Re: i am very interested...
Posted by Kat on 6/28/08
Hi Jackie. I can understand your concern with the cost of a
master's program + I have a minute to answer your questions
as best I can because I was in your place 2 years ago :)
I just graduated in May with a masters degree in counseling
+ have chosen to do school counseling. If counseling is
something you really love I'd just go with it + not
overthink the debt because it's probably not as bad as the
stories you've heard. Most masters programs offer graduate
assistantship positions where you work for the school (looks
great on a resume) + they pay all or part of your tuition. I
had a GA position that helped me pay for part of my tuition
+ then I took out loans for the rest. I'll only have to pay
$12,000 back in loans + I just landed a job paying about
$50,000 a year so I think it's worth it. My advice is
definitely look into what kind of graduate assistantship
positions potential schools offer. I'm in NJ by the way.
This of course is from a school counseling perspective. If
you're looking at community counseling, from what I've heard
from friends those positions pay much less.
As for the experience, I needed 700 internship hours working
as a school counselor which I finished as part of my program
in my last year. That's all the experience you really need
to get a position. However, 1 piece of advice from a
counseling job seeker whos been on a million interviews...If
you're looking at doing school counseling...choose your
internship site wisely because that may be where you have
the best chance of being hired. It's a TOUGH market
depending on where you're looking. I know NJ is very cut
throat and competitive and from what I've seen...getting
into a school is more about who you know.
Good luck!
~Katerina