Program Information

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2013 Graduation

Over the past few days, we have celebrated the achievements of those who strive to help others achieve their fullest potential – the School Counseling class of 2013!  On Sunday, we had graduation at the Bank of America Pavilion in the seaport district of Boston, where Bob Kraft shared the advice to ‘not follow others advice’.  On Monday, the Suffolk School Counseling Student Association held a celebration at Jerry Remy’s, also in the seaport!

I wish our 14 graduates continued success!

2013 graduates at the Bank of America Pavilion

2013 graduates at the Bank of America Pavilion

2013 graduates at Jerry Remy's, the 'fun' picture (thanks Jane!)

2013 graduates at Jerry Remy’s, the ‘fun’ picture (thanks Jane!)

2013 graduates at Jerry Remy's, the 'serious' picture

2013 graduates at Jerry Remy’s, the ‘serious’ picture

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Final Projects in School Counseling

Working with adolescents allows me to repeatedly hear my students’ exasperated voices ask the question, “but when am I ever going to have to know this in real life?” I try to come up with answers as often as I can, but I have to admit that sometimes they are right. In high school and even college it is sometimes the case that final exams, papers, and presentations are full of information that you may never need to know again. However, as this semester comes to a close at Suffolk, I have reflected on the usefulness of the final projects that I handed in. When I am able to step back from my work, it occurs to me: I will definitely use this again!

In my Child and Adolescent Development course, my final project was to create a guidance seminar on a topic of our choice. We were to present it to our class as if we were school counselors presenting it to the families of our students. My partner and I chose to create a seminar on stress and how families can help adolescents learn to manage stress. Based on the information we had learned this semester, we were able to put together some physiological and developmental explanations for why adolescents may experience stress differently than adults, hopefully helping adolescents and their families understand each other a little better. Though the “families” in this case were our peers, I became acutely aware of our role of educating families and other stakeholders in children’s lives about their development and how to best work with them. After explaining what was going on in adolescents’ brains, we went on to provide some knowledge about typical stressors for high school students and some concrete suggestions for how families could help. At the end of it, I walked away with a true understanding of the potential impact school counselors could have by sharing what they know with families, students, and faculty members. I also walked away with a presentation on stress management that I could give to families tomorrow if I needed to. I can bring this to job interviews to show how ready I am for the job and I feel more confident in my abilities to present to families should I get the opportunity in my internship or in a future job.

In another course, Action Research, we were charged with the task of conducting research at our internship sites or jobs and presenting our findings to our peers. In the current landscape of education, school counselors (among other educators) are being asked to become more accountable for their work. They are expected to show how their work has impacted the school or the academic achievement of the students by using data. This was a perfect opportunity for us to practice so that we could enter the field with the appropriate research and analysis skills. I chose to analyze the impact of a summer intervention on summer learning loss in the middle school students that I work with. The content of the Action Research course gave us all of the knowledge that we needed to set up a research design, conduct the research, analyze the results, and share them with our peers. I appreciated walking around the room and hearing about the results of each of the research projects my peers conducted at their internship sites. It allowed me to see just how important data is to our work and how prepared we will all be to use it to benefit our future students and schools!

These are just two examples of the practical skills that I have gained in my Suffolk classes. I also have an entire curriculum that I created in my Groups in Schools class, videos of myself completing a counseling session, and will soon have sample college recommendations after completing my summer classes this year. A few people have asked me if I think I will be prepared to enter the field after my graduate program. I suppose I can’t say for sure until I get there, but I do feel ready based on the work I am doing. Finals week is a little more bearable when you know you are gaining valuable skills that you’ll need in the future!

Please feel free to contact me at mkay@suffolk.edu if you have questions about the program at Suffolk!

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Proposal for Graduate Certificate in College Admission Counseling

A program of study leading to a graduate certificate in College Admission Counseling is proposed to begin in the Fall of 2009 to supplement the current offerings available in Suffolk University’s School Counseling Program in the Education and Human Services Department. Two pathways exist for certificate attainment: a combined program with the M.Ed. in School Counseling (12 credits, 48 credits total), or a standalone certificate (18 credits).

The work of the high school guidance counselor is varied and diverse; however, most practicing high school counselors would agree that a significant amount of time is dedicated to helping students plan for post-secondary education. Of the 63,903 graduates of high schools in Massachusetts during the 2006-2007 school year, 58% planned to attend a four-year college, and 22% planned to attend a two-year college. Adequately counseling students and their parents as they navigate the ever-changing landscape of college admissions and financial aid is of paramount importance – particularly for first generation college students and other traditionally-underrepresented populations in higher education.

The amount of time high school counselors spend engaged in guiding the college admission process in their work is not aligned with the amount of time they spent in graduate school studying facets of college admission counseling. Graduate preparation programs rely on the field-based experience to provide knowledge of college admission counseling. There is only one school counselor preparation program in New England that requires an academic course on the subject (Southern Connecticut State University), and only five that offer an explicitly-named college admission counseling course. In the greater Boston area (50 mile radius), 12 graduate programs exist for school counselor preparation. Of those, Boston University and Bridgewater State are the only programs offering a college admission counseling related course.

Nationally, there are only two certificate programs known to exist which focus on college admission counseling, and both are located in California. The UCLA Extension School offers a six-course, online “College Counseling” certificate program which requires possession of a Bachelor’s degree. The UC San Diego Extension School offers a six-course certificate program with four courses occurring over the summer and two online courses occurring in the Fall. The UCSD “College Counseling” certificate program appears to have no admission requirements. No programs in New England exist which offer a specialized certificate in College Admission Counseling.

Suffolk University’s College Admission Counseling certificate program would be the first in the country to be offered as a post-graduate certificate, and the first program in New England, to provide students with coursework that engenders both practical skills and theoretical knowledge for high school counselors to draw upon as they engage in college admission counseling activities.

Reasons for initiating this program. Graduates from Suffolk and other institutions with Master’s degrees in school counseling who would like to work as ‘traditional’ high school counselors have no options for certificate-bearing programs which capture what constitutes a large part of their work as school counselors – guiding the college admissions process. In Massachusetts, school counselors seeking the professional-level license are required to accumulate a total of 60 graduate credits. Upon attainment of professional level status, school counselors are required to participate in ongoing professional development throughout their careers. Graduate coursework is one option available for continued professional development.

Other reasons for initiating the program include:

  1. The need for graduate-level training in college admission counseling issues is great
  2. There is a movement nationally to offer at least one course in college admission counseling to future school counselors
  3. The vast majority of Suffolk School Counseling graduates go on to work in high schools
  4. We have a higher education administration program in the department with relevant courses

Admission Requirements. Possession of a license to practice school counseling from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, its equivalent in other states, or admission to Suffolk University’s School Counseling Program, is required to matriculate into this program.

Proposed Course Structure

Required Courses (12 credits)

  • Career Development or Adult Development*
  • Fieldwork: College Visits (new course)
  • College Admission Counseling Fundamentals (new course)
  • Access and Equity in Higher Education Opportunities (new course)

Electives (6 credits)

  • College and University Cultures
  • Multicultural Counseling
  • Junior/Community College: Processes and Problems
  • The American College/University Student

* In the combined M.Ed / Certificate program, the career development course would count towards both the M.Ed. and certificate, and only one elective would be required. Students who have previously taken a career development course will be required to take adult development.

Key Course Descriptions

College Admission Counseling Fundamentals. This course will discuss issues surrounding admission testing and financial aid practices, admission policies and procedures, diverse students (e.g., first generation, students with learning disabilities, traditionally underrepresented populations in higher education), and the technology tools used to facilitate the college search and application process (e.g., Naviance, ConnectEdu, the Common Application). School-based programs to promote early college awareness will also be discussed, and the perspective of both the high school and undergraduate admissions counselor will be considered.

Fieldwork: College Visits. This course will require students to visit a minimum of 8 public and private four-year and 2 two-year higher education institutions. Students will meet with admission, diversity services, and disability services personnel of each college to gain insight into how prospective students with diverse backgrounds and abilities would fit the campus resources and offerings.

Access and Equity in Higher Education. Historical and current problems regarding access and equity to higher education opportunities for traditionally underrepresented groups in the college classroom will be explored, with a focus on research describing the problems, and their solutions.

The American College/University Student. The course is an in-depth examination of post-secondary students at all levels utilizing available statistics and other resources to describe various campus cultures and explore student attitudes toward society in general and the post-secondary experience in particular. Focus is given to exploring trends and changes in the enrollment characteristics of college students and addressing the attitudes and values of campus sub groups and cultures. Consideration is given to methods of locating resources on students and to measuring the effect of post-secondary education.

College and University Culture. The purpose of this course is to provide students with an overview of college and university cultures in American higher education. Students will gain an understanding of the properties of campus culture, including norms of behavior, values, stories, physical artifacts, sagas, myths, symbols, and architecture, all of which guide and shape institutional behavior. In addition, students will examine the cultural norms of behavior of various institutional stakeholders – faculty, staff, students, and administrators – and develop an understanding of how campus culture affects each of these groups. In order to become more familiar with the ethos of institutional functioning and behavior, students will conduct a small-scale independent research project, employing qualitative research techniques, to investigate and analyze a particular campus subculture.

Download Proposal as PDF

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Counseling Student Social – March 31st

If you are interested in learning about Suffolk’s counseling programs (School Counseling or Mental Health Counseling), we will be holding a Counseling Student Social on March 31st, 2008 from 6:00pm to 7:30pm on the first floor of 73 Tremont Street in Boston. Most of the current students in the program will be here, so it can be a very good time to talk informally with students about their in-class and field-based experiences, as well as learn about the types of fellowships they have which assist them with paying for graduate school.

Interested? RSVP to Marla.Schay@suffolk.edu. All are welcome!