School Counseling: NYU or Hunter College

[krami2020!]

Hello Everyone!,

I am having trouble deciding what Graduate school I should go to for School Counseling. I was accepted to NYU and Hunter College, I completed my undergrad in psychology from Hunter College. I would like to know if anyone could give me any advice on what school has a better program. I know NYU is very expensive and I don't want to be in debt for a career that gets paid well but will not make me rich. If anyone is a school counselor or have attended one of these schools counseling program that could give me advice on what to be prepared for and what to expect would be great. Lastly, any insight on the job or what a school counselor day consists of, would be highly appreciated.

Thank you!
Best,
KR

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[foreverbull]

I can’t speak to those programs specifically, but I was in a master’s program that had a school counseling track, and I had the same coursework that they did and shadowed multiple school counselors.

Tasks varied by age group. High school counselors were largely relegated to career counseling/advising/scheduling tasks (and some crisis counseling), while school counselors in middle school did a little bit of psychoeducation in classrooms, held some therapy groups, and did advising, and occasionally crisis counseling for students. School counselors in elementary schools had a heavier counseling/therapy groups roles along with going into classrooms and teaching kids about things like bullying and emotion regulation, etc. I can’t speak to school counselors in every state; this was in the Midwest. Ongoing counseling was not part of the job role, as far as I could tell; counselors referred out for kids with ongoing needs and only did one-time/crisis sessions unless you count therapy groups. School counselors can also be academic advisors in college settings, I think.

Generally speaking, the pay isn’t great. If you live in a low cost of living area, it’s doable and the pay is usually in the $40k-$45k range starting out. In bigger cities it might be a little higher, but not likely high enough to live comfortably in the NYC area unless you have a partner who also makes a decent income. The easiest way to find out the going salary is to do a job search on indeed.com in your area.

This, if you have to go into a lot of debt for the master’s degree, I’d advise against this path given the limited pay range or limit your loans as much as possible by choosing an inexpensive school. The salary outcome just doesn’t justify high costs, particularly if you live in a high cost of living area.

 

[krami2020!]

I can’t speak to those programs specifically, but I was in a master’s program that had a school counseling track, and I had the same coursework that they did and shadowed multiple school counselors.

Tasks varied by age group. High school counselors were largely relegated to career counseling/advising/scheduling tasks (and some crisis counseling), while school counselors in middle school did a little bit of psychoeducation in classrooms, held some therapy groups, and did advising, and occasionally crisis counseling for students. School counselors in elementary schools had a heavier counseling/therapy groups roles along with going into classrooms and teaching kids about things like bullying and emotion regulation, etc. I can’t speak to school counselors in every state; this was in the Midwest. Ongoing counseling was not part of the job role, as far as I could tell; counselors referred out for kids with ongoing needs and only did one-time/crisis sessions unless you count therapy groups. School counselors can also be academic advisors in college settings, I think.

Generally speaking, the pay isn’t great. If you live in a low cost of living area, it’s doable and the pay is usually in the $40k-$45k range starting out. In bigger cities it might be a little higher, but not likely high enough to live comfortably in the NYC area unless you have a partner who also makes a decent income. The easiest way to find out the going salary is to do a job search on indeed.com in your area.

This, if you have to go into a lot of debt for the master’s degree, I’d advise against this path given the limited pay range or limit your loans as much as possible by choosing an inexpensive school. The salary outcome just doesn’t justify high costs, particularly if you live in a high cost of living area.

Thank you for the great advise. Really appreciate it!