The Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis

Date: Dec 31 1969
Major: Psychology (This Major's Salary over time)
I am an international student from France and arrived at Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis to complete the Masters Degree in Psychoanalytic Counseling in 2010. I graduated from High school in France, completed two years of Medical school, one year of Pharmaceutical school, and two years of college with a Psychology major before moving to the U.S. Here, I obtained my Associate of Arts degree in one year in a community college near Seattle, got my BA with a Psychology major and Spanish minor at CWU in Washington state, and I just graduated from BGSP with my Masters in Psychoanalytic Counseling.

BGSP is formerly a psychoanalytic institute and is now a school with full accreditation from the state to grant degrees at Masters and Doctoral levels. Before judging this school too severely, it would be relevant to realize that this is the only school in the United States where one can be granted an actual degree in Psychoanalysis. All the other psychoanalytic centers across America can only give certificates, which are not degrees/diplomas.

Secondly, this is a psychoanalytic school, which means that teachers are psychoanalysts themselves and therefore behave as such. If a student expects the exact same atmosphere and experience at BGSP than in any other college, he will be fooling himself! Such an expectation is comparable to believing that visiting a zoo and going on a safari in Africa will be similar in experience. Psychoanalysis is a therapy style but also a way of thinking and feeling. Learning psychoanalytic techniques properly will inevitably affect one's way of life. Therefore, faculty members, and students, will act more and more in a psychoanalytic way and most processes used in the school also follow these dynamics. Why? because it is impossible to learn psychoanalysis through theoretical readings. While the reading part is necessary to build the basics, experiencing this emotional science is the only way to go in order to fully grasp the meaning of it. As a result, merely being in the school will teach anybody some notions of psychoanalysis, in addition to the assignments, the attendance, the debates, the papers, the readings, the internships, the externships, etc. The whole environment is psychoanalytic to allow students to be fully immersed in it, to live it. After all, it is sometimes quite abstract and difficult to understand. One of my teachers here told us once, reacting to a student claiming that she gave up on the reading because she could not understand it, that

there is no baby food in psychoanalysis unfortunately. Learning it is like giving a steak to a baby. It is difficult to chew and several attempts are necessary to get through it.

Nobody here will tell a student that he is stupid for not understanding a text. Instead, this student will be told not to worry, that the same theories will reappear more than once in several texts and that with repetition and practice (in internships for instance), understanding will come naturally. All that to explain that entering BGSP is not the same as entering any other graduate school, since the frame of mind is completely different.

The teaching style is usually what most people complain about, but it usually because of a lack of understanding or a misinterpretation of the faculty's intentions and goals. In a nut shell, their teaching style directly reflects their therapeutic style. This is called "process teaching", meaning that the teachers' behavior is designed to show, as opposed to lecture, how to act with a patient. This is another way to learn through experience, which is in my opinion the best way to learn anything. Classes are seminar-based, full of debates and shares, which is very different from the impersonal lectures in huge classrooms. Learning is done through talking, participating, proposing ideas and opinions, discussing readings, and sharing personal experiences in class. Note-taking is not the most common practice in BGSP's classes, as it is believed to be counterproductive in most cases. After all, a student who is taking notes will inevitably lose some of the content being discussed. Therefore, classes feel more like friendly, sometimes emotionally intense discussions rather than boring and impersonal lectures punctuated with tedious and stressful note-taking.

To best describe the atmosphere of BGSP, the most appropriate word I can think of is "free". There are no rigid rules (with a few exceptions of course) here. While there are rules to abide by, breaking them will not lead a student straight to expulsion or horrible consequences. Everything happens through discussions with faculty. For instance, we are allowed no more than two excused absences per course, beyond what we supposedly forfeit the course's credits. In other words, the teacher is expected to fail such a student. Nonetheless, I have never seen this rule applied to the letter, as it would be in any other college. Here, the teacher (a psychoanalyst) will try to understand the reasons behind the student's behavior, will come in contact with him in order to find some compromise or a way to fix the situation. Basically, there is a second chance offered to every student.

The relationship between students and teachers is much closer than in other universities. One sacred tradition at BGSP is the writing of a log after or before every class. A log is a small card on which the student can write absolutely anything he so desires. This log is a private communication to the teacher, read only by the teacher. Being professional therapists, faculty members encourage freedom of speech and of emotions, so much so that the log can read anything, including complaints and compliments in any form. This is not an exaggeration! Teachers will never retaliate, fail, or even treat a student differently after reading a negative log. They welcome all feedback as a sign of healthy verbalization from the student.

Furthermore, the link between students is, to me, infinitely stronger than in any other academic institute. If a student comes to BGSP with an open mind and truly prepared to face the emotional turmoil triggered by this therapy style, much will be shared in classes, sometimes in words and some other times, in body language and speech patterns. In any case, students typically feel closer to each other simply because of the amount of feelings they share with each other.

Finally, BGSP will change students. This is something anybody being here for a while will not deny. When I started, I was shy, afraid to say anything negative to anybody or about anybody, and very afraid to start seeing patients. Now, thanks to all the courses, the internship, the externship, the mandatory analysis, the several supervisions, and the logs I described previously, I am much more confident, not afraid to defend my principles and speak my mind, and I cannot wait to build my private practice as I have experienced firsthand psychotic patients.

This school has made me grow emotionally and intellectually, and such a change is worth every minute and dollar I spent here.

Regarding the occasional administrative issues, yes, it can be frustrating sometimes but it is good to mention once more that BGSP is a very young school. They are improving constantly and patience is required in some cases. The best thing to do is to work with them and give recommendations, which are always welcome.