Master of Arts in Counseling - Virtual Information Session

Hello everyone, thank you so much for joining us. We'll give everyone just a moment to get logged in and to do a sound check to make sure you can hear us. For those of you who are joining us live for those of you who are joining us, uh, watching the pre recording, you can advance just a couple of seconds uh and uh, as we get everybody in the room.

Right.

Great. It looks like we have folks in. Alright. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. My name is Jen Radwanski and I'm the Associate Director for Graduate Admissions here at Stockton University. And today we have our amazing faculty from our Masters of Arts in Counseling program here at Stockton to tell you more about why you should come in and join us for this program. So before we begin, a couple of housekeeping items.

Number one, I just want to let everyone know who's watching this live. There is a chat feature that you will notice.

Please feel free to utilize that chat, but what we would encourage you to do is to save any of your questions till the end because we do have a jam packed presentation that we will answer probably the majority of your questions through our presentation slides. However, if we don't, we would love to take your questions at the end.

And #2 we would also encourage you not to share any personal information in the chat as we are recording this and we will be sharing this recording publicly once the recording is finished. So please, if you have any personal questions, we'll give you our contact information to reach out and to answer those questions. For those of you who are watching the pre recording on the last slide, we will also have our contact information for you so that you can reach out to us at your convenience to answer any questions you have as well.

So with that being said, I'm going to have our faculty introduce themselves.

Doctor Martino, do you want to start?

Sure. Well, I'm going to talk a little bit about why we think you should choose Stockton's Masters in Counseling program, and I can start that by introducing our faculty. So my name is Sarah Martino. I'm the director of the Master's program in counseling here at Stockton University. I've been at Stockton for 21 years now, have a wealth of experience both in the psychology program and now in the counseling program. And I'd also like to introduce Doctor Aaron Sapio. She is our internship coordinator.

Hello. Uh.

It's nice to be here with you. I have been with Stockton since the counseling program began and I am in working as your internship coordinator as well as teaching several of the classes primarily for the first year students. So as the internship coordinator, I assist with helping you find your placements for where you're going to do your practicum experience and your internship and just make sure that your clinical placements along the way are going well.

And we also have Doctor Terry Limbattle.

Thank you both so much. And we also have Kate Worley joining us today and she's going to do her introduction at the end. So we're working out some technical difficulties for her, but she will be right with us. So a couple of things right off the bat to introduce our program and why choose Stockton. We have a cohort model program, which means we accept 24 students per year into our program, which allows you to have personalized attention throughout your masters program. We are considered a an accelerated program in that you will be able to finish.

Degree and be licensed eligible within two years of starting our program. So we find that it helps a lot to have this cohort model and to be going through your experiences with other students in the program. With that small cohort model, we also are able to provide personalized attention. So for those of you who are familiar with Stockton, you had a preceptor as an undergraduate. For those of you from several other institutions, it was likely called an advisor, but your your preceptor at Stockton in the master's program.

Program goes well beyond just advising you on which classes to choose next. So a lot of our students will come and meet with their preceptors often to talk about career advice or just generally how they're doing personally as well as professionally within the program. And so we feel like that's another big feature as to why Stockton's program is so unique. We are KREP accredited. We achieved accreditation in 2024 and we did achieve 8 year accreditation, which is the longest that they provide. So we are.

Accredited through 2032 and we will be obviously applying for reaccreditation at that time. But again, that's another strong feature of our program that we already do have accreditation and so that allows an easier process when it comes to applying for licensure.

Upon graduation, a couple of notes about our prerequisite. You do need to have a bachelor's degree at an accredited institution of higher education. We do require a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0. I do sometimes get questions about students who might fall close to that mark of 3.0. And depending on that situation, I would first recommend that you reach out to me as the director and talk over a little bit about your application and the the different skills that you're bringing to the program.

But we have found a couple of different pathways that students have been able to bump up their GPA, including taking a non matriculated class either within our program or within within another master's program to demonstrate your ability to perform at the graduate level. So if that is a concern, the minimum GPA requirement. Again, I would recommend that you reach out to me as the director of the program. You also need to have some prerequisite skills and or knowledge in statistics and or experimental psychology so that.

Something to keep in mind as well as a course in child development, abnormal psychology or personality psychology. So these are do not count if you are a psychology undergraduate major. So this is typically for the student who had a different major as an undergrad, you want to make sure that you can demonstrate those prerequisite skills and knowledge in those course content areas. So and another aside is that these prereq requirements can be met by either an undergraduate course or.

Graduate course. So again, if you were going to take a non matriculated class and you're missing one of the prerequisite requirements, you certainly could take child development at the graduate level and that would count to meet that.

Prerequisite requirement And now Jen will help me out here with our admissions requirement from the graduate studies perspective.

Excellent. So I dropped a link into the chat, which is the link for this program. And so all the things that we're going to talk about with the program can be found here. Umm, and that includes the admission requirements, which there is an admission, uh, tab, admission criteria tab.

On this page, which so you don't need to frantically write everything down, it's all listed there for you. But first, you will notice that there is an application fee. The application fee is to submit your application to begin loading your material. Sometimes people get a little bit confused. It says submit. You're not submitting for review. You're submitting your fee or your waiver code. If you are eligible for that waiver code, you will notice when you are on our website that there is an application deadline for fall of 2026 of February.

February 16, 2026 so February 16th, 2026 umm and we do only enroll for this program one time per year. So we only do a fall admission cycle for the counseling program. So that's critical to understand as well.

Uh, you can, as Doctor Martino had mentioned, do the non matriculated option if you would like to take a class prior to getting admitted to the program. It's not a guarantee that you would get admitted to the program by doing that, but it does help your application. So if it's something that you would enjoy doing and taking that course, then it's definitely something that you should look into and we can both chat with you about that further. Uh, that would be a different application process as well. And again, we can, we can chat with you, uh, one-on-one, uh, once you have submitted either your application fee or your waiver code.

Then you will be able to see the essay prompt for the program. You will also be able to load, uh, your recommenders. You will need to have 3 letters of recommendation for this application. Umm, and there is an online, uh, it's all electronic for your recommenders. You do not need to actually submit the letter yourself or collect it from them. All you need to do is input their name, their title, and their e-mail address and our system will automate the recommendation form to them for them to complete.

Umm, what I would suggest are two things with this Number one, when you have your recommender, umm.

Please, uh, make sure that you copy and paste their e-mail into your application. Don't freehand type it. Uh, we have so many folks that accidentally type the wrong thing. They write.com insteadof.com, uh, and things like that. And guess what? Your recommender isn't going to get it, Uh, if you do that. So please copy and paste. The second thing is, is before you even do that is talk with your recommender. Please let them, umm, know that you're what you're applying for and send them the link to this program. Let them know the application dead.

Umm also let them know that umm.

You know, give them a copy of your resume sharing, you know, any experiences that maybe they're not aware of so that they can fully talk to your abilities. But most importantly, please make sure that your letters of recommendation are individuals that can speak to your academic success or your ability to work within the field of counseling. So these should be either faculty members that have had you in a course previously or if you work in.

Already work in a field that is similar to counseling or adjacent to counseling. Someone that is a supervisor to you who can speak to your abilities, but even though maybe you have a wonderful next door neighbor who you've known for 20 years and you bring in their trash cans for them.

Umm, and you help mow their lawn and they could be a great character reference. They are not an academic or professional reference. So these two need to be individuals who can speak to your academic or professional success. Uh, so just keep that in mind.

Uh, next, uh, we talked about the uh, GPA requirement. Uh, there is also a GPA requirement for the GRE. So if you have a cumulative GPA of a 3.51 or higher than you do not need to take the GRE, But if it is a 350 or below, and that's cumulative. So that's if you have an associate's degree and a bachelors degree, then all of those credit.

Gpas would be included in that if you have another masters degree, um, any, if you had any other graduate coursework or undergraduate coursework, all of that is included into that GPA calculation. Umm, if you have any questions about that, umm, there are online resources you can use to tabulate that yourself. Umm, and we can also help, uh, in looking at that with you as well. Uh, we suggest leaving plenty of time to take the GRE. So if you are looking to apply for this.

Coming fall with the application deadline being February 16th, umm, you should be taking the GRE right now. Umm, if you've not already scheduled it, uh, that is really critical. We can temporarily take a screenshot of your score. So when you complete it, if you're taking it now or the beginning of January, sometimes it takes time for us to receive those scores officially. You'll notice that the, the school code is listed there to 889 umm, so they'll send to us officially, but we can temporarily take a.

Shop that you provide of your scores and for that you should also know this is this is part of our accreditation and a requirement that all counseling programs must do for the accreditation process. And Doctor Martino, please correct me if I speak out of turn, but of all of the items listed here, the GRE score is going to be one of the last things that is considered in the application process. So please don't stress over this immensely. This is a.

Important part of it, but your letters of recommendation and your essay and your GPA and your resume are the things that are being looked at most highly um and so just keep that in mind and so as I mentioned resume a resume is a part of this application and process as well and you can load that material material yourself now we talked about the GPA. We must receive official transcripts for every institution you've attended Again, if you have a.

If you had credits and a Community College, you have your bachelor's degree, another masters, all of those must be sent to us and those must be sent as official transcripts. So those can be done by mail or by or sent electronically. We suggest doing it electronically because it comes to us very quickly. Umm, you get a receipt very quickly and umm, that is the cleanest way. Now, if you attended Stockton for, uh, any of your degrees, we will pull those transcripts for you as a courtesy.

So it would just be any other institutions after Stockton. And in most cases, we're able to pull transfer transcripts internally as well. And we'll do some for you. And if we're unable to, we'll let you know. But Stockton students, we can, we can manage that for you.

So with that being said, those are the application requirements and again, you can find those on our website.

Thank you.

And just a quick addition, because the chat just popped in and it's related, it said do you have to contact anyone if the Gres can be waived because you have a 3.5 or higher, you do not. So graduate studies does calculate that for you and they will ensure that it is that cumulative GPA so you don't have to do anything.

Yep. And then we'll pull that off your application. Yep.

Yep, you just do not have to register for the G res if your GPA is a 3.51 or higher.

Correct.

OK. So a little bit about the instructional areas in our program. And again, all of these are 2K CREP standards. So you're going to get coursework in human development. You're going to get coursework in psychopathology, both individual and group counseling, personality theory, career assessment, and also lots of clinical skills that you're going to get both assessment and testing and interviewing skills. You'll have lots of supervision that I'm going to go over and just amount in just a moment. And then we also do have our elective courses.

Where we do have some coursework in school counseling, we have some coursework in specialized areas such as play therapy. We have a seminar on eating disorders. So you you will get a wealth of information from our program and our instructional areas are pretty broad so that you can become a generalist when you apply for licensure. And then you can kind of also dip your toe into different specialties throughout your coursework here at Stockton. So as I mentioned, we are.

Considered an accelerated program because we have a two year program and we do follow a developmental model. So we give you lots of supervision and instruction towards the beginning to try to build your skill level for clinical work. And then as you move through the program you have increasing levels of independence to be working as a clinician.

Important to note here as well, part of the reason we're able to have an accelerated program is because we also have a hybrid program. So what that means is that all of your coursework takes place on Mondays and Thursdays. The majority of the classes only meet for an hour and a half in person and then there's an hour and a half of that course time where you are working independently. And we find that this model works very well for our students to be balancing their clinical experiences with practicum and internship as well as those.

Who are working part time? I always get asked this question, but could you work full time in this program? We have had a couple of students throughout the the program's existence that have been able to manage full-time employment. It certainly would need to be a flexible job and we certainly don't recommend that, but it is possible in certain circumstances. So to talk a little bit more about the clinical experiences in your first semester in the program, you'll have pre-practicum.

And that is your very first clinical experience only with the other members in your cohort. And so we pair you up with another person in your class and you will do role play sessions throughout that semester. We also provide a simulation lab experience in that fall semester. So you will go with your classmates and you will still be partnered with your partner, but you'll be able to use one of the simulation clients that we have on the main campus. And they will be their actors and they have.

A script for the client that they will play and you'll get both a chance to engage in a in a session in the simulation lab as well as to observe your partner. So again, we're giving you lots of experiences lots of practice before you ever step into a clinic setting and start doing work. Then in the second semester of your first year you will have your practicum experience and I always like to say it's like dipping your toe into the clinical field it's a 100 hour experience and in that experience you.

Will do 40 hours of direct client contact, which is doing individual sessions or group sessions or co-facilating sessions. And then you'll have 60 hours of indirect hours, which is your supervision time, the time you're working on notes or you're doing continuing education, any of those types of activities. So typically we recommend that students work from 7 to 8 hours per week in practicum. And so that would be in addition to your coursework, but it's a really nice way.

To ease your way into clinical practice, then we do have a little bit of flexibility where you can start your internship in the summer between year one and year 2, or you can take the summer off and you can start internship one in the fall and then have internship 2 in the spring of your second year. Internship 1 and 2 are both 300 hour experiences and for each you're going to have 120 direct client contact hours and you're going to have 180 indirect.

Contact hours.

And so that's going to be a little bit more intensive. And we like for our students to be working 18 to 20 hours a week when they're in Internship 1 and Internship 2. So you might be be able to start to see the appeal of doing internship one in the summer where you can focus more of your attention on working and your internship placement as opposed to being focusing on a full time of coursework as well as 20 hours or 18 to 20 hours per week in your internship experience.

We also do offer elective courses in the spring. We offer two every summer, and so for those students who are planning to apply and who would be accepted into the program for fall 26, you could actually start the summer before the program. We do have a good bit of students who choose to do this as well, where they take two electives this summer before starting the program and then take two more electives in the summer between year one and year 2. And again, that's going to lighten your course load for year 2.

So if you were to take internship one in the summer and two electives and had taken 2 electives just before starting the program, then you would only have your two required courses in the fall and internship 2 and then you would only have your two required courses in the spring. So it really does kind of change the structure of the program and allow for a bit more flexibility of scheduling for other things that you might be balancing. So just important to kind of note that you certainly do not.

Not have to do any of those experiences. You can just do fall and spring in year 1 and fall and spring in year 2. It's completely up to you and what works best for you.

You will be taking a comprehensive exam in the spring of your second year. It's called the CPC or the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination. It's made by the same company that does the NCE or the National Counselor examination. So we find that it's a great preparation tool for students who will be taking the NCE in the spring of their second year. You do that comprehensive exam right on the Hamilton campus. So we schedule everything for you and you're able to do that.

And you also will be able then to be prepared to sign up for the NCE. We also do endorse you to take the national counselor examination. So as long as you're progressing well throughout your courses, it's actually Doctor Sapio who will do the endorsement for you. And so typically, our students, they take the CPCE in March of their second year. And typically students then register for the NCE sometime between April and say, June of that year.

So some will take it before they actually graduate, some others will wait until after. Majority of our students like to take it fairly closely to the CPCE. So they've just had that sort of practice test and then they take the licensure exam. So you are licensed eligible upon graduation, obviously as long as you pass the NCE and you've completed all your coursework appropriately. And you can then apply in the state of New Jersey for the Lac or licensed associate counselor, which.

Allows you to hold licensure while you're continuing to get supervision in order to get the full license, which is the licensed professional counselor. Another note on that, if you were to, well even if you were just to do Internship 1 and Internship 2IN fall and spring and let's say you finished your hours a little bit before graduation, you are able to continue working at your site and collecting hours.

And for those who do it in a more accelerated fashion and might be finished with Internship 2 by the fall.

You can take an independent study and continue collecting hours and continue receiving supervision from the university. The state of New Jersey allows you to accumulate up to 1500 hours of internship experience that can count as postgraduate hours. So you are certainly more than welcome to continue receiving supervision collecting hours and all of that would then help you shorten the time period to apply for that full licensure or the LPC.

So just something to take note of. I also just like to say that there is a great job outlook for our program. And so job growth for the counseling field is projected at 17% from 2024 to 2034. So this field is only continuing to grow, which is a fantastic thing for potential students to consider. It's a good career to go into knowing that there's projected job growth. There are some other statistics that even indicate a bit higher job growth, but I tried to choose.

A conservative one, just to say that this is a field where we will need more counselors in the future and not less counselors, which is a great thing. So I also just like to touch upon what might make a strong applicant for our program. We do definitely value motivation for work in this field. We like to know that you're passionate about the field of counseling. We love to hear our students varied experiences. A lot of times students have done internships or just have found themselves.

Possibly working in, you know, a daycare or a preschool or finding that they're working with people in some kind of setting where they really developed an interest in the field of counseling. So I think that's probably first and foremost, we really like motivated students, students who are passionate about what they want to do because we're very passionate about what we do.

We definitely like applicants who can demonstrate professionalism, so that's where that resume comes in. You know the experiences that you've had, your ability to perform academically, having strong recommendation letters. We also like applicants who will work well in groups. If you are chosen for a group interview, that is required for all of our applicants prior to acceptance into the program. And part of that is because we have a cohort model, so you will be working with groups.

Throughout your time.

At Stockton. And so we like to see that you're able to get to know other people and collaborate with them. And in the the group interview, you'll get a chance to kind of bounce ideas off of each other. And we like to see students who are strong and able to do that.

So certainly, you know, strong letters of recommendation, your essay is something we look at very strongly. I already mentioned resume, undergraduate coursework can be very important. And I would just say for those of you who maybe don't have the highest GPA, I absolutely Jen Radwanski was correct that we don't, you know, look at the GRE scores and have like a minimum requirement for how you do. But it certainly could be helpful if you talk a little bit about your undergraduate experience and maybe account for some of the struggles.

That you've had, we certainly have had folks who have come to counseling maybe a bit later they were majoring in something else. And we're struggling. And so we move, you know, into a different major and end up doing much better. But I mean, I think, yes, undergraduate coursework is important, but I think also how you present yourself and how you present what you did as an undergrad is, is just as important as well. And since we're not on our main campus today, which is in Hamilton, NJ, I'd just like to go through a couple of pictures to show you.

A little bit of our campus, all of the faculty are housed here in Hamilton. There is ample parking. That's always something the students are very excited about. And I like to say we have our own little family here in Hamilton. All of the faculty offices and the majority of classes are held on the 2nd floor. There is also a little graduate lounge. We do have, you know, microwave, refrigerator, a Keurig, all those kinds of things for students. We do find that on Mondays and Thursdays, a lot of our students do hang around for most of the day.

That's a time when they can meet with their their preceptors or they can meet with classmates, or they just can be catching up on work and just kind of be on campus, you know, be a part of the experience.

This is one of our classrooms and as you can see, we can, you know, set up the desks and chairs however we like. So we like to do collaborative work together when we can. So it's not just, you know, lecture. Here's another example of a classroom. It's actually a very cool building that we're in. This is the computer lab. So this is actually where you will be taking the CPCE. You may have some classes in here as well, but there are 25 terminals here for computer access for classes that need it. There also is a cart with laptops, so.

If you do need access to a laptop for any reason, you can absolutely have access to a laptop as well in Kramer Hall. We also do have staff on site and they are just wonderful. So they're very good at meeting your needs. They'll do surveys each semester to find out what needs there might be for our students in Hamilton, and so there are great resources as well. Anytime you need to make copies or have handouts or things like that, you can bring it to the Hampton campus and we will take care of that.

So that's a little bit about our program and about our Hamilton campus.

But at this point, I think Jen, should we see if Kate, if Kate, if you can hop on if you want to introduce yourself to the group?

Yep. And in the meantime, umm.

Just open up the chat for anyone who has questions. You can go ahead and drop those in there in the meantime. So Kate, welcome.

Hello everyone, umm, I'm on main campus today so I was trying to find a quiet spot to chat with you all. But my name is Doctor Kate Worley and I'm newer to the counseling program I started about a year ago and umm, some of the things that I add to the program that I'm excited about. Umm, Dr. Martino mentioned potential elective courses. So umm in the spring I will be teaching play therapy course. So for those of you who are interested in working with children, that's a popular course that is often chosen.

And I also in the faculty advisor for our chapter of Chi Sigma Iota, which is the National Honor Society for counseling students. So we were able to create a UMM, a CSI chapter after accreditation. And so that is another perk that students appreciate being a part of. And other than that, I look forward to potentially seeing you guys at UMM group interviews in the spring.

Yes.

OK, glad you could join us and I believe other, our other two faculty are still here too. And if they want to join on too for Q&A, they can and we're going to just dive right in. So our first question that we have received is do we offer any scholarships for this program? That is a great question. I'm going to drop a link into the chat here. This is the financial information and if you, you'll see the per credit cost, umm, for, for Graduate School both in state and out-of-state for our masters programs which can fluctuate year.

Here, but this is what the current rate is. We always encourage people to keep in mind A2 to 4% increase. We are a state institution and funding can always change, but at the very bottom you'll notice information on financing your graduate education. So there are a number of things that can help to offset the costs of graduate education. You know, we understand that it is expensive and there are limited resources, so we try to help in any way we can. Number one, you have graduate assistantships, which is the opportunity to do research within your program.

That can help to offset the cost, about one or two credit, the cost of about one or two credits per semester, but also give you opportunity to add, uh, research to your resume or our other experiences to your resume. Umm, there is a new student scholarship that we give out. Umm, you will be considered for that at point of application. There's nothing additional that you have to do to apply for that. Umm, if you're awarded, you would be told umm, shortly after your acceptance.

Umm, there are also umm foundation scholarships that once you attend Stockton.

That after your first year, you could potentially apply for if you're taking more than one year. Traditionally, um, this would be a little bit more difficult with this program. But if you are a current Stockton student and you're going straight from undergrad to grad, you do have the opportunity to apply in your senior year to help for the, your following first year in Graduate School. For students who are not here at Stockton, we can help and discuss that a little bit further, what that looks like applying for your second year through the foundation scholarship.

Umm, if you were an EOF student, there are EOF grants that are available for Graduate School. Umm, And then you can also, we would always encourage you to make an appointment with our Office of Financial Aid to look at resources for taking out additional loans, umm, uh, through and applying through FAFSA. Umm, So those are a couple of things. The last thing that, umm, I will always encourage folks to do all those is a little bit more time consuming. Umm, is that there are a number of private scholarships available nationally and through different organizations.

Or your family may be a part of you may be eligible for those and you are able to apply for those, you know, at your own free will. But it does take a little bit more time and energy. But there's quite a bit of information out there for private scholarships that you can apply for. So just a few things that can help you there.

Um, alright, so more questions. Uh, how are or how many classes are offered online versus in person?

Yeah. So we are an in person program. As I mentioned, it is a hybrid. So most of our courses meet for an hour and a half in person and then there's an hour and a half for content that's offered that you can do on your own time. Also, I just wanted to make sure that I mentioned that, yes, there are a couple of courses that we do offer online that's typically just for scheduling of other courses for example.

Our Our Substance Abuse Counseling, which is a second year course, is offered online.

Because we do have some second year students who are facilitators for the group counseling course and they would meet at the same time. So that's why we offer that course online. So you'll find that there's maybe a smidgen a couple of courses that are offered online. There are also the clinical sequence courses and that would be practical pre practicum, practicum and internship. And they do meet fully in person because you do need to be participating in Group supervision and that's something that we do in person and not virtually. So that's also something to keep in mind.

I know we also had a question on the GPA and GRE part and I can jump in Jen on that one. So we are looking for your cumulative GPA when you apply. So we're not going to be looking at your GPA for May if that's when you're graduating, it would be of your earned credits. You need to have a 3.51 cumulative GPA or higher to waive the GRE.

And just to add on to that, we do, we will still require that you send an official transcript upon degree completion. Umm. So we will look at that for your acceptance, but not for the GRE component of things. So Yep.

Uh, next question is will a letter of recommendation from a coach be acceptable?

It is, but we definitely recommend academic references first. So we do have student athletes who have come to our program and so that certainly would be OK as an additional reference, but you want to make sure that you have academic references that can talk about your ability to perform at the graduate level.

All right. Next question, Are there any specialization options for the program if someone's interested in forensic psychology and play therapy specifically?

Yeah, so we don't have any certificate programs, if that's what you're asking. But absolutely, I teach the course that an elective course called victimology. I have also taught counseling in criminal justice settings. So that's always a possibility. On the forensic side, as Doctor Worley mentioned, she teaches play therapy, so that's an option. Also, some specializations are substance abuse counseling. So not every KREP accredited program offers a class in substance abuse counseling. We do the state of New Jersey.

Has a high growth rate in substance abuse counseling, so we advocate for that. But we are definitely a program that focuses on being a generalist and then you have some options to take some specialized coursework throughout the program.

Uh, next question, Are classes only held on Monday and Thursdays? And how long would those days look like in order to kind of make a life plan?

Yes. So they are only held on Monday and Thursday. Typically there's either a three or 4:00 start time and we are always done by 8:30.

There's a question, is there someone specific to talk to you if you are admitted to fall 2026 but interested in taking summer courses, umm, and how that would work? We would handle that on a case by case basis with you. Umm, so you would want to reach out to Doctor Martino. Umm, but then we do need to do some, uh, work on our end and graduate admissions to make that accommodation for you. But it does need to go through Doctor Martino first, uh, for authorization and then come to us.

Um, next question, um.

So someone looking to make a career switch?

Umm.

We do have that a lot. I typically that's why I mentioned non matriculated courses specifically. So if you already have a degree, that's a great option. And again, I always recommend you reach out to me and let me know that you are interested in doing that. And I can certainly direct you to a course that might give you like a general overview of our program and or could be one that could set you up for success in terms of, you know, demonstrating your ability and your interest in our field.

But that's that's typically the number one thing I recommend for those who may be.

Have are switching careers and maybe have been out of school for some time and or maybe don't feel that their undergraduate degree reflects their their work ethic or their ability to perform at the graduate level.

Great.

Umm, could you share a little bit more about the graduate assistantship process?

Umm.

And someone was asking about scheduling an appointment. Well, let's do the we'll talk about the assistantship one first. Would any of you who supervised graduate assistants like to talk a little bit further about what that experience looks like?

I can talk about it. Umm, so each semester I've had a graduate student for the past couple of years and we typically work on.

A mutual research paper. So if I'm working on something, then the graduate student typically jumps on board with what I'm working on. There have been a couple of times where I've had a graduate student who was extremely interested in a specific topic and we did it in reverse. So they came forward with their topic and then I supported them and we still wrote a research paper together.

And that has led to student presentations, which led to publications. So again, it's typically that. In addition, sometimes I would have graduate students review work that I've done. Like we we do the group counseling program every spring. And this year I have a new kind of curriculum, so to speak, for the group process, part of the group program. So I had one of the students just review it, edit it, make sure it makes sense because it was a student who had already been through the class.

They had some insight and understanding so they were able to give me feedback. We've had two students this year who did role plays for us and those role plays will supplement one of our other clinical class, well, non clinical classes as demonstration for different therapeutic techniques. So our graduate students really get involved in both the research aspect and the curriculum aspect of the program.

Perfect. Thank you. And you read my mind, Sarah. Thank you.

And yes, I answered the second part just to say we always, we always recommend that you reach out to me. That's, that's definitely part of my job description to meet with any prospective students. So please feel free to send me an e-mail or leave me a voicemail and I'd be happy to set up a meeting with you. I do that often for potential students.

And for application questions, our contact information is there on the screen as well. And any one of our colleagues here in graduate admissions would be happy to help you with any application question you have too. So you've got plenty of resources to to help you with all of those items. So next question, are there any courses that are offered abroad? Terry Lynn, I'm gonna let you take that one.

So fingers crossed by the time you would come here, that will be established. I want to jump in with the school counselor and just mention we are not a school counselor program and that is a certification. That's not a license. So I always just like to clarify that you could do our program and become licensed as an LPC and then opt to work in a school as an LPC, a licensed professional counselor. And there are many more opportunities for that today.

And in some ways, if you're really interested.

In being a counselor, IE doing individual therapy or group therapy or other types of counseling, I would definitely recommend that if you do want to become a guidance counselor and you more so want to help students when it comes to course scheduling and or like academic preparedness, certainly this is not the program for that. We cannot do that. So I'd just like to make that clarification. But there are definitely opportunities. There's a lot of.

Private companies such as Atlanticare, who are now housed in schools.

And so there are actually therapists who are in high school buildings or middle school buildings, and they actually are providing therapy during the school day, which is a great option for students, but you just could not become a guidance counselor by being a part of our program.

And unfortunately, our School of Education here does not offer that as well. Some folks have asked a similar question, well, if I go, if I go through the School of Ed here, can I do it? And unfortunately, that's not a certificate that's offered here at the graduate level either, so.

Um, next question, how does the program support students in finding practical or practical, I think that's supposed to say practicum and internship placements, Erin.

Yeah, I can take that. So we use a program called Exit, which is an online software program and our all of our students get a login and once they log in, they're able to search all of the sites that we currently have affiliation agreements with. And you can search by location. So you can put in your zip code and kind of look around your area and see where do we already have affiliations with. Then we help set make sure you have the contact information for those people and then you can go forward.

And apply directly to them. We also during at the end of September each year, hold a practicum fair where we invite some of our site supervisors to the university to Kramer Hall and give students the opportunity to meet them in person so you can distribute your resume. You can ask questions about the different sites to get a sense of what each site is looking for. The third way that you can get a site is if you have a particular site in mind, either near where you live or near campus. And we don't.

Yet have an affiliation agreement with them, you can let me know. And then I set up a meeting with the supervisor at that location and we determine whether it would be appropriate to meet the KREP standards for a practicum or internship site. And if it does, we move forward with creating the affiliation. So we really try to work with each student to make sure that you are at a location that is comfortable and that feels good and is a good fit.

And you know, kind of provide that in a lot of ways.

Great. And then it kind of touches how much supervision do students receive and who provides it. Umm, so we have that as well and.

Alright, I think we have hit all of our questions here. So with that being said, umm, if you do have anything else, drop that in the chat real quick, but I'd like to close with just, uh, one additional closing thought and then I'll let our faculty share their final thoughts as well. But, umm, as someone who works in recruitment for graduate programs, I, uh, get frequently asked the question, why would I, what, why should I come to Stockton? Give me one good reason why I should come to Stockton in particular. And I think that.

This program in particular exemplifies the answer that I always give, which is our faculty. Our faculty at Stockton are extraordinary. They care, umm, they get to know every single one of their students at the graduate level in and are there to see you succeed. Umm, And these 4 individuals are a prime example of, of that here at Stockton. And why coming to Stockton in particular for your counseling degree, because we know that you have other options, umm, but I think that this is really a.

Example of why coming to Stockton is a great opportunity for you all to get to have that one-on-one experience and to have folks who are really looking out to see you succeed. Um, and so I just wanted to thank all of you for being here because many times we don't get the full program to attend these sessions for a variety of reasons, because folks are teaching and there's things going on. So it's really a treat to have all of you here today.

And you know, so thank you, Gabby. I am going to suggest for undergraduate advising, we can talk with you a little bit further, but then to also chat with your preceptor. But you could also reach out to Doctor Martino. Her e-mail is is above there to, to talk a little bit further. And and then Dr. Sapio also put some additional information in there for you all as well.

I'm going to do one more thing and just bounce this to the bottom of the page here.

Um, which is the website again, which has all the information of the things that we had talked about so that you have that at your fingertips, but, um, any other items you want to close out on?

Anything we miss, Doctor Martino.

I would just say that again, coming to Stockton is similar to what Jen Rabonski was just saying is that our, all of our faculty are here. So these are all the faculty that you would get to know, you would get to know very well through being a part of our program. And I think that just speaks to how much the faculty do care that they even virtual, you know, information sessions, They come, they provide information, they're happy to answer questions. And so I always say, I, I, I love our program. Obviously I can't say enough, but I think that's why a lot of.

Students end up really enjoying their experience at Stockton because it is it's a unique experience.

When we do a in person open house, we have the opportunity to hear from our current students as well and they would also reiterate that their favorite part of the program is with the faculty that they get to work with as well. And so I will share their statement on their behalf, although they're not here to join us, but that is a resounding statement that we hear from them as well. Any other items that you all would like to share?

Good. All right. Well, I want to thank you all for attending. I want to thank our faculty for attending. And if you do have additional questions, please feel free to reach out to us. And thank you all for taking the time to learn more about our counseling program.

Have a great day everyone, take care. Bye bye.