Masters to get experience to eventually apply for a PhD

[drm246]

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I have been working as an Industrial Engineer (consultant to rail roads across the country) for nearly 5 years now and after a lot of exploring, I have decided that I want to switch fields and move into counseling psychology. My only experience right now is volunteer as a crisis counselor, a dayhab counselor for children on the autism spectrum, and working as a peer mentor with a person with schizoaffective disorder. I have also completed my own reading so I do consider my background to at the minimum be the level of an undergraduate student. Clearly, I cannot apply directly to a PhD program nor would I feel comfortable doing so as I don't really know exactly what I'm looking to do. With that said, I am looking to get into a Masters level program in counseling psychology that could afford both practicum and research opportunities so I can really learn about the field.

My undergraduate is from Penn State with a 3.76 in Industrial Engineering and a minor in Economics (minor GPA was 4.00, major GPA was 3.88). I took the new gre and got a 161 math (89th percentile 770 on old test) and 158 verbal (79th percentile 580 on old test).

After researching the programs, these are the top ones for what I am looking for (counseling psychology, research and practicum available)

Arizona State: M.C. in Counseling
Research (emphasis on developing research skills and in addition to supervised field work; master's thesis required) and Practicum tracks available

Boston College: M.A. mental health counseling (48 credit track)
Prepares students who want to go into doctoral study. Volunteers are welcome on the research teams (some paid). Internships are required.

University of Florida: Mental Health Counseling
Research is not really required but the opportunities are available and encouraged.

University of Minnesota: M.A. in Counseling and Student Personnel Psychology
700 hour practicum required (slighty more focus on practitioner but research is highly considered)

University of Wisconsin: Counseling Psychology Masters
Practicum required and research opportunities available. Although I was told that graduates go on to both PhD and directly into counseling positions, it appears less than 5% actually go onto PhD (not sure if this is a result of a decision or an inability to get into a PhD program)

Loyola in Chicago: M.A. in Community Counseling
Participate in research for every class in the master's
program and have access to faculty research teams; a practicum is required for graduation. Their PhD program requires a masters for entry.

California State, Northridge Masters in Clinical Psychology
This program boasts the highest rate of students getting into phd programs with a heavy focus on research and an internship requirement. The program sounds like a great fit, however, they require either an undergraduate in psychology or core coursework in the field.

Are there any other schools that I may have overlooked here? What I am finding is that most programs do not give adequate preparation for doctoral students; however, I don't want to go into a strictly experimental psychology program as I do not see that as a very practical degree if I decide to ultimately forgo the PhD route.

I would also like to keep costs low so if there are programs that have more paid intern/research and/or funding opportunities available, that would bump up that school on my list.

I would love to hear some input on my situation from some of the members on this board. Thank you for the help!

 

[Vasa Lisa]

DRM,

I hear so many here say they want the Ph.D. and maybe you do... but if you are not interested in teaching at university - IMHO - you don't need it - unless you *want* it for some other reason.

In my previous profession - I quit after my MS because I realized I didn't want a life in higher education. As a career switcher - the MA degree is what allowed me to prepare for licensure and that allows me to do the work I love. Do you really want to do research? Or do you want to do counseling? Where on that continuum do you fall? And you may not know until you are in grad school and have your first clinical rotation.

Counseling can be done at the MA/MS/MEd/EdS level if the program you attend is CLINICAL. There was a big snit a few years ago with a program in my state that was cranking out 48 hour RESEARCH psychology graduates who later on wanted to be licensed as counselors - and were denied by the board of counseling because they were on a research track and not a clinical track. Those of us who did the 60 hour clinical track had an entirely different training. Many more client hours and much less research training.

HTH,

Vasa Lisa

 

[seikialice88]

Thank you so much for your post.

 

[seikialice88]

DRM,

I hear so many here say they want the Ph.D. and maybe you do... but if you are not interested in teaching at university - IMHO - you don't need it - unless you *want* it for some other reason.

In my previous profession - I quit after my MS because I realized I didn't want a life in higher education. As a career switcher - the MA degree is what allowed me to prepare for licensure and that allows me to do the work I love. Do you really want to do research? Or do you want to do counseling? Where on that continuum do you fall? And you may not know until you are in grad school and have your first clinical rotation.

Counseling can be done at the MA/MS/MEd/EdS level if the program you attend is CLINICAL. There was a big snit a few years ago with a program in my state that was cranking out 48 hour RESEARCH psychology graduates who later on wanted to be licensed as counselors - and were denied by the board of counseling because they were on a research track and not a clinical track. Those of us who did the 60 hour clinical track had an entirely different training. Many more client hours and much less research training.

HTH,

Vasa Lisa

Thanks you for the post.

 

[wigflip]

drm,

i hear so many here say they want the ph.d. And maybe you do... But if you are not interested in teaching at university - imho - you don't need it - unless you *want* it for some other reason.

In my previous profession - i quit after my ms because i realized i didn't want a life in higher education. As a career switcher - the ma degree is what allowed me to prepare for licensure and that allows me to do the work i love. Do you really want to do research? Or do you want to do counseling? Where on that continuum do you fall? And you may not know until you are in grad school and have your first clinical rotation.

+1

 

[drm246]

At this time it would be impossible for me to say where my interest lies; I have never worked a full time job at a hospital, school, clinic, etc. nor have I been a part of a research team. I have an understanding of the work involved, but I can't really say which I'd rather do right now as i don't have the direct experience. This is the reason I want to get into a graduate program that gives me the option to move on to higher education or be terminal in a license; learning as much about the field as possible and what is involved in working in the field and in academia. Basically, I want to be able to be a research assistant and work an internship position.

DRM,

I hear so many here say they want the Ph.D. and maybe you do... but if you are not interested in teaching at university - IMHO - you don't need it - unless you *want* it for some other reason.

In my previous profession - I quit after my MS because I realized I didn't want a life in higher education. As a career switcher - the MA degree is what allowed me to prepare for licensure and that allows me to do the work I love. Do you really want to do research? Or do you want to do counseling? Where on that continuum do you fall? And you may not know until you are in grad school and have your first clinical rotation.

Counseling can be done at the MA/MS/MEd/EdS level if the program you attend is CLINICAL. There was a big snit a few years ago with a program in my state that was cranking out 48 hour RESEARCH psychology graduates who later on wanted to be licensed as counselors - and were denied by the board of counseling because they were on a research track and not a clinical track. Those of us who did the 60 hour clinical track had an entirely different training. Many more client hours and much less research training.

HTH,

Vasa Lisa