Effective counseling requires more than just a set of personality characteristics that are suited to the career. It also requires a solid academic background. Most positions for counselors require at least a master's degree—earning one usually takes at least one year of full-time study after college. Accredited Ph.D. programs require at least three years of full-time study and an additional year of supervised experience. Students must begin their educational planning in high school to make sure that they qualify for college.
In college, prospective counselors have four possible options:
- If the individual's only concern is admission to graduate school, any academic major will do in most cases since counselor education programs in graduate schools usually accept students without regard to major, although many programs require applicants to have three to five undergraduate courses in psychology or another behavioral science.
- The most recommended option is to major in psychology or another behavioral science.
- Major in counselor education. This option may be especially attractive to people planning to enter rehabilitation counseling. An undergraduate major in rehabilitation services can shorten a person's stay in graduate school by a semester or more.
- Major in education in order to qualify for a teaching position so that the individual can gain required teaching experience.
Students should try to clarify their goals no later than their sophomore year in college. They must first determine the kind of counseling they wish to do. Entry positions in rehabilitation counseling, for example, are more likely to be available to qualified college graduates than positions as school counselors.
Students would do well to learn exact requirements of the employers they are most likely to work for. For example, does your state hire entry-level rehabilitation counselors with a bachelor's degree and no experience? A state may not require that school counselors have teaching experience, but a local school district might. Also remember that no matter what education is required for entry, additional education may be required for advancement.
Graduate schools can provide information on entry requirements for their programs. Should a school call for certain undergraduate courses, for example, you'll be able to take them before graduation. Entry requirements vary widely by program. On average, master's programs require scores on the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), of at least 459 on the verbal and 455 on the quantitative section. Alternatively, a minimum score of 40 on the Miller Analogy Test may be required. From three to five courses in psychology or counseling are also required by many programs. Other typical requirements are a 2.7 undergraduate GPA (based on straight as equaling 4.0), letters of recommendation, personal interviews, and relevant work experience. Requirements for doctoral programs are somewhat higher than those for master's programs.
PICKING A PROGRAM
Most programs, even those in counseling psychology, rehabilitation counseling, or mental health counseling are housed in a school of education; programs are also housed in schools of arts and sciences. Programs for different kinds of counselors may be in different departments within a school or institution.
The educational choice is vast. The following are some points to bear in mind when selecting schools to apply to:
- Accreditation
- Client emphasis
- Philosophical orientation
- Counseling specialties offered
- Nature and extent of field experience
- Degree requirements
- Correlation of degree requirements with certification requirements
- Degree granted
- Entry requirements
- Location
- Size
- Faculty-student ratio
- Location of field experience
- Placement of recent graduates
- Cost
- Availability of scholarships and loans
Whether or not a program is accredited may be particularly important. You should be especially careful in evaluating programs that are not accredited and have no plans to seek accreditation.
WHAT DO YOU LEARN?
Almost any counselor education program is likely to include course work on career development theory, the use of educational and vocational information, statistics, research methods, testing and measurement, counseling theory and technique, the organization and administration of services and the employment setting, psychological development and human behavior, group counseling procedures, and professional ethics. Supervised counseling experience is also provided through a laboratory, practicum, or internship. Internships follow a practicum and may last a full school year. They are usually set in schools or community agencies, such as rehabilitation agencies, mental health clinics, hospitals, marriage and family counseling centers, correctional institutions, diagnostic centers, or employment agencies. Employers often consider the appropriateness of the setting of the internship when comparing the merits of different applicants. For example, the likelihood of your being employed in the private sector is very much improved if you have performed an internship in such a setting.
Differences among the programs for various specialties appear. For example, a program for secondary school counselors might require a course in adolescent psychology while the elementary school program specifies child psychology. Programs accredited by CACREP must require these core courses; human growth and development, social and cultural foundations, helping relationships, groups, lifestyle and career development, appraisal, research and evaluation, and professional orientation. CRE-accredited programs require courses on the principles and practice of rehabilitation counseling, medical aspects of disability, and utilizing community resources. The model curriculum proposed by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy requires two to four courses in each of the following three areas: marriage and family systems, marriage and family therapy, and individual development. The differences are greatest, however, in the particular internship, practicum, or supervised counseling that the student engages in. These programs are changed and updated regularly.
The average practicum in a master's program lasts 200 contact hours and the average internship 300-600 hours; both practicums and internships are twice as long in doctoral programs. The length of these experiences varies according to the student's specialty. Marriage and family therapy programs typically require more supervised experience than school or student affairs programs. The Ed.D. programs also tend to require less supervised experience than the Ph.D. programs.
WHAT IS IT LIKE?
Counseling is not simply academic and counselor education is not simply the mastery of information. Students in a counselor education program go through the emotions of fear, testing, discovery, and fuller realization of self.
TRENDS TO KEEP TRACK OF
- The number of credit hours required in accredited programs is greater than the requirements of traditional master's degree programs in most fields. Roughly thirty-six semester hours are required in most programs, but accredited counselor-preparation programs require forty-eight.
- The amount of time spent in supervised counseling is also greater than was required in most programs before the accreditation movement got underway. Nevertheless, accredited programs attract more applicants.
- Increasing specialization of counselors. Almost all programs were designed for school counselors with a few courses on subjects such as marriage and family counseling or rehabilitation counseling offered as electives. Now, programs designed specifically for agency counseling, pastoral counseling, and all the other counseling specialties are also common. Schools have also added courses in marriage and family, gerontology, substance abuse, law, and ethical issues.
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