Master of Arts in Counseling - Virtual Information Session

OK.

Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. I see everybody's entering the room. That's fantastic. We'll give you a second to make sure your audio is working, make sure that you can hear us and turn your sound to an appropriate level. If you're watching this prerecorded, just give us just a moment to let our live participants as we do our recording get logged in and we'll start in just a second. Thank you all so much for being here.

Excellent.

All right, we're going to go ahead and get started. Looks like we have everyone here. My name is Jen Radwanski, and I'm the associate Director for Graduate Admissions here at Stockton University. And thank you for joining us for our Master of Arts and Counseling overview today. We are doing this virtual information session currently live, but if you're watching the pre recording, thank you for taking the time to watch it as well.

Before I turn things over to our program chair, Doctor Martino, I want to just give you a couple housekeeping items. For those who are joining us live, you'll notice a chat feature on the side. You're welcome to drop questions into the chat, but I would recommend waiting until the end of the session to ask those questions because more than likely we will cover your question as part of the presentation, but very happy to answer questions if we don't get to your.

Your question at the very end.

So please feel free to jot those down and we will be happy to answer those. If you are watching this recorded, we are going to drop information in the chat a little bit later on how you can contact us and reach out to us as well. So without further ado Doctor Martino, I'm going to turn things over to you. Thank you for joining us today.

Yes, and thank you very much Jen, for turning it over. So as you mentioned, I'm Sarah Martino, I'm currently the Director of the Masters in Counseling program at Stockton. And I welcome you to our session today. So to start out, I'll give you a bit of an overview of our program and kind of give you some information why you might want to choose Stockton counseling. It's extremely beneficial for me to be talking about this today as we just completed our site visit from K CREP or the Council of Accreditation for counseling and related education programs.

And they highlighted some of the strengths of our program. So I can very quickly rattle off some of those strengths. Right now, we definitely have a small program. We currently accept 24 students per cohort. So you do travel through the two year program together and the reason we do that is that it is a bit of an accelerated schedule for our program. You are able to complete it in two years, but you are in a cohort. So you have a group going through all of these experiences together. So it provides you support along the way.

And allows you know for tasks and different projects to be completed as part of a group, also individually, but also to get support from classmates who are working on the same assignment.

We also have created a hybrid model for our program, which means you will have approximately 1 1/2 hours each week in the classroom for each course, and then you will have approximately an hour and a half worth of class time that happens asynchronously where you're working on tasks on your own. This was actually highlighted as a strength of our program in that this hybrid model offers a flexible schedule for working students or for those who have other family obligations or obligations on going on outside of the classroom experience.

We do have our classes right now on Mondays and Thursdays and typically classes start around 3:00 to 4:00 PM and they're typically done by 9:00 PM on Mondays and Thursdays. Also, the benefit of having a small cohort each year is that there is a lot of personalized attention. As you can see below, we have 4 full time faculty members. I myself is the director, Aaron Sapio is our internship coordinator and Terry Lynn Battle is one of our faculty members and Alyssa Smith is a faculty member.

So we do teach the large majority of our courses and we also do provide very individualized precepting as part of our program. So being in a small cohort, working on things together with classmates, but also having that individualized attention from faculty members is a benefit of our program. We'll likely put some information in the chat connecting you to our website, which is where you can find the recorded version of this open house, as well as find all the information you would need about our program.

We put information out there about our clinical sites. We publish our annual report from our program every year. We will post updates on our accreditation status and all kinds of forms and things that you would need are provided. And actually I see it's already been dropped into the chat as well as the student handbook is available on our website as well as the clinical Handbook. So again, any questions that you have after our open house today, we have all of our information readily accessible for our students and prospective students on the web.

In terms of prerequisites for our program, we do require you to have a bachelor's degree. It does not have to be in psychology. If you do have an undergraduate degree in psychology, you do not have to have any other prerequisites other than that minimum undergraduate GPA of a 3.0. Sometimes I do get this question if I have a 2.94, but I have internship experience or, you know, I really want to work with children and I took some really challenging undergraduate courses and that might be why I just don't quite meet the minimum. We always encourage applicants to apply to our program.

We certainly strive for every student to meet that minimum requirement of a 3.0 GPA. However, we are flexible or open in that.

If the other picture or the other parts of your application are really really strong, we wouldn't not look or not review an application because the GPA requirement is not met.

Lastly, if you have a bachelor's degree from a higher education institution, but it is not in psychology, we do have prerequisite courses that we would require you have and those include a statistics and or an experimental psychology course as well as at least one course in child development, Abnormal or Personality Psychology. So you would need to make sure that you meet those requirements if you are a non psychology major and you need to earn AB or better in those classes.

OK. For our next slide, I think, Yep, Jen is going to jump in and talk a little bit more about that.

Yeah, so I dropped the link to our website in the chat, as Sarah mentioned, and this information that I'm about to go over is all on the website under the Admissions Criteria tab. And that's really important, 'cause I don't want you to have to sit there and feverishly write everything down. It's all there's a checklist on there for you. But I wanted to take a couple of moments to review the materials with you 'cause there's a couple little tidbits that we can share with you to help you to make sure that your application is successful. So first and foremost, you will you're gonna head to the counseling website and you'll click the Apply button, which.

There's also you can go to any one of the graduate pages and find that Apply button.

There, excuse me, there's an application of $50 and once you submit that $50 application fee, then your essay will populate. So many times we get questions of what's the essay, what's the essay. All of our programs do have an essay, but that doesn't populate for you to view until you've officially started the application with that fee or application fee waiver, if you happen to have one, the next thing is letters of recommendation. It's going to ask you for three e-mail addresses of individuals that you would like to have letters.

Of recommendation written for you by You don't have to submit the letters yourself. You're just submitting their names and their e-mail addresses, and then an electronic form is going to be sent to them that they complete on your behalf. I always strongly recommend, though, that you go ahead and reach out to these individuals before inputting their e-mail addresses so that they know to look for this e-mail, they know it's worth coming, and that you have a conversation about what they're going to write. It's also really critical that you choose individuals that can speak towards your academic success.

It should be maybe former faculty members that you've had at the undergraduate level, or maybe if you have a previous graduate degree, someone that can speak to that. Someone that's seen you in a counseling type environment or work environment. Although maybe your next door neighbor has known you for 20 years and can speak to your character, they might not necessarily know your academic success. So again, you want it should be individuals that can speak to that very specifically.

The next thing is the taking of the GRE. The GRE is waived for those individuals that have a 3.51 GPA or higher.

So if you are below that as A-350 or below, then you would need to take the GRE. The GRE should be scheduled well in advance, so I'm glad we're doing this session now. You have plenty of time to get that scheduled, to do a little bit of studying and to also make sure that you meet the deadline of February 5th for this application. We do have to have that GRE score in in order to complete your application if it is a requirement for you personally.

You will also want to note that there is a specific GRE code, so the code is 2889.

You'll need to put that in to make sure that that gets sent to us as well. You can take a screenshot when you get your scores right when you take it just so you have a placeholder for us, but those official ones need to be sent to us as well in order to officially review your your application. Next is a copy of your resume or your CV and that should be loaded as APDF. That's the way that the system likes to have it uploaded. And then lastly any official transcripts. And so this is a transcript from any 2, four or four year institution where you took any college level or graduate level coursework.

So that's associate's degrees, any dual credits, anything of that nature, all of those transcripts have to be sent to us. Now, if you did attend Stockton and you would like for us to pull it for you, we're happy to do that. Just reach out to us and we can do so. However, any other institution does need to come to us directly. If you were a transfer student to Stockton, sometimes we're still able to access those additional transcripts as well. Just ask us to look for those for you and we're happy to try and do so. But otherwise, if you did not attend Stockton, you will have to have all of those sent. Now the best way to have those sent is via e-mail and you would send it to gradschool@stockton.edu sometimes when you pick the automatic drop down from some of the online formats.

It sends to our student records office and although we can still get it, it's much quicker if you have it emailed to grad school at stockton.edu directly and then we load those on a daily basis. So those are the key pieces for the admissions requirements for applying to the program. So Doctor Martino, I'm going to turn things back over to you.

Thank you very much.

So moving on to talk a little bit more about our program. So our program is in counseling and we are focused on clinical, mental health counseling. So what this means is that you would be able in the future to be a licensed counseling professional or LPC licensed professional counselor. Some of the instructional areas in our program that's required in order to obtain an LPC are listed here. So we do have coursework in development.

We have coursework in psychopathology where you'll get knowledge on the DSM and making differential diagnosis both individual and group counseling. You have theories classes and then also applied clinical classes, personality theory, career assessment and so on and so forth. So as you look through these different instructional areas, you will see that our program is designed to have you be a trained clinician moving forward. Now often we get the question about whether or not we have a school counseling certification as part of our program. We do not.

However.

Are increasing, especially in New Jersey, increasing positions.

In school settings that are for LPCS where you could still be a part of a child study team, or in some cases in some area high schools close by to Stockton, there actually is Atlanta Care or Ascenda. There are different private companies that actually are in the school setting are providing counseling to teens or adolescents or children.

But they are working as a licensed professional counselor in those school settings. If you are looking for a program where you can go on to become a school guidance counselor, that is not the program that we have. So just want to make sure that that is very clear.

So in terms of how the curriculum is laid out in that two year program, we do focus on a two year model. So the first year of the program is course intensive where you do have five classes in the fall and the spring.

And at that time, we're providing you with the foundation to then go out and focus on the clinical sequence. In that very first semester, we have a course entitled Pre Practicum, which is basically getting you ready through role play sessions.

To get into the field, dip your toe in the field as I like to say and get exposure to clinical experiences prior to ever being in a placement. Then in that fall semester, we also work with you pretty intensely to help you find a placement that you would like to secure for your spring semester for practicum. So we have two clinical experiences outside of the classroom in our program. The 1st is practicum, it's a 100 hour experience.

And then we have two semesters in year two of internship. Each of those experiences is 300 hours. So that's what I mean about practicum being a dip your toe and experience. It's a very brief experience. Typically students throughout the course of most of a semester are at a site one day a week or possibly two days a week. So for about a total of 8 hours per week. So it's a very limited that first clinical experience. Then as you move into internship, it becomes more intense. Students are at their sites.

For more hours and they are doing more direct client contact.

For that first experience of practicum, it's only 100 hours, and you need forty of those hours to be direct client contact. So that means doing an individual session, doing a group session, a family session, something where you're directly interacting with clients. Sixty of those hours are indirect.

An internship it's 300 hours per internship, so 300 for internship 1300 for internship 2, and the requirement is for 140 direct client contact hours. So again, the majority of your hours are going to be in direct hours.

So in your second year, it gets a little bit less intensive in terms of course work and gets more intensive in terms of clinical placement. So one question that I do get often is how do we manage all of these classes? Is there any way to lighten the load? So we do offer summer classes and we do offer internship one in the first year summer. So that would then allow you to take internship to in the fall and you could be completed with your internship hours.

And moving on, you know, towards graduation prior to summer or spring of your second year?

We also do offer elective courses in the summer, so that could be something again in year 2 where you have even less coursework to engage in and you can have more focus on your internship or your clinical placement. We also do provide a comprehensive exam in preparation for the NCE and it is one that's provided by the same company that does the NCE. It's called the CPCE, so the counselor, appropriate counselor preparation, comprehensive exam and so that is administered on campus.

But it is made by the same manufacturer of the licensing exam, so we also.

Provide an endorsement for you to sit for the licensure exam so that you can be licensed eligible upon graduation. In many states In New Jersey specifically, the license is the License Associate Counselor, so you can immediately apply for your license once you pass the licensing exam and have your transcripts as a graduate.

And can work in clinical settings, private practice any of those settings while you continue collecting your hours to get to your full license. So it allows you to have a license upon graduation, while you're still working towards full licensure. That's why it's called an associate counselor.

And so I think that pretty well outlines our program. What makes a strong applicant to our program. We definitely look for students who are passionate about what they want to do and have already been engaging or will engage in professionalism. So we want students who are very open for feedback, are, you know, willing and able to work with their classmates you know, attend class on time or communicate effectively if they're having a difficulty in a class or need to miss because of something going on in their personal life.

So we really are looking for the ability for applicants to demonstrate professionalism. We want folks who are passionate about becoming professional counselors and definitely counseling is one of those job areas that has had a huge growth post. COVID that is no different. We need more and more mental health support in the United States and in New Jersey. So I think we want folks who are motivated to do this work and want to get into the field.

Definitely. I've already mentioned this, but because we're a cohort model, we are looking for people who work well in groups.

And as well, we want, you know, strong letters of recommendation, a strong essay and you know, not just the minimum GPA, but to look at strong coursework. For those of you who are Stockton students, we definitely look at the concentration in mental health as a strength or that that's demonstrating your interest in our area or our part of psychology or part of the field.

But really, it can be just any coursework that demonstrates that you've worked really hard, you've chosen important classes to take and that you're motivated for graduate study. One last unique thing, again, a strength of our program is our Hamilton campus. So we are not located in Galloway. We are actually located in Hamilton, NJ on Front Street and we have the entire building for our program. So there are some other classes and other programs.

Who might be there from time to time, but all of your counseling faculty are in Hamilton and we do hold all of our classes at the Hamilton campus. It's wonderful in that there's a full staff to support there. There's a security guard, there's administrative support and there is a wonderful director of the building, Christina Birchler. And they are very in tune and helpful to our students and helping your growth and development throughout the program.

And I have a few photos here just to show you a bit of what our classroom setup is like. You can see we have, you know, small group format for some of our classes. Others might be more situated in a traditional classroom format. And then lastly, we do have a computer lab. So there are 25 computers that you can be at for our assessment course or our statistics course. This would be the room where you would take the CPCE as well. We do have 25 laptops that are available.

So again, if our students have a need, they can reserve and have a laptop access at Kramer Hall without having their own laptop.

One last thing I would like to mention that is coming for those that are going to be applying is that we are doing a study tour as part of our multicultural counseling class. The study tour is called Black Paris and that will be taking place in March of 2025. So for those of you who are considering applying, you may want to consider taking the multicultural class with the study tour where you can join us in Paris in 25.

That sounds fun. Can I join?

Thank you so much for that overview. That was really helpful. We have a pretty large group here joining us live, So I'm going to give you a couple of minutes to go ahead and drop any questions that you have in the chat. It does bring us to the end of our formal presentation, but we'd love to take more specific questions from you all.

If you are watching the recording, I am going to put an e-mail address in the chat grad school at stockton.edu and this is for anybody who's live as well. If you come up with something after the fact, this is the best way to reach out to us the easiest way. However, you can also go to our website. Our phone number is listed as well. I can drop that in the chat too. And you can also schedule a calendar so you can set up a zoom call with us to learn more about the you know or ask specific questions and things like that. So I'm going to put our phone number in here too.

And I just dropped my e-mail address in there. I definitely field questions often from prospective students, so don't hesitate to reach out that way as well after the presentation if some or one of your questions was not answered.

So we got a question, do you know when the program will get accredited?

Well, so we just had our exit interview today from K Crep. So we are in the very, very last step of the process. So we should be hearing in early 2024. But from the exit report that they just gave us today, it's, you know, looking very good. So I, you know, I'm superstitious. So I hesitate not to say more than that other than it went very well and they are very hopeful that we will be accredited. So we will be hearing.

Right around the admission cycle for students who are applying for fall of 24.

OK, so we heard a question about the GRE.

Yep. So it says for the GRE. GRE squares hold that with a certain GPA or higher, you do not have to take the GRE. Is this true? Yep, we covered that in the session. But maybe you missed it. That's totally OK. And then it says if this is true, how is the application submitted without that requirement? So great question. So it is true and if you have a 5.1 GPA, undergraduate GPA, cumulative GPA or higher, so 3.51 or higher, you do get the GRE waived. If it is a 3.50 GPA or lower, then you would need to take the GRE.

We handle that from the back end of things on your application and we review those as they're coming through. However, if you know that already, it's really best that you go and you add that as part of your requirements and you have that material on there. But we can help you do that as well and we review those as they come forward.

So, good question.

Got another question. I was wondering if there is an advantage to either waiting to submit your college transcript until after the semester ends, including the grades I've received this semester, or to send it right away.

Really good question.

So you can go ahead and start your application. Now. You can start, you know, loading your essay. You can have your recommenders get a kick start on things knowing that the deadline is February 5th. If you're taking courses this semester, you can go ahead and wait until December to have those transcripts sent, or even to the first week of January. That still gives you plenty of time to get your application in and have it reviewed by the February 5th deadline. That would be just fine if you have.

Courses that are still being completed in the spring, though you will want to get this anything you have thus far so you know, up until, let's say, January, the beginning of January, and then you will submit an additional transcript to us once if you're, you know, assuming that your degree is not conferred. Many students graduate in May, and so we have many students who apply now and they're finishing their last semester this spring. You would just submit a second transcript to us once you your degree is conferred in in the end of the spring semester.

So go ahead and yeah, if you're taking courses.

This fall semester? Wait until this one's done. That's probably a great idea, especially if you're doing well. That'll only boost your application, and then you'll send us a second one once your degree is complete.

Alright, I don't know. Let's see with the GPA, if you went to a Community College and then a university, are those Gpas combined an average to determine if you have to take the GRE? Yes, yes they are. So that will factor into things. So that's an important thing to to keep in mind. If you do have specific questions and you want us to look into that a little further, you can e-mail grad school at stockton.edu. Connor McHugh is one of our staff members and he overseas our our GPA recalcs and he can take a look at it for you.

But we'd be happy to to help you look at that. But yes, it does factor into things.

And I do get this question a lot on the GRE. So just on our end, in the counseling program, we do not require a minimum score on the GRE. It's just one more point of information. So very similar to, you know, our required GPA and our required essay. We do require the GRE and in part that's keeping with K crep standards, but we're not saying, oh, that score doesn't meet our requirement. It really is just a requirement for another point of information.

For students when the GPA is a bit under the 3.51.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely.

Nope.

All right. Well, with that being said, I don't see any more questions. Oh, let's see. We got one more. I, I stand corrected.

Would I be exempt from the GRE since my GPA is above 3.5? Yes.

Anything 3.51 or higher is is exempt from the GRE.

But I think the question goes on.

And then the question is right, Yeah, yeah. Would it enhance the application to take the GRE?

Nah, don't.

No.

Mm-hmm.

I mean completely, OK, if you've already taken it and you want to include your scores, it's just another point of information that we collect and we report back for K crep standards, but wouldn't necessarily.

Don't bother.

But if you haven't taken it already, yeah. If you haven't done it, don't. Don't take it.

Most definitely. Good question.

Alright.

Check in through Perfect.

All right. Well, thank you, Doctor Martino, so much for taking the time to to answer these questions. And thank you to our audience participants for for joining us live and for those who are watching the recording, we really appreciate it. And again, we're both here to help you with any additional questions as you start the application, as you work through things. Please don't hesitate to reach out. We'd be more than happy to answer questions and we hope that you all have a wonderful day and take care. All right, bye. Thank you, everyone.