{"id":6807,"date":"2016-09-27T16:41:05","date_gmt":"2016-09-27T21:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.thechicagoschool.edu\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T15:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T21:20:07","slug":"why-accreditation-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Why accreditation matters: The importance of APA accreditation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0“I\u00a0am going to be a psychologist!”<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Those words echoed through my head when I left my undergraduate adviser\u2019s office 18 years ago. I promptly marched across the quad towards the computer lab and fired up AOL. Many, many minutes later I had a list of schools to write to for admission and program information. By \u201cwrite,\u201d I mean with a pen, paper, envelope, and stamp!<\/p>\n

Over the next few weeks, large program packets arrived from far-flung cities across the United States. My main motivator for graduate school was location. Programmatic accreditation was not a factor, or even a question I asked during the application process.<\/p>\n

By year two of my graduate program, I was vaguely aware that our doctoral program had recently been granted seven years of accreditation from the American Psychological Association<\/a> (APA), but the accreditation standards and process for accreditation\u2014as well as its importance\u2014were foreign to me.<\/p>\n

Today, as campus dean of The Chicago School\u2019s Washington, D.C. Campus, I know that criteria and process intimately, as our Clinical Psy.D. Program was recently granted APA accreditation for a full seven years, after a rigorous and thorough evaluation process.<\/p>\n

The APA\u2019s Commission on Accreditation is a specialized, professional accreditor\u2014this accreditation only extends to specific doctoral graduate programs, doctoral internships, and postdoctoral residencies in professional psychology. APA accreditation is program and location specific and each program must apply for and obtain it separately.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Three reasons programmatic APA accreditation is important<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Accreditation provides assurance that the program meets the Standards of Accreditation as set by the Commission of Accreditation, and these standards were developed with input from the psychological community.<\/li>\n
  2. Enrollment in and graduation from an APA accredited program will increase the training and job opportunities with the federal government, agencies that receive federal funding, and the ability to participate in federal loan forgiveness programs.<\/li>\n
  3. Some states require applicants for licensure to graduate from an APA-accredited program in order to become licensed as clinical psychologists in that state. To verify any specific states\u2019 licensure requirements, please utilize the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards website here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    In my own education, by the time I was applying for doctoral internship programs, I applied exclusively to those accredited by the APA. I knew that I wanted the most versatile career options given my age and position in life. In order to maximize my career opportunities, graduating from an accredited doctoral program and attending an accredited internship program was the best route for me.<\/p>\n

    Today, I am exceedingly pleased that every single student from the Clinical Psy.D. Program at The Chicago School\u2019s D.C. Campus can say they\u2019ve graduated from a doctoral program accredited by the APA.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \n

    The Clinical Psy.D. Program at the Washington D.C. Campus is accredited by the American Psychological Association.<\/em> Questions related to the program\u2019s accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:<\/em><\/p>\n

    The\u00a0American Psychological Association
    \n<\/a>Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
    \n750 First Street, NE
    \nWashington, D.C. 20002-4242
    \n202.336.5979<\/p>\n

    \n

    Learn more about The Chicago School<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The Chicago School offers a range of academic programs that can prepare you to positively impact mental health. Fill out the information below to request more information, or you can apply today through our application portal.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    D.C. Campus Dean Heather Sheets explains the significance of APA accreditation for their Psy.D. program and its students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":107348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1083],"class_list":["post-6807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-development","insight_authors-dr-heather-sheets"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Accreditation Matters: The Importance of APA Accreditation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Want to maximize your career opportunities? Learn from Dr. Heather Sheets why a program accredited by the American Psychological Association is the best route.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Accreditation Matters: The Importance of APA Accreditation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Want to maximize your career opportunities? Learn from Dr. Heather Sheets why a program accredited by the American Psychological Association is the best route.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Insight Digital Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-27T21:41:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-04T21:20:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/InstightDigital_1404x766_Why-accreditation-matters_95.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1404\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"766\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dr. Heather Sheets\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dr. Heather Sheets\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Accreditation Matters: The Importance of APA Accreditation","description":"Want to maximize your career opportunities? Learn from Dr. Heather Sheets why a program accredited by the American Psychological Association is the best route.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Accreditation Matters: The Importance of APA Accreditation","og_description":"Want to maximize your career opportunities? Learn from Dr. Heather Sheets why a program accredited by the American Psychological Association is the best route.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/","og_site_name":"Insight Digital Magazine","article_published_time":"2016-09-27T21:41:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-04T21:20:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1404,"height":766,"url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/InstightDigital_1404x766_Why-accreditation-matters_95.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dr. Heather Sheets","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dr. Heather Sheets","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/"},"author":{"name":"The Chicago School","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#\/schema\/person\/8dbf060a75f74b3467188c5d4ef1dd07"},"headline":"Why accreditation matters: The importance of APA accreditation","datePublished":"2016-09-27T21:41:05+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-04T21:20:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/"},"wordCount":559,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/InstightDigital_1404x766_Why-accreditation-matters_95.jpg","articleSection":["Career Development Articles"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/","url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/","name":"Why Accreditation Matters: The Importance of APA Accreditation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/InstightDigital_1404x766_Why-accreditation-matters_95.jpg","datePublished":"2016-09-27T21:41:05+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-04T21:20:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#\/schema\/person\/8dbf060a75f74b3467188c5d4ef1dd07"},"description":"Want to maximize your career opportunities? Learn from Dr. Heather Sheets why a program accredited by the American Psychological Association is the best route.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/InstightDigital_1404x766_Why-accreditation-matters_95.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/InstightDigital_1404x766_Why-accreditation-matters_95.jpg","width":1404,"height":766,"caption":"woman writing notes in spiral notebook"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/career-development\/why-accreditation-matters\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why accreditation matters: The importance of APA accreditation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/","name":"Insight Digital Magazine","description":"The Chicago School","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/#\/schema\/person\/8dbf060a75f74b3467188c5d4ef1dd07","name":"The Chicago School"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6807"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120628,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6807\/revisions\/120628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6807"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thechicagoschool.edu\/insight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}