Search Criteria for School Counseling Graduate Programs

When applying to school counseling graduate programs, you should thoroughly research each school you are interested in applying to. Graduate school is not like undergrad; from student life to professional activities, there is a vast difference (in addition to coursework of course).

Due to that reason and to simply make the next 1-3 years of your life start off on the right path, here are 11 search criteria items to consider when doing your research of graduate programs, specifically for future school counselors.

Accreditation

The gold standard for accreditation of school counseling programs is CACREP. CACREP stands for Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. As an extension of the American Counseling Association (ACA), CACREP is an external set of standards that university programs attain in order to train counselors, from addictions, school, marriage and family specialties, with coursework and hours that “reflect the needs of a dynamic, diverse, and complex society.”

Is CACREP accreditation important for school counseling programs? Yes!

Consider some of these reasons why CACREP programs are the gold standard:

• “Have been evaluated for content and quality

• Prepare you for successful entry into a career in mental health, business, education, government, human services, industry, military and/or private practice

• Focus specifically on professional counseling (not psychology or education)

• Help you meet prerequisites for licensure exams”

Now, there are programs that aren’t CACREP accredited due to a number of reasons. Some include small size, length of program development, funding, or they follow their own standards. However, to ensure your employment success post graduating and other possible endeavors you have professionally with licensure or PhD, have your selected programs be CACREP accredited. Source

Location

Typically graduate programs are two years long. So, think wisely on where you want to live. Do you want to remain in state? Out of state? If out of state, how far would you go? City or suburbs? Consider asking yourself these questions and more. My program was about four hours driving distance from my hometown. During my second semester, a buddy of mine mentioned that his daughter chose a location with a major airport nearby because her program would be too far to drive. Brilliant thinking! Again, think wisely on where you want to spend the next 1-3 years of your life.

Full Time or Part Time

By the time you consider attending graduate school, you have decided to either go back to school after starting your professional career or to continue school after graduating with your bachelors. Either way, you are thinking about how you will balance your blooming or established adulthood along with being a student. So, your search criteria needs to identify if a graduate program has only part time, only full time, or both full and part time student enrollment statuses.

If you have a family to take care of or financial obligations that require you to continue working this search criteria is important for you compared with someone who is flexible in their lifestyle.

Specialty

Many CACREP counselor education (sometimes listed as counseling) graduate programs only offer community/clinical mental health degree coursework, only school counseling degree coursework, or both. Graduate programs with both degree coursework options often have students taking classes together where only one or two specialty specific classes are taken apart with the respective smaller cohort.

Now, there is no vast advantage that one graduate program has over the others. Yet, this search criteria should be considered as it will lead to the next criteria: Faculty background and experiences.

Faculty Background and Experiences

In your graduate program research, it’s essential to review the faculty page of each graduate program to know who will be teaching, mentoring, and supervising you.

Do the program faculty lean heavy toward school counseling but you seek a graduate program balanced with both school counseling and community/clinical mental health perspectives? Or vice versa? What is the ratio of women and men? Is there a balance of older and younger faculty? Which faculty are visiting, tenured, or have associate status? What is the racial and ethnic makeup of the faculty? What are their advocacy initiatives? How many years of experience do they have and in what position(s)? Do any of them have a state, regional, or national reputation as a leader in a counseling related organization (ASCA, State School Counselor Association, etc.)?

Review the CV’s, resumes, and bio page of each faculty member to answer many of these questions and more. Additionally, review any other online reputation as well - LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and more.

Program Diversity

When researching a graduate program’s faculty, you may also begin to recognize the diversity of the program as well. Many schools are transparent with providing the demographics of current and past students (masters and doctoral levels) including binary or non binary gender, sex, race, and even age. You can also expand this search to the broader university, school districts, and the city or town as well. This search criteria is a must particularly for people relocating outside of their hometown. This is because you’ll be transferring your life to this location for about two years. The goal is to ensure that you thrive in all sections of your life; professional, educational, social, financial, physical, emotional, and so much more.

Identifying Markers

Many graduate programs have identifying markers that make them stand out specifically for their foundational teachings. This includes but not limited to pastoral counseling programs, bilingual school counseling programs, and special, urban, or rural education school counseling program blends.

The GRE

To take the GRE or to not take the GRE, that is the question. Personally speaking, my search criteria consisted of programs that did not require the GRE. For you, that’s something to consider. There are excellent programs that require the GRE and there are just as excellent programs that don’t require it. In fact, with recent events, some programs have waived the test as an admissions requirement. Furthermore, one of my mentors provided insight from her position as a graduate school program leader indicating that GRE scores are one of the least defining factors of someone’s admission to a program. The caveat is if the applicant has an undergraduate GPA that is below the admissions requirement and they have minimal to no professional working experience.

Finances

In your search, please include finances. Examine the program page to identify tuition for full time and part time status, in-state and out-of-state, loan types, maximum loan amount, and scholarship, assistantship, and fellowship availability and accessibility.

School Setting

Would you prefer an online, in-person, or hybrid school model? Well, be sure to identify what the graduate program offers as well as what you prefer for your school setting. There are several pros and cons to being online versus in-person and even a hybrid model. I suggest you think first about your own preference to then make decisive choices on what schools you will proceed to apply to.

Program Length

I hinted to this search criteria in another category - program lengths vary from 1 to three years. I believe two years is the average. However, once you decide on whether you prefer to be a part time or full time student, the duration of your grad school program will vary of course. Not only look at the number of years the graduate program will be but also look at the semester breakdown. For instance, my program was two years yet in addition to the usual fall and spring semesters, also included was a summer semester both years with no winter semesters. All of the graduate programs are transparent with the average number of years their students complete their program in while also being transparent on the coursework layout for each semester. This is especially true for cohort models.

Leave any questions or comments below. I hope to support your journey!

Mide, Miss InterEducation