PSP History

The Professional School of Psychology was founded in the 1970’s in San Francisco to bring high-quality graduate education in psychology to the ‘mature learner.’ In those days, it was difficult to find an institution of higher education that understood the complexities of being an older student – a full-time job, a family, bills to pay, and other responsibilities. Most traditional educational institutions required that a student attend day classes during the typical work week, and this was simply not practical for many qualified people who discovered they had both gift and talent to work in the field of psychology.

PSP was one of the first graduate schools to form around a new pedagogy – the idea that people need not drop everything in order to prepare for a major career shift. We were one of the first schools to use week nights for education and, in recent years, weekend days. Although we have ‘twenty-somethings’ in our programs, our average student age is closer to forty-five than twenty-five. And we have students who are in their seventies as well!

If you are a prospective student, you may telephone or e-mail Office Manager 916-641-6542 for more information. Although we require a personal interview before providing application material, we may be able to answer specific questions over the telephone, and we would be happy to do so!