in healthcare settings. [3]
Jobs for mental health counselors alone are projected to grow 18.7% in Iowa through 2026–a rate far outpacing the national occupational average of 13.7% growth. [4]

Packed with both scientific rigor and real-world preparatory experiences guided by distinguished Iowa psychology faculty driving advancements in analysis methodologies, emotional health treatments and our understanding of human behaviors through compelling research studies, Des Moines psychology graduate programs deliver the elite training fitting you for success in positions improving lives.

References:

Iowa College Aid Authority (2021). Iowa College Aid Annual Condition Report 2021. https://reports.iowacollegeaid.gov/conditions21.pdf
Iowa Board of Psychology (2021). Annual Report FY 2020-2021. https://ibplicense.iowa.gov/reports
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2021). Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm
Iowa Workforce Development (2022). Iowa‘s 2026 Job Outlook. https://www.iowalmi.gov/labor-market-information-division/publications/iowas-2026-job-outlook