MA/MS Credentials for MA/MS in Mental Health Counseling

[engineerd]

How difficult are these programs to get into? What sort of extracurriculars/background/experiences do these programs look for?

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[MrsNonTraditionalMD]

I went to Boston Univ School of Med for a masters in Mental Health Counseling and Behavioral Medicine. They recruit at the undergrad level, and in my experience it was competitive but I think if you are able to make contact with one of the directors of the program it will help when your name comes across their desk. Each class has about 30-35 students, so it's a good size. As for licensure you will be an LPC or LMHC depending on the state. Hope this helps!

 

[Cait018]

I currently attend Old Dominion University in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling track. I'll be graduating in December. During orientation, the program reiterated that only 10 students were selected a year, thus it was pretty competitive. My undergrad was also at ODU in psychology, and I also had two letters of recommendation; they were optional, but the key to your application is to make it stand out. So optional or not, definitely include them. I was extremely nervous about my application because my GRE scores weren't that great (Q:145, V:145, A:3). Luckily, English was my minor, and I made every attempt to knock my personal statement out of the park. I also had a mentor of mine read through it with me, to edit and omit what was necessary. As far as experience is concerned, like I said my undergrad was in psych, but I had been an accountant in a major grocery store for three years (there is not much you can do with only a Bachelor's in Psych), so I made sure I included an internship and volunteer portion on my resume. This included summer camp counseling, research experiments I participated in, and various volunteer work I engaged in within the community. With the human services field, any work with the community is better than none! Hope this helps!

 

[TPWB]

I currently attend Old Dominion University in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling track. I'll be graduating in December. During orientation, the program reiterated that only 10 students were selected a year, thus it was pretty competitive. My undergrad was also at ODU in psychology, and I also had two letters of recommendation; they were optional, but the key to your application is to make it stand out. So optional or not, definitely include them. I was extremely nervous about my application because my GRE scores weren't that great (Q:145, V:145, A:3). Luckily, English was my minor, and I made every attempt to knock my personal statement out of the park. I also had a mentor of mine read through it with me, to edit and omit what was necessary. As far as experience is concerned, like I said my undergrad was in psych, but I had been an accountant in a major grocery store for three years (there is not much you can do with only a Bachelor's in Psych), so I made sure I included an internship and volunteer portion on my resume. This included summer camp counseling, research experiments I participated in, and various volunteer work I engaged in within the community. With the human services field, any work with the community is better than none! Hope this helps!

You're in a perfect position to help let me know if I've got a fighting chance. My full application went through to Old Dominion exactly one week ago.
I received a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in English.
I've got 2 letters of recommendation, and 1 is from one of the professors in the actual Masters Counseling program. That same professor was a professor for a class I took there as a Non-Degree student last semester. I got an A in that class (COUN 601) and I'm taking another course (COUN 650) with the same professor this current semester.
My GREs were also kind of 'eh' (Q:149, V:156, A:5). My overall undergraduate GPA was a 3.28, Psych. was a 3.33, and English a 3.61. I know my overall and Psych. GPAs are on the low side.
I'm pretty sure I made my 500-word personal statement platinum with the days of editing and reworking. It definitely ran the gamut. Had multiple people look it over to help make it more succinct.
I took on multiple leadership positions in a couple of clubs in my undergrad (Hillel/Jewish Student Association for 4 years, Treasurer; Treasurer, and later General Manager/President of the school's radio station, 5 years). I volunteered over in Himachal Pradesh, India for just over a month as a teaching assistant in English for Tibetans and Monks. I did a dual internship for my Psych. major at 2 free health clinics; got some good beginner's clinical experience there for a semester. I then worked as a Mental Health Counselor/Tech over at a Psychiatric hospital in Virginia Beach for 16 months getting some VERY intense clinical experience. I've also been working at a private practice as the IT person, primarily digitizing medical records. There are other things on my resume but I think those are the most pertinent for ODU's program.

I know my GREs and GPAs are low, but do you think I've got a shot at getting accepted?
Thank you so much for your time!

 

[CBFutureHelper14]

I applied to two Masters of Science in Counselor Education programs. I graduated undergrad with a 3.5 GPA and earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice. I took a few months off and then enrolled in a graduate certificate program in Substance Abuse Counseling. I finished that with a 3.0 GPA. My GRE score was 291 overall ( 152: verbal, 139: math). My writing score was a 4, but that isnt part of the overall calculation that schools look at. They only look at verbal and math. I have an interview for one of the schools I applied to, in two weeks and I will hear back from the other school probably late February.

@TPWB I'm sure you can get in. Does the school you applied to require interviews? If so, that is part of your application as well. Presumably the school you applied to looks at your overall application which includes test scores, recommendations, personal statement, and interview. So you may have a shot.

 

[TPWB]

@CBFutureHelper14 Thank you very much for replying. Your words are very encouraging at this time.

For each Masters of Counseling program: one school does not mention interviews, the second indicates that the department faculty may invite me for an interview at their discretion, and the third requires an interview as a final part of the application.

I just realize that my GREs and GPAs are kind of all over the place.
And I know further down the line people tell you how little that number means in the real world, but I seriously doubt they thought that way when applying for programs like this.

I just remember the non-degree graduate-level course I took last year, a student next to me asked if I got at least a 3.5 GPA.
I said no; they laughed in my face.
I admit the numbers game component of the applications has me just a little worried.

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply!
Best of luck with your application and interview!