William James College Reviews

  • 11 Reviews
  • Boston (MA)
  • Annual Tuition: $36,870
100% of 11 students said this degree improved their career prospects
55% of 11 students said they would recommend this school to others
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Student & Graduate Reviews

anonymous
  • Reviewed: 1/17/2021
  • Degree: Clinical Psychology
"The instructors were great and I learned an exceptional amount. Clinical field experience was very useful, but we are used as practicum interns, and field placement does not do a good job keeping up with the sites (e.g., who is the supervisor and their actual maintaining the requirements of the practicum). Most often we work for free 30 plus hours a week on top of 5 plus classes at a time for all 4 years of the program. The school constantly changes the requirements for the degree and seems to think that the doctoral student manual that we sign upon entering the college is not something they need to adhere to. Every year they change your requirements and the cost goes up. There is no accountability within the system. THE STUDENTS ARE BULLIED BY THE SYSTEM AT WJC. I would suggest anyone looking into the school, if they want a clinical Psy D to look elsewhere, and they can always choose Boston College's clinical psychology PhD program. Additionally the school seems to have taken on many very young to be a psychologist students. These students come right from BS degrees and have little to no life experience that should be an essential requirement for a clinical PsyD... Its ridiculous... there are girls who wear low cut shirts, short skirts, and torn cloths. The truly unprepared drop out after the first year (about 20%) after WJC has made a profit off of them. Many of the 20 year old students who do complete the program have grown immensely. When the school went from MSPP to William James College there was a downgrading of the program. William James was a visionary and a wholistic psychologist. William James College is by far not and William James would most likely not be happy the school uses his name. Additionally, about half way through my program it seemed some of the more well known professors left or were pushed out by some professors/admin and a bunch of professors with little to no clinical experience were hired. Imagine having a professor teaching clinical PsyD students but having no actual experience providing any clinical care. Not cool."
Might as well be a for-profit school
  • Reviewed: 2/16/2020
  • Degree: Counseling
"If you want to go to school with a bunch of people who cannot write a paper, who only care about analyzing the Kardashians, and where every class is filled with people who have never taken a psych course before—all courses are 100 level because of this—this school is for you! All men are enrolled without vetting because they need their male numbers to be as high as possible (maybe 5 apply per incoming class out of maybe 60? I know because I helped with admissions and was told as much) and you get some real interesting characters. They take almost everyone who applies and you get a bunch of mentally unhealthy people who just want to know about themselves; instead of what they should do, which is to find a therapist! It’s cheaper! They want your money and they’ll sell you on how much you’ll get! Ha!! I was lied to about scholarships. There are none. You’ll get some basics for some nice professors but you’ll end up working in in-home therapy for 2-3 years making 35k per year in Boston (try living on that with students loans!) before getting your license (if you don’t burn out first). Don’t know what in-home therapy is? You don’t want to know... Think you’ll have other options?! No way. Maybe a methadone clinic if you’re lucky. No thanks!! If you really want to become a therapist—one that doesn’t do in-home with a pipe dream of a private practice (Think someone will pay money to see a newbie? Think again) and who actually does what your professors now do or were lucky enough to do—get into a fully funded doctoral program at a large university. No debt, more respect, more doors open. Yes, it’s impossible to get in and it’s 7 years to get a degree but compared to WJC—there’s no comparison. The counseling masters program is for WJC’s money making purpose only. They churn out degrees as fast as possible for the cash and there are lots of in-home therapy jobs to fill (because of need and burnout). You’ve been warned! Please go elsewhere and please consider another career that has a greater ROI."
Average Jo
  • Reviewed: 1/16/2019
  • Degree: Child Development
"William James does not prepare students for anything. In fact, all they do is send them around in circles chasing paperwork. The hierarchy of staff has no communication with each other and causes stress with the graduate students. In my opinion an online school would be better than this program. I actually asked for a recommendation from a well known doctor who told me to think twice before applying to the program. Additionally they don't value or seem to understand what a person with "disabilities" means."
Dodged a major bullet
  • Reviewed: 8/16/2018
  • Degree: Clinical Psychology
"This program has no communication between its moving parts. Their whole advanced standing is a joke. Like many have said before, its a degree mill with no concern for individual students. The head of the department, gave me nothing but problems. I urge anyone with questions about this program to speak to me."
John
  • Reviewed: 3/1/2018
  • Degree: Child Development
"Where to being with the formerly known MSPP. The difference between the schools appears to be a shift in the administration several years before the name change that took a lot of the "family feel" away from the school. Former students talked about being part of a close tight-knit cohort both with their peers and with the faculty. People talked of an abundance of food around the building and free coffee for students. The actual experience of attending WJC was very different. Despite some of the highest cost per credit of any university in the New England area, they have eliminated the free coffee and there is no longer as much of the family feeling that you got from finding some people sitting around some food that had been left out from a meeting and sitting down to chat. The building seems far more crowded and sometimes there aren't enough seats in classrooms (or functioning clocks). The professors have mostly been excellent, however, receive pressure from the school administration and leadership around treating the student population like children with such things like attendance policies (if you miss more than 2 classes you begin to lose points off your grade and may be contacted by an administrator or risk failing the course). I find this to be laughable in a program that costs 65k a year between tuition and living expenses in the Boston area; treat your students like adults and let the faculty address these concerns as needed. The problem with this policy is that's it's arbitrary. Need to miss class to interview at a prospective internship site? Too bad, still counts as an absence (better hope you don't get sick). In addition to the attendance there is this underlying sense of being treated like a child under the guise of "being a professional". Being a professional means understanding that if you don't network, attend conferences, or otherwise diversify your experience, you will be less competitive in the job market. Instead of letting students distinguish themselves in comparison to their peers, you have "professional portfolio requirement" which forces students to do extracurricular work in an attempt to make them more professionally appealing. Students should be doing this without the requirement, and if they aren't, once again, they will be less competitive in the job market. Due to the large amount of hand holding and arbitrary requirements, it feels like you are fighting the school half the time instead of them working for you. Didn't fill out your end of year survey? Sucks to forget because those are REQUIRED and failure to complete them results in a corrective action notification being placed on your student account. Because paying 65k a year means you also HAVE to fill out those surveys, you know, to help the school out (as opposed to incentives for people participation). You constantly hear complaints of other students about the administration and the shady things they tend to do such as raising tuition without any notification to the student body as to why costs are going up and where that money is going (spoiler alert: it's not going to anything that is going to benefit you). The school appears to be taking more and more students despite the schools organization abilities being questionable in an attempt to offset the cost of the new building they purchased and the new programs they are trying to implement. The new administration even turned the school's testing center that was designed to serve low income students and families and turned it into a revenue stream. Despite the amazing training opportunities and the overall excellent faculty who do genuinely seem to care about the students and their learning (but are hamstrung by the administration), I would recommend students interested in a career in the mental health field look elsewhere to cheaper alternatives. Especially because they don't mention that to graduate on time (5 years that used to be 4 years) you pretty much have to attend summer courses which don't get factored into the initial cost of tuition (another 7 grand each summer). While I have certainly learned a lot, it hasn't been without the underlying feeling that your getting taken to the cleaners by a school that seems to care more about making money (despite being a non-profit, wonder where the extra money is going...) than training the best possible psychologists. It feels more like checking boxes and making sure APA doesn't interfere too much with the cash grab than a genuine desire to train students and improve the mental health field. Also for being called William James they seem to be moving away from a lot of his beliefs about people and psychology..."
Anonymous
  • Reviewed: 1/3/2017
  • Degree: Psychology
"Great school, great connections with internship placements in the area. Not often great communication between the administration and the students."
Viking
  • Reviewed: 7/29/2016
  • Degree: Psychology
"William James College has met, and exceeded all my expectations. The professors are outstanding, and the classes are rigorous but always relevant. For someone like myself who learns best by "doing", the clinical experience starting in the first days of the program has been most valuable. Being in Boston, I've met grad students from many other psychology programs in the area, all of whom envy my training and knowledge base I've gained from my experience and training at WJC. William James College deserves its reputation as training the best of the best. The college is small, nearly 800 students in all programs, and there are pros and cons to this. It allows for really personal interactions with professors and staff; you will always have access to someone who can advise or help. The college wants you to succeed. The cons are the limited extracurricular opportunities, although there is a real spirit of pride and belonging at the college. I couldn't be happier with the PsyD program and am excited every day to be a part of this program at WJC."
Nicholas McMahon
  • Reviewed: 6/14/2015
  • Degree: Psychology
"My graduate school specializes in providing a range of psychology degree paths all striving to combat mental health issues at their core. William James' reputation strives to provide direct service to those in need. Within my experience as an enrolled doctoral student in clinical psychology, the school places great emphasis on impacting society through exposing its student body by focusing on direct clinical experiences through field placements starting immediately. The school is perfect for those that seek this kind of hands-on experience with diverse communities and populations. The major downside is this emphasis on clinical work forces research development and experience to take a backseat. This combined with the very limited finances of a smaller intuition comprises the two major cons to this graduate school."
Lisa Chimes
  • Reviewed: 9/8/2013
  • Degree: Psychology
"Professors are extremely accessible to their students and always willing to help. It is very much a commuter school and difficult to meet people socially."
Glavielinys Cruz
  • Reviewed: 7/27/2013
  • Degree: Psychology
"MSPP is a wonderful and enriching school. The faculty do go out of their way to make sure we, students, are taking advantage of the education provided. I thoroughly enjoy all of my classes and the work given is up to par with what I expected a doctoral program to demand."
Andrea Tascon
  • Reviewed: 4/12/2013
  • Degree: Counseling
"The graduate program is competitive and well worth it. The faculty and students are very supportive in decisions, and always there to answer questions"