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College Admission Counseling Certificate Approved!

The College Admission Counseling Certificate is now officially being offered for the Fall of 2009.  Actually, we are offering courses this summer that will count towards the certificate.

It is an exciting time!

Official program offerings are:

48 credit combined M.Ed / College Admission Counseling Certificate

18 credit post-Master’s College Admission Counseling Certificate

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College Admission Counseling Certificate Passed Faculty Assembly

Today, the proposed College Admission Counseling certificate was approved by the Suffolk University College of Arts and Sciences Faculty.  The final step in program approval will come from the University’s board of trustees.  In my opinion, this milestone is the most important marker of the program starting in the Fall of 2008 as planned.

In fact, we have four courses which would count towards the certificate slated to be offered this summer – Career Development, College Admission Counseling Fundamentals (online), Fieldwork:College Visits (online), and Access and Equity in Higher Education.

I’ll post here with additional information as it becomes available.

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College Admission Counseling certificate close to approval!

The College Admission Counseling certificate program currently under consideration at Suffolk University (see below) has been approved by the Graduate Curriculum and Educational Policy Committees.  These are significant steps towards implementing the program in the Fall of 2009!  In fact, the likelihood of final approval is so strong that three courses are slated to be offered this summer to meet requirements for this new program.

The program can be completed either as a standalone certificate (18 credits, requires certification as a school counselor and possession of a Master’s degree), or in combination with our M.Ed. program (12 additional credits).

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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!

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Future Leadership in School Counseling

Note: This article was written by Thom Hughart, Adjunct Professor at Suffolk University in School Counseling, Director of Guidance at Wellesley High School, and Executive Board member of MASCA. The article appeared in most recently in the December 2007 issue of The Counselor’s Notebook, a publication of MASCA, and also appeared in 2005.

The topic is about leadership, where is it coming from? I want to put a plug in for interns and the value of having interns working within our departments. I am still puzzled by guidance directors who do not have at least one intern in their department. If space is the issue, I have found ways to overcome that problem. I cannot imagine providing all the services we provide at my school without the help of our two interns. What they do for our department is so important, but equally important is what they can do four our counselors. They can teach us, keep us up to date on what’s new in the field, contribute to our own professional development. They have to do action research or some type of research project. Turn them loose on your school – what have you wanted to study, explore, better understand. Of course someone has to provide supervision to them and fill out some forms for their school, but nothing is really free. I still believe the payoff totally outweighs the cost.

Here is the piece about future leaders. If we truly feel a commitment to our profession then I believe we have a commitment to do our part to cultivate our aspiring leaders.

That brought me back to my major concern for our profession – leadership.

(from The Counselors’ Notebook – 11/2005)

Where are the leaders for tomorrow? They are sitting in our Counselor Education Programs, they are interning in our schools and we are supervising them, they are working in our departments as new counselors. We can spot them; take a look around. They are the ones who have the energy and enthusiasm to jump right in with both feet and get the job done. They ask the probing questions and struggle to understand every last drop of meaning in our responses. They think and act with the perfect balance of independence and interdependence. They are not afraid of words like “accountability, data driven or standards based”. They are comfortable with change and do not see it as a threat. They have successful ways of controlling stress in their lives and still love their jobs. They are neither naive nor cynical. They firmly grasp the reality of our profession and want to improve it.

My point is this – there are leaders for tomorrow and we know them. We work with them. We don’t have to hunt for them, just open our eyes and see them. But that’s not enough. We must nurture them, care for them, support them, mentor them. We have to tell them that we see these leadership qualities in them. We should help direct them to forums where they can be leaders; first within their own schools, then to the larger arenas.

We can encourage them to lead a committee or co lead one. We could recommend that they represent the department on a board or committee. Find opportunities for them to become involved in district, state or national organizations or activities. If at all possible, allow them released time to pursue these leadership opportunities. They need our assistance and direction to move from potential leadership to actual leadership.

And we need these new leaders now. As professional school counselors we are called upon to define ourselves, to rewrite our job descriptions, to compose mission statements and to take back control of who we are and what we do. We need the freshness of perception and the dynamism of our newer colleagues. If you supervise, educate or work with new counselors take the time to identify the developing leaders and give them your verbal and emotional support. Be direct – tell them they would be excellent on such and such a board or on this or that committee. We are beyond the time when we can sit and wait for someone to come along and pick up the leadership.

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Graduate certificate in undergraduate admissions

SO, I’ve been tossing the idea of starting an 18 credit graduate certificate program with some colleagues. Here’s a few reasons why:

  1. most of our students go on to work in high schools
  2. we have a higher education administration program in the department with relevant courses
  3. when our students graduate with the M.Ed in school counseling, they still need to complete an additional 24 graduate credits to qualify for professional licensure
  4. there is a movement nationally to offer at least a course in college counseling to future school counselors
  5. it’s very interesting!

The program would be structured such that new students could complete a 48 credit combined M.Ed/Certificate in Undergraduate Admissions (two courses would count towards both the certificate and M.Ed). Alternatively, folks from other universities could do the graduate certificate in 18 credits.

At present, here are thoughts on what it would look like:

Required Courses (12 credits)

  • The American College/University Student
  • Career Development
  • Internship
  • College Counseling

Electives (6 credits)

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

SO, in the combined M.Ed / Certificate program, the internship would need to be done in a high school, and the career development course would count towards both the M.Ed. and certificate.

I’m interested in knowing what you think! If you have any comments, please feel free to leave them below, or send me an email to tpoynton@suffolk.edu .