Evaluating the "Visit Day" Tool for Supporting Underrepresented and/or Marginalized Students in Applying to Doctoral Programs

• Published in: Training and education in professional psychology 2023-02, Vol.17 (1), p.43-52
• Main Authors: Grassetti, Stevie N., Meehan, Zachary M., Beveridge, Ryan M., Teachman, Bethany A., Stanton, Alexis G., Cooper, Phoenix Jazmine, Daniel, Katharine E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Educational Programs; Female; Graduate Psychology Education; Graduate Students; Human; Inclusion; Male; Marginalized Groups; Training
• ISSN: 1931-3918; 1931-3926
• DOI: 10.1037/tep0000426

The Council of Chairs of Training Councils' (CCTC) 2020 Social Responsiveness in Health Service Psychology (HSP) Education and Training Toolkit recommends that training programs host "open houses and information sessions" to recruit a more diverse group of trainees. Aligning with this recommendation, doctoral training programs across the country have been hosting program "visit days" that facilitate opportunities for underrepresented prospective students and HSP doctoral programs to connect. There are no published empirical studies to inform whether such visit days are associated with expected benefits for prospective and current students. Published studies could aid HSP training programs in considering this tool. This study presents data from three surveys that evaluated visit days held across four clinical psychology doctoral training programs. Participants included two groups-38 underrepresented prospective students who had attended a visit day and 35 current graduate students who assisted with hosting a visit day at one of four clinical psychology doctoral training programs. Prospective students reported that visiting was a positive experience and identified talking with graduate students and faculty members as the most satisfying aspect of visit day. A 1-year follow-up survey suggested that 78% of the visitors who applied to graduate school received an offer of admission. Current graduate students also reported benefits of participating in visit day that included enhanced knowledge of both the challenges experienced by and supports available for students from marginalized groups. We conclude by discussing study limitations, identifying visit day implementation challenges, and offering advice to HSP training programs that are considering implementing visit days. Public Significance Statement This article presents evaluation data from four doctoral programs that hosted program "visit days" to connect with underrepresented prospective trainees. Data suggest that prospective and current students view involvement in visit days as positive and beneficial.