Master of Arts in Counseling - Virtual Information Session

Good afternoon, everyone.

Hello. Thank you so much for attending. I see everybody populating in. We'll give you all just a couple of minutes to make sure that your sound is set, that you can hear us. If you're watching this recording later on, I apologize. Just give us a few seconds for our live audience and we'll get situated. We'll get started in just a moment, but thank you all so much for being here.

Alright.

Great. It looks like folks are in outlook. We've got a great chat going in in our live audience. Thank you so much. So welcome. Again, my name is Jen Radwanski. I'm the associate director for graduate admissions here at Stockton University. And we are so excited to have you join us to learn more about our masters in counseling program here at Stockton. And as you can see, we have a we have a wow, this is the liveliest chat I've ever had. Fantastic. What a great audience.

Tell us about fun. So for those of you who are joining us live, yes, you can use that chat feature. However, what I will share with you is we have a very robust presentation for you that will go into great detail about the counseling program. And so we will most likely answer your questions as we get through this. So what I would ask is if you do have questions, hang tight on putting those into the chat and we will have a full Q&A session for you at the very end if we happen to miss anything or if you want us to go over something a little bit more fully for those of you who are watching this pre recorded.

Thank you again. And we will have our contact information at the end. So again, you have the opportunity to to reach out and to ask any additional questions you may have about this program. So without further ado, I'm going to turn things over to our amazing program chair, Doctor Sarah Martino, to take things away and tell us more about the program. So Doctor Martino.

Thank you so much, Jen. Welcome everyone. I'm Doctor Sarah Martino. I am the director of the Master's program in counseling here at Stockton University. So thank you for joining this virtual information session. As Jen mentioned, I will likely get through everything that you you would need in terms of deciding on Stockton's counseling program. However, if there's anything that I haven't covered, feel free to put a question in the chat towards the end of the talk.

So why choose Stockton's counseling program?

Give you the information that hopefully will have you agreeing with me that we are an excellent program with a lot of detail and personal contact with our students. So a couple of things to let you know. We do have a cohort model which means all of our students go through the entire program together. So it is considered a somewhat accelerated program in that you can finish the program in two years and you will be licensed eligible at the end of that two year term. But we also do.

Having this cohort model allow you to have as much support as you possibly can as you move through that accelerated program. We currently accept 24 students per class and that is because again, you're moving through the program as a cohort and it is full time only. However, I will explain a little bit about how our program works and still allows for flexibility, especially for our students who also have other obligations such as work or family life to take care of. We do currently have a small.

Faculty. We are actually bringing a new faculty member on in January, but for the fall semester, we have myself, Sarah Martino, I'm the Director of the program, Doctor Aaron Sapio is our internship coordinator as well as a faculty member, and Doctor Terry Lynn Battle is our third faculty member. And as I mentioned, we will have one more faculty member joining us in January.

In terms of prerequisites for our program, we do need a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution of higher Ed. We have a minimum GPA requirement of a 3.0.

We do not require that you majored in psychology. However, if you are a non psychology major, we do have a suggestion for prerequisites, prerequisite knowledge in statistics and or experimental psychology and at least one course in child development or abnormal psychology or personality. And so some folks will reach out and ask me questions, say they're a sociology major or there are criminal justice major. So still a social science but not a psychology degree.

Typically there will be no prerequisites required in that case because you likely took courses that demonstrate knowledge and statistics and or research methods experimental. However, if you are currently a major in business, then it would be a good idea to take some of those prerequisite courses so that you would be prepared for a program in counseling.

As you move through your prerequisite requirements, Please note that you would need AB or better, and also note that you could take those courses at the undergraduate or the graduate level. So we do allow our prospective students to take classes as a non matriculated student. So say for example, you needed a course in psychopathology, you could take that with us in our program as a non matriculated student or could take it at the undergraduate level. Either is an option.

In terms of our admissions requirements.

I don't I can go through this slide. I don't know. Oh Jen, she already put that in there. You put our website in there. Thank you. I don't know if you would want to cover anything if I leave anything out, but we do we will put the link in for the application in the chat, yes.

And go ahead, you go ahead.

Got it. OK Yep, no problem. We can tag team. This one sounds good. So yes, I put the app direct link to the program page. And so on that page there is a button that says apply. And so that's how you can get to the application via this site. But all the material that we're covering is also on this site, which is why it can be helpful for you to go back to. So I wanted to make sure that you all had it there as well. So there are a number of components that are involved in the application and this is a quick checklist that you can.

Here, but this is also on our website and then once you start your application, it also populates a checklist within your application there too. So you know once your application is complete and that you have put all of the items in that you need. So to start off with, there is a application fee of $50, which is a non refundable fee. There are some waiver codes that are available under certain situations and you can talk with that. Talk with us about that if you would like.

Each of our applications here at Stockton does have does have an essay.

And so that essay will populate after you start your application and either put your waiver code in or put your $50 application.

Fee in. So a lot of people get confused with that. They say well can I see the essay ahead of time and Nope. You have to put one of those two things in in order to view the essay to start your application. So just keep that in mind. You will also need 3 letters of recommendation. Those get sent electronically through the application system. So it's a very easy process. What you'll need is your the name of your recommender.

Their title and then their e-mail address. We recommend a couple of things with that number one, talk to your recommenders first to make sure that they know that they'll be getting an e-mail because as soon as you put their e-mail address in it will send them the information they need to do the application. Excuse me, do the recommendation in your application. The next component is to make sure that you have their e-mail address correct. I know that sounds simple, but it's a good reminder to copy and paste it directly from a previous e-mail that maybe you have from them to make sure that you.

Don't have any errors in inputting their e-mail address. And then finally you'll hit the submit button on that and it'll send to them automatically. You'll be able to go back into your application and see if they have completed it. So you can remind them. What we would suggest is providing them a copy of your resume prior to doing the letter of recommendation. That's always a nice gesture. And then also following up with them about the timeline for things and let them know how things happened in the end.

You'll want to make sure that your recommenders are individuals who can speak to your academic success. These need to be individuals that have maybe faculty members that have had you in the classroom before, professionals who have seen you in the field of counseling or a related field. But what we don't recommend is, you know, having friends or family to do those letters of recommendation. It should be professional letters of recommendation. So even though you have a wonderful next door neighbor that maybe has known you for 20 to 30 years and can speak highly of you, we really need to have.

Be someone who can speak about your academic success in a counseling program, specifically, uh, the next component is uh, the GRE scores. And so the GRE requirement is waived for anyone who has a 3.51 cumulative GPA or higher. Umm, a 3.50 or below will need to do the GRE and you will need to have those scores sent to us. Umm, the specific school code you can see is listed here and is also listed on our.

Website. So that's an important component and you can schedule that with ETS specifically.

Please note though that the scores do need to be taken within the last 10 years so if if you have taken them previous to that you will need to retake them. Then the last two items you'll need to upload a PDF copy of your resume and then also any transcripts and it should be all official transcripts. So this is from any institution where you took.

College level courses, both undergraduate or graduate. So if you had multiple schools that you attended, if you have any dual credit courses, if you have an associate's degree, if you have an additional masters degree, etcetera, all of those must be sent to us from the institution specifically, umm, so they all must be official transcripts. Stockton students, we do have the ability to pull transcripts for you, so we will try and do that as they come in.

But do know that it's your responsibility to get all additional transcripts to us.

You can have those mailed to us, but really we recommend doing them electronically and those can be sent to grad school at stockton.edu or just by selecting Stockton University as the school that you would like to have them sent to. Doing the electronic process allows us to attach them straight to your application when they do come in, and it is a really quick process. I've actually seen some transcripts come in within 24 hours, which I think is pretty amazing. I would say give it at least five business days depending on the institution and where they have.

Transcripts sent from, but usually anywhere from one to five business days is what we're seeing right now in receiving transcripts. So all right, Doctor Martina, turn it back to you.

Thank you very much. I always like to make a note about the GR ES just for information that we only collect the score. So we are not looking for any minimum required score on the GRE. It's really just another piece of information that we gather. And so it's another part of your application. But I know at times students do stress. We know that it's a high stakes exam and so we're not looking, as I said, for a minimum score. So important to note.

OK. In terms of the the various course coursework that you'll be doing within our program, as I mentioned, abnormal psychology or psychopathology.

Will definitely be a first year course that you would take and it's one of our prerequisites that we have. But other things that you'll be learning is lifespan development, definitely many clinical skills such as basic interviewing as well as observation and assessment of clients, basic counseling skills as well as an interpersonal. Our foundational theoretical orientation is an interpersonal counseling style.

You also will have courses in ethics in career assessment and one of the.

Unique features of our program at Stockton is that we do offer an addictions course and that's definitely an area that's continuing to grow within the counseling field. There's certainly a need definitely in New Jersey as well for those that are skilled in working with those who suffer from substance abuse disorders. We do also offer some school counseling courses. We have counseling and school settings and we do teach an elective course in counseling children and adolescents. However, it's very important to note that our.

Program is to be licensed, eligible for the LPC, that's licensed professional counselor. We are not a school guidance counselor program. So you cannot get your certification as a school guidance counselor. And this could be a good point to talk a little bit about the difference between those two degrees. So if you do a job outlook for LP CS or a master's in counseling, you will find that it has a strong job outlook and it's that field is looking to grow about 20%.

Over the next 10 to 20 years where school counseling is definitely not having that same growth rate. So oftentimes there's one or possibly 2 guidance counselors in AK to 8 setting. And then really guidance counselors at the high school level can typically have anywhere from 200 to 250 students that are on their roster or that they're responsible for. And so it's really not a place where you would be doing individual counseling or family counseling or couples counseling.

Really much more so for mentoring and at the high school level school guidance counselors help students with the college process. So applications and kind of planning for what they're going to do for the their next steps. But so we do not have a school counseling program. Our program is for the LPC only. So now to get a little bit more into the curriculum and what you can expect over the two years. We do have a developmental model. So we start out very course heavy with.

During counseling skills, you will have a course called pre practicum in which you will be engaging in role play sessions with classmates and so you're getting a chance to practice those basic counseling skills before you actually take on a real client. We also do go over to the main campus in Galloway. I should have mentioned at this point, but we'll talk a little bit further. All of our courses are at Kramer Hall and on the Hamilton campus, and I'll show you a little bit about what that looks like in a moment. But we do head to the Galloway campus in the.

All of your first year and go to the simulation lab where we have actor, student actors who role play as clients. And you get a chance again to practice those basic counseling skills with your classmate who's your partner and get a chance to interview someone who is not a classmate, but also is still not a real client. And so we do as much as we can to immerse you in the field before you have to take on a client on your own.

In the spring of your first year, you'll be enrolled in practicum.

And I like to say that's dipping your toe into your clinical placement. So that semester you will have 100 hours at your site. 40 of those hours are going to be direct contact and sixty of those hours are going to be in direct contact. What that means is when you're taking your notes, if you're reading up on a particular intervention, your supervision that you would have with your supervisor as well as the group supervision that you get on campus as part of the practicum class.

So it's a first step into the clinical field, but it does allow you to be managing your time as well because you have more courses in your first year than you would have in your second year. Then moving into your second year, we are going to have internship 1 and Internship 2. Those each are 300 hours and that's 120 of direct client contact hours and 180 of indirect client contact hours.

And so you can move through internship one in the fall or you could opt to take internship one in the summer. And so I mentioned that as part of the program because I said we do have some ways to be flexible. And that is one example, because you could take internship one in the summer, internship 2 in the fall of your second year. And then in the spring, if you're completed with all of your internship hours, you can continue on at your site and continue to receive supervision and.

Those hours towards post graduate hours, so you are allowed to collect up to 1000 hours and have that count towards your licensure. We haven't had any students who have gone above and beyond that, but we definitely do have a lot of students who finish up their internship experience early and start collecting those postgraduate hours before they graduate. So that's something to keep in mind. Another way that we increase our flexibility is that you have 4 elective courses you need.

Take prior to graduating and we typically offer two unique electives in the summer each year, so you could technically take 2 summer classes this coming summer as you are. If you're entering the program in fall 25, you could take two electives in summer of 2025 and then two elective courses in summer 2026, which would eliminate your elective requirement, which would mean in year 2 you have less classes that you would need to take.

That's one way that we increase flexibility. Another way is that our program is a hybrid model. What that means is most of our classes meet for about an hour and a half in the classroom at Kramer Hall, and the rest of the hour and a half of the coursework is done independently. So we have synchronous in person meetings and then have asynchronous work that happens as well. All of our courses take place on Mondays and Thursdays, typically starting at 4:00 PM and typically ending at.

8:30 PM. So again, we are able to have a full course load schedule, but there is some flexibility with times so that students can be working at their internship or their practicum placement and or many of our students do work, the vast majority do work part time, but we do even have a few students who are working full time as educators, teachers and are still able to engage in the program because we have that flexible model of Mondays and Thursdays in the.

Late afternoon. Evening.

I also want to tell you that you will be licensed eligible upon graduation. And what that means is that we actually endorse our students to take the NCE. That's the national counselor examination and that leads to your ability to apply for licensure in all of the 50 states. It also allows you to apply for your NCC, which is a national certified counselor credential. The reason that you are able to do that prior to graduating is because.

Our program just received K CREP accreditation this past summer and so we did get an 8 year accreditation. We are accredited until July of 2032 and so you have to have graduated from a cake prep program in order to apply for your NCC or the National Certified Counselor. I typically do recommend our students take that licensing exam in the spring of their second year and that they apply for the NCC because regardless of what state you might be.

Practicing and down the road that does allow your certification to translate across the 50 states. When it comes to actually applying for your Lac, which is licensed associate counselor, that's the first step to getting your LPC. You can apply for that as soon as you pass the NCE and then you can decide where you would like to be licensed. So we have a couple of students right now who are looking to be licensed in Pennsylvania.

One who lives in Pennsylvania, so that's where she's wanting to get licensure. And another student who's actually moving out of state.

And, and far across the country and we'll be applying for licensure there. So you don't have to apply for licensure in New Jersey by graduating our program, you can take that passing licensing exam and apply in the state which in which you want to practice. We also do have a comprehensive exam in the spring of your second year and we just moved in the last two years to the CPCE and that's the.

Counselor preparation. Credentialing examination.

And that essentially is made by the same company that does the NCE. So it's a preparatory exam for our students that will mimic or be similar to the NCE exam. So we find that it's a good preparation for students and we do get a pretty detailed information on how you did on that exam, which can help you prepare for which areas you might need to focus on more when you sit for the licensing exam. So important to note that we do those endorsements.

For you, I also have a link here to the job outlook. So yes, and Jen has put it in the chat for you, so feel free to check that out. But counseling is definitely a growing field. So I think that combined with the unique features of our program and the fact that we are at K CREP accredited makes Stockton a really unique program to get your counseling degree in. Now students often ask me what would make a strong applicant for our program.

For us, we definitely like individuals who have motivation for this field.

Who really know that they want to work with people, they want to help people. And we look at the entire student. So we don't just look at your grades. As I mentioned, we don't look for minimum scores on the GRE. We require all of our applicants who move on to the next phase to participate in a group interview. We want to get to know you. We want to meet with you face to face and get a sense for what you would like to do in this field and whether or not this program would be a good fit for you.

So I think the main thing to focus on would be demonstrating professionalism, showing that motivation that you have. And obviously the group interview will show us a little bit of how you work in groups. But that's also something that's very important because oftentimes as a counselor, you're going to be working as part of a treatment team. And so you need to be able to collaborate with other professionals in the field. We also definitely love hands on experience. It does not have to be in the counseling.

Specifically, oftentimes our students have participated as camp counselors or even we've had many students from Stockton who were residents life, either resident directors or resident assistants. And so they have experience working with people, maybe not in a counseling setting, but in a setting where we can say that they would work well with others. So as I mentioned, we have been at Kramer Hall since 2019. All of your faculty are on campus, one of the number one things.

Our students say about Stockton Hamilton is that you can always find parking, so you never have to be super early for class. You can roll up and definitely have a spot very close to the campus. We also have a graduate lounge at Kramer Hall, which is right near where all the faculty offices are. So we really do find it's a great gathering place for our students. For example, I had class just last night. I got in at about 1:00 in the afternoon. Students started rolling in about two and by three.

Clock, even though class isn't starting until 4, the campus is buzzing so people stop in to say hello. They set up meetings with faculty. It really, as we say, we're definitely our own little family in Hamilton and we really enjoy kind of that close knit feature that we have. This is an example of one of the classrooms that we have on the 2nd floor and you can see that it's very flexible in terms of seating, so all of the tables and chairs are on wheels. We can move things around however we would like to.

To them I'm I'm right now have couples and family therapy on Monday night and we typically are doing role plays. So we move some chairs around and move tables out of the way so we can do that. There also are recording devices in 2:01 and 2:07. So when you're in that pre practicum class in the fall, you can sign up for a time to do your recording with your classmate and you can do it right at Kramer Hall and then have that space. Just last night when I was leaving campus, there were students that were doing a recording in one of the other.

Groups, So again, family environment and definitely you can make full use of Kramer Hall because we're primarily the program that is housed there. Here's another picture. This is from 2:07. And then also just pointing out in 2:05, we do have a fully functional computer lab. There are 25 computers in the in the desks in 205 as well as a cart that has laptops. So you could borrow a laptop or have a laptop with you in class if that was needed as well.

This is actually the room where you will take your CPCE, which is that comprehensive exam before the licensure exam.

So even your comprehensive exam is all handled here on our campus. We really do, you know, try to make it as inclusive as possible. Everything that you possibly would need, with maybe one or two exceptions of needing to head to Galloway, happen in Hamilton at Kramer Hall. And so that is our main overview of the program. I'm certainly open to any questions that students might have.

Excellent.

Unless you think I missed anything, I think I got it all.

OK.

I think you got all of it. Umm, the one thing that I'm going to go ahead and do is I'm going to drop the, uh, the contact information for graduate admissions right into the chat. Umm, so that you can reach out. Uh, so if you're watching this, uh, recorded, you can reach out with any additional questions you have. Our e-mail is on there, our phone number is on there, and there is also the ability to schedule a virtual appointment with any one of our counselors. Umm, So please feel free to go ahead and drop questions into the chat. We were happy to answer those. And so we do have our first.

One so it says, are there any accommodations available for testing?

Umm.

I'm not.

Yes. So we do have that. So when it comes to the CPCE for that exam, if you only need extra time, you can take it at Kramer Hall with us and you can apply for that accommodation. So that because it's run through Pearson, that's the testing company that actually does the CPCE. So they will allow for that extra time. If you have other accommodations that you need, you can apply for them. You just likely will have to take the exam at a Pearson location.

Instead of being able to take it on the main campus because we as an administrator of the exam are not allowed to give any accommodation other than extended time when it comes to the licensing exam, Rachel, absolutely. You can apply for accommodations for that as well. That's handled strictly through the NBCC. That's the National Board of Certified Counselors. They will review your application for accommodations. And again, we've had many students who have taken their licensing exam with accommodations, but that is something that you will handle on your own.

We do the endorsement for you to sit for the exam and then the exam company is the one where you actually would take it and so they handle the accommodations. I'm hoping that's the testing that you were talking about. If you're talking about exams within the program, absolutely. We are a very flexible program. You would want to meet with Learning Access and have them provide accommodations, letters. But we absolutely do work with our students for testing, for assignments, for writing, if they have documented accommodation.

I see Anna is asking if there are graduate assistants with this program. Absolutely there are. I have AGI this semester. Typically how we work it in our program is that we have Aga for three credits or one class that they are able to work with a faculty member and do some research with us. I will tell you and I would say this again, if you do get to the group interview process in the spring that you can apply for the graduate assistantship even before you.

Get accepted from Stockton.

Or choose to accept your admission into Stockton. So if that's something that you really want to do, you want to make sure that you don't miss that deadline and you apply for the GI position.

I also just to add to that, I dropped a link into the chat. That's all financial information, which includes the graduate assistantships. The assistantships can't, you can apply for those at the point of your application. So it's actually a process that you do with your initial application to start. So please check that out. But also on that link, like I said, you'll see information about institutional scholarships and breakdown for cost, which is the current cost for this term next year has not been determined yet. That will come out July.

July with our our updated information for that, but it gives you a roundabout idea. We usually I tell people bank on maybe a 2 to 4% increase if you're trying to map out what this looks like for a long term status and that'll give you kind of the worst case scenario, but it gives you a very realistic plan for what what the future may hold so.

Kia asked. If you see BSW's in the programs, a Bachelor of social Work, absolutely. We actually see a lot of Health Science students, definitely many psychology students and social work students as well.

Sukhmani is saying that you had a rough undergraduate experience and a GPA slightly below 3.0. How can I make my application stronger? Absolutely. So as I mentioned, we do look at the whole person. So hopefully with the other aspects of your application, you would get selected for that group interview and we'll get a chance to talk about yourself and your experience and show us some of those strengths that you have in person.

There also is always the option to take a course as a non matriculated student in our program.

That is something that many of our students have done to demonstrate their ability to perform at the graduate level, to kind of dip their toe in and see how they're liking the program, and then also to bolster their application. And that definitely you get to know the faculty, you get to know a little bit about how our program works. And so we typically find that students like that experience and it does definitely enhance their application. Not required by any means, but just another suggestion as a way to make your application stronger.

Then Marina is asking a great question about sites for internship. That's a great question. It's not completely handled individually, but it is not completely handled by us either. So we do have many affiliation agreements with sites that are typically clustered around Galloway or OR.

Around Hamilton and then some that are kind of spattered here and there. So in part that's because we have students who might live in different parts of New Jersey and want to work at their internship closer to home. Then we have students who might want something that's close to Hamilton.

Or they have an interest in say moving to Philadelphia. So I mentioned we have a student living in Pennsylvania also is doing an internship out of state. So that's definitely something that you can do. You will get plenty of information at your clinical orientation in the beginning of your semester of your first year. And you will work with Doctor Aaron Sapio, who is our internship coordinator to kind of narrow down where you would like to apply for internship. As well as we have a staff member, Ronna Whitehead, who is her sole job is.

Help with internship placements and so she can help you as well to decide where you would want to work and how to apply and or to find out if we have an affiliation agreement with that program. I think I missed a couple. Can we go, can we go back up, Jim?

Yes, and I can take one of them too. I think the next one is about FAFSA and coverage of tuition for that. What I will share is that for if you do the FAFSA aid is much different for Graduate School than it is for undergraduate. There is not as much aid that is available basically not. So what you would be doing is completing the FAFSA in order to utilize it for loan purposes. And so there are a number of private loans.

You would be able to apply for that. What I also recommend is in looking at all of that, we actually offer another webinar similar to this on how to finance your graduate education. That's going to take place on December 3rd. So please consider registering for that, where we're going to go into that in full detail. So this one is specific to the counseling program, but the way that aid works is very different for every person and there are a lot of different opportunities. And again, we'll spend an entire hour talking about that. So please join us on December 3rd for that specific.

So thank you for asking for that.

And then Kate is asking about direct entry. We do not have direct entry into our program in part because of the cake Rep requirements. We do need individuals to already have their bachelors degree in order to apply for our program. And then we also do the group interview process. We have been looking into possibly trying to do a 3 + 2 program, but that's not something that we have been able to work through just yet. And as I mentioned, we just got accreditation.

This year, So we were kind of looking to tackle that first and then we could move into what else could we possibly do, Maybe not direct entry, but maybe something similar to that, which would still require you to sit for the interview prior to starting any graduate courses.

If you took county college classes, yes, they have to be included. You do need a transcript from those courses as well. Amanda's asking about recommendations from an employer. I think OK, if one of your recommendations would be from an employer, but we do primarily want academic references. So if you could get to that are from professors that you've taken classes with and then one from an employer, absolutely, I think that would be fine.

OK. Rachel's asking about the schedule of the classes. So yes, all of our classes are covered on Mondays and Thursdays and from the late afternoon to evening.

The reason we're able to do that is because of that hybrid format. The only courses that are exceptions to that are the clinical sequence. So pre practicum, practicum and internship all meet for the full 3 hours as required so that you get as much personalized attention in those classes and that you get credit for group supervision during those classes. We do also have some courses that are fully online, so for example this semester our first year students are done on Monday night.

At 7:00 because their last, their last class that would have been held as foundations of mental health counseling and it's being offered online this semester. So absolutely all of your courses are covered during Mondays and Thursdays. And as I mentioned, if you're taking courses in the summer, that will reduce your load during the school year. So you may or may not have classes all day or all afternoon and evening on Mondays and Thursdays. We have a couple of students coming up this spring of their second year.

Where they'll have two classes on Thursdays only in the spring, and that's certainly an option for those that have taken summer, summer coursework.

This one might be for you about if you've submitted the full application checklist, what's the next step?

Yep. So once the checklist is complete, that pushes your application into the review process and that actually then goes to the committee to review. As Doctor Martino mentioned, you'll be contacted as far as the interview process. So once that checklist is complete, everything moves forward. I will also share with you that I'm talking about the question prior to that in regards to the transcripts when we're calculating your GPA and an overall GPA that does include.

Oh, for the summer courses, sorry, I was still kind of on the non matriculated. I want to go back to that for just a moment because one other piece that I wanted to add is that if, if the person teaching the course is maybe someone on the review committee or if it is Doctor Martino, they probably can't write the letter of recommendation for you. But if it's someone that's not in the review process and they would be able to tell you that. But just know that if they are person that is reviewing applications, then it shouldn't be someone that should write a letter of recommendation for you. So just to clarify that just a little bit further. But if they're not, then yes, that would work.

So the deadline to register, so there's not actually students can't apply for non matriculated status and register for courses until all other students have registered. So if you're looking to do a summer course or a spring course, it's going to be just just a few weeks prior to the start of the semester beginning. And so that will stay open up until the start of classes. But you don't need to do a non matriculated application until.

Let's say you know for the summer. You could complete that.

In April, umm, if you're looking to take a spring course, you'd probably want to do that at the beginning of January or just, uh, maybe middle of December. Uh, and then know that you will be emailed to, as to when you are able to register, when that opens up and it'll be after all of their students have registered.

So, umm.

Yeah. So the next question is about graduating in May, but needing 2 summer classes. That's still OK for acceptance for fall 25, right?

Mm-hmm. Yep. You would. Yep. That would not be a problem. You wouldn't be able to take any additional graduate courses until those undergraduate courses are complete. But you do have that option. You can still apply if you have courses in progress, that is OK. They just need to be completed by the time you take your graduate courses.

Umm, let's see.

Four courses left.

Yeah, I'm not sure if I'm.

Amanda, maybe we can take an offline conversation that might be one where we can, you know, might be best to schedule an appointment. We'd be happy to chat with you. So again, I'll drop our contact information in here. And if you do have questions of a more personal nature, please feel free to reach out.

Our oops, I'm going to give you the events page. Actually, you know, I'm going to give you this one too. This is the events page. This is the information for how to finance your graduate education. So that's why I had that pulled up. Please feel free to join us for that information session and then I'm going to give you.

Remind me again.

Our contact information here and you can reach out and doctor Martino if you want to drop your yeah, you can drop your e-mail in there as well. Umm and we'd be happy to talk with you on a one-on-one basis if you, if you have more specific questions, umm.

OK. Carla's asking about our internships paid. So it's not up to the program, that would be up to the internship site. So we do have several internship sites that are now paid. So it really just kind of depends on what you're looking for and whether or not there are openings at those different placements. So absolutely could be, but not necessarily.

Absolutely.

Alright, well, it looks like I think we got through all the questions. Those are really fantastic questions. I, I appreciate all of those. And Doctor Martino, thank you so much for taking the time to present today. One of the things I'd like to share with you all in closing, I was at a Graduate School fair last month and someone said to me, if someone asked you why was, what's the main reason to come to Stockton for Graduate School, what would your answer be? And I, without hesitation, said it's our faculty.

The faculty and all of our graduate programs and and counseling being #1 on this list as as an example of this is the attention to detail that our faculty have with our students. The ability for you to have one-on-one conversations to really learn and grow from them.

And the fact that they really care, you're not a number, you're a name, you're, you're a person and they want to see you succeed. And, and that is the most important piece. And they care about their program. They care about their students. And as Doctor Martino mentioned, that is Hamilton is a great place for this to take place too. So for all those reasons, we hope that you consider this program. We're here to answer additional questions after the fact. Please don't hesitate to reach out. And we thank you all so much for joining us today. I hope you have a wonderful day. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Take care. Bye everybody.