MSC Webinar June 3rd with Sarah Hebel

0:00Great. Well, we can go ahead and start a little bit. I'll do a soft start with some introduction. My name is Sarah. I'm an admissions adviser here with Divine Mercy University. Fun fact, I'm also an alum. I did graduate from the master's of science in psychology program last May, so I'm a recent grad. Now I'm working for the admissions team to help other people join this great university. I am from Wisconsin originally. Now I'm living in Kansas City. And so I'm in the central time zone for those of you who are also in central time. It's always kind of a fun part of a a national program like this. You're always talking to people across time zones. It can be a little tricky for scheduling, but I enjoy getting to talk to people from all over the place.

0:51And today, we're gonna be talking about the masters of science in counseling program. You'll see it abbreviated sometimes as MSC. That's what that is referencing. What we're gonna talk about today in our overview, here's a little bit of our path. We're gonna be talking about DMU and accreditations, give a little bit of a program overview, talk about some program snapshots, give a look at our administrative team and faculty, talk about courses and outcomes a little bit, checkpoint to see whether or not this might be the right path for you. And then, of course, what you're all probably wondering, some information on admissions requirements, costs, and scholarships. So first of all, let's start out talking a little bit about accreditations.

1:40For any of you who are looking into schools, you're probably aware that it's very important to have an education that's accredited. What this communicates is to your any any licensing board that your education is meets the requirements for licensure. So, obviously, we are regionally accredited as a university, but I also wanna draw your attention to that middle check mark on the screen. That's the CACREP accreditation. If you're not familiar with that, that's gonna be the golden standard for counselor education, and that is necessary or helpful towards licensure because the licensing board, as I mentioned, will see that and recognize that your education is up to snuff. You'll also notice at the top seal, the Newman guide recommended, that's helpful for anybody who's familiar with that.

2:31That's kind of, a Catholic thing for schools that are in alignment with the Catholic faith as well. A little bit of a program overview here. So the masters of science in counseling with a concentration in clinical mental health counseling from Divine Mercy University. What is that? High level, following the industry standards with an integrated vision for the flourishing person. This 66 credit program prepares students to effectively engage in their communities as leaders and social justice advocates, graduating then as trained professionals that have a deep understanding of the innate dignity of each person in a global diverse population. It is in alignment with K CREP standards as we talked about.

3:18So the program includes both a one hundred hour practicum and two three hundred hour internships at the end of the coursework. And since it is a hybrid program, counseling is a very person to person field as you probably know. We do have in person residencies to kind of build some of those in person skills. That's gonna look like an extended weekend, four days. That's a required component of three of our courses throughout the curriculum. So that would be a time when you would come to Sterling, Virginia and complete that last part of three of your courses with your classmates and faculty in person, to get some of those skills. The first of which is gonna be right in at the end of your first class.

4:02So that's eight weeks into the program. And then the second of those three is about a year later. The third in preparation for your practicum and internship experiences. I forgot to mention, if you do have any questions throughout my presentation, feel free to drop those in the q and a. Sharice is going to be helping me answer a few of those, and I'll address any that have gone unanswered at the very end. So feel free to jump in the q and a along the way. Alright. So continuing with the program overview, this program does prepare for LPC licensure. What is it going to equip you with? The practical skills to diagnose and treat mental disorders and to facilitate flourishing and personal transformation.

4:47This is gonna prepare you to serve in a wide variety of populations and settings within that clinical mental health counseling specialization. The foundation of this program is of course, you'll see that CCMMP, that stands for the Catholic Christian Meta Model of the Person. The foundation of all of our curriculum is going to be the Catholic Christian vision of the person. And then you'll see on the right side that under the title professional counselor, some types of organizations that hire our graduates are gonna be clinical mental health agencies, counseling centers, private practices, church slash mission settings, hospitals, inpatient facilities, school support services, military facilities, and overseas settings, among other places.

5:33That's just a a sampling for you to get an idea. What makes us unique? So you heard me mention the CCMMP briefly before, but our focus as an institution of psychology and counseling, is really based on a Catholic Christian meta model of the human person. You'll see that in quotes there on that first bullet point. That CCMMP is actually articulated in a textbook that is used throughout the curriculum that has been developed by our faculty, to show how the Catholic Christian intellectual tradition and integration of the theoretical and empirical basis of psychology and the Catholic view of the human person, through the lenses of theology, philosophy, and psychology. So as I mentioned before, this is a foundational component of our curriculum, and the meta model integrates all three of these areas to have a holistic vision for the person.

6:34And we're deeply invested in coming to an understanding of the whole person and accompaniment and within that therapeutic relationship. So it's gonna be different, you know, from a model that emphasizes just a particular facet or component of a person's life. We go through great lengths to make sure that we're taking the whole person into account, you know, taking, into account their emotions, their environment, their spiritual life, their, you know, the full picture of the whole human person. And I can say for myself, I I mentioned I am an alum of Divine Mercy University. This is integral on all of the course content across all of the programs, and I will say that this meta model is what most deeply impacted me.

7:17And I really do believe that it forever changed my way of seeing the world and the people around me. Alright. So now we're looking at a little bit more of the details here. So this program is designed to be accessible to our students. That's kind of one of the goals, obviously, with it being an online hybrid program. That's gonna give some flexibility for asynchronous and synchronous learning. The asynchronous being you kind of work on a lot of your homework on your own time. It doesn't have to be, for example, during a specific class time. We do use Canvas as our learning platform. So if any of you are familiar with Canvas, you might know how that's set up. Weekly modules that you would move through as a student, meeting those weekly deadlines.

8:06There are some synchronous components, meaning you would be doing those in synchrony with your other classmates or with your faculty members. Those might look like class meetings. I think there's a handful of four or five classes that incorporate synchronous learning experiences into them. But for the most part, it is that asynchronous work where you're doing papers, writing discussion posts, completing those assignments on your own time and submitting them by the deadlines. There's also some flexibility of scheduling, especially in the pre practicum and internship phase. There's the option to move from part time to full time, you know, if you start part time or full time. The way that our academic calendar works is there's two terms per semester with a summer term.

8:52So for example, if you started in the fall term, there would be two eight week terms that comprise this fall semester. Then there would be two eight week terms that comprise the spring semester, and then one term over the summer. A full time schedule would look like eight classes total over the course of the whole year. A part time schedule would be taking only one class at a time, which with those five terms would mean five classes throughout the course of the year. And as we mentioned before, students will be prepared to hear the rich and complex voices of clients and the view of each person's flourishing. There's a huge emphasis on flourishing in the program, demonstrate compassion and versatile interpersonal skills for those healing relationships, and to become professional counselors who informed by Catholic Christian version of vision of the flourishing person inspire themselves and others to have the courage to trust, hope, and love.

9:51Alright. So here are some faces behind our administrative team. If you do enroll in the program, you'll probably become very familiar with these three. Doctor Sharp is the dean of the global campus, so for our our whole university. Doctor. Perry is gonna be our program director for the counseling program, assisted by the associate program director, Jesse Tappell. All three of these are wonderful people who put in a lot of work and effort to make sure that our students are set up for success. And they are supported by an outstanding faculty. We have talented faculty from all over the country, and even in some cases, like doctor Dilaco, the world, he's coming all the way from The Philippines.

10:32So if you ever take a class with him, it might take a little longer to hear back, but that's probably because he's sleeping, on a little bit of a different schedule than us. You'll notice the top two, Doctor. Payne and Doctor. Titus, they were actually editors of the meta model that we talked about. So they helped to build that that framework for the Catholic Christian vision of the person. Very exciting to still have them on staff. You will become very familiar with their names if you study the meta model. And this is gonna give you a breakdown of our coursework. So as I mentioned, it is a 66 credit program, which means that's 22 classes that are three credits a piece. And this is kind of how it breaks down.

11:12You'll see on the left side is gonna be all of our counseling courses. You can feel free to read through those titles. And then on the right, those are our foundational courses that strengthen all of those counseling, all that counseling content with the philosophy courses that are gonna talk about the flourishing person, moral character and spiritual flourishing, flourishing relationships. You haven't noticed yet there's a huge theme of flourishing. And then, of course, all of the requirements that CACREP, and the licensing boards expect, all those skills will be learned throughout these. And you can see through this, course list a wide variety of different skills and classes. And at the very end, you'll see there counseling six ninety, six ninety one, and six ninety two are gonna be those practicum and internship experiences.

12:10So how do our students stack up to the national average? This graphic is really helpful for understanding that our students do very well in comparison to the national average. They're pulled from the scores on the CPCE. That's gonna be the comprehensive exam that's taken at the end of the program. And all of these different categories are the core areas defined by CACREP. So professional counseling orientation and ethical practice, human growth and development, group counseling and group work, etcetera. You can read for yourself. But as you can see here, all these this graph represents, how many of our students scored at or above the national average in each of these core areas. So you can see we do quite well in comparison to the national average, which is really good news and really, I think, is a testimony to the dedication of our faculty who's pretty invested in making sure that we have competent, professional counselors going out, to be professional healers in the world.

13:10They're very dedicated to that, and they put a lot of time and effort to the success of the students. So as you're sitting there and and thinking, is this the right fit for me? Is an MS in counseling the right path, the right next step? I want you to take a minute to ask yourself the following questions. Do you have the desire to help heal the whole person and help people flourish? Do you want a career that enables you to answer the question, how can I help people? What can you do to make a positive con contribution in others' lives? Can you be an instrument of healing? And lastly, of course, can you commit to the successful completion of the program if accepted? If you find yourself resonating with each of those and answering with a confident yes, I think that this program, there's a pretty good chance it's the right fit for you.

14:10So then what does that look like? Let's say you did answer yes and you wanna take the next steps. What does that look like? Well, what you're looking at, in terms of a commitment for the length of the program, if you were enrolled full time, as we mentioned that eight classes per year is gonna take you just under three years. And this gives you a little bit of a breakdown. This is based on the numbers for the twenty twenty four to twenty five academic year. So they may be adjusted a little bit for this fall semester and moving forward. But this gives you an idea of of what the total investment is. And when it comes to admissions, what are we gonna ask from you in terms of the application process?

14:56Well, first of all, we're gonna ask, do you have that bachelor's degree? That's gonna be the first step. And we do have a minimum GPA of three point o, in that bachelor's degree, on a four point o scale, or if you don't have a three point o overall, three point o in that major field of study or at least in the last 60 credits of the undergraduate degree. If you meet those requirements, you can proceed with an application. And that process includes part one of the application, which is gonna be a simple form to fill out, one recommendation form from an academic reference. If you have trouble obtaining that, from an academic source, you can always discuss this requirement as well. We do have some alternative options for that recommendation.

15:42We will need official transcripts from any post secondary institutions even if a degree was not awarded. We will need essays submitted, as noted in the application for admission document. These are just a short kind of personal statement essay. We will need an updates updated CV or resume. And also we do require a GRE score. You'll see the school code there for taking the GRE. And that GRE does need to be taken within the past five years. So if you've already taken it within the last five years, we can accept that score. And then after that, there will be once we've collected all of those documents from you in admissions, we can then move you along to the next stage of admissions, which is, two video conferencing interviews, first with our admissions team, and then the second one is a group interview with other applicants and the faculty.

16:41We do accept applications from international applicants. However, there are some requirements as you'll see outlined here. So if that applies for you, make sure you're, paying attention to that. We will need an equivalent of a US bachelor's degree, so that would be up to you to kind of get that evaluated for compatibility. There's some resources there you'll see. We also have a requirement that if English is not your first language or your degree was not in English, then you'll have to pass a TOEFL. You can always reach out to our admissions team for more information about that. We'd be happy to guide you through the process. Alright. So what does the the process look like? We've kind of gone through this a little bit.

17:30But as I mentioned before, completing that application, there's a a couple of sections. Begin the financial aid process. So that means getting started on your FAFSA. You will need our school code, which is listed here. We will need all those admissions documents, the essays, resume, transcripts, recommendation, GRE. Once all of those things have been submitted and the financial aid process is completed, we'll invite you to those two video conferencing interviews. And then after that, you'll find out your admissions decision. We do accept applicants on a rolling basis, so you will know, shortly after completing the admissions process whether or not you have been accepted and can move forward from there.

18:14The classes for this upcoming term, which we're now accepting applications for our fall semester, is gonna be 08/20/2025. So that's an important date to have on your calendar if you're considering applying for fall semester. We do have some scholarships available. That's always the first question people ask when we're talking about cost of tuition. There are some internal scholarships as you'll see here. This is a list of them. You can also find these online on our website on the financial aid page. Any of you looking to apply today will receive an early admission discount if you complete your application documents. That applies for every every term. There's a window for early admission discount.

18:58For this program, it's $2,000 scholarship. We do have a couple of merit based scholarships for MS in counseling, and there are some others you can see here, as along with some tuition reduction agreements. And for example, for religious and consecrated members, we do offer some tuition reduction. And we do also have a dynamic and growing list of partnerships, some of which are mentioned on this page. We have a full list online as well that you can check out. But if you are associated with any of these organizations, definitely talk to your admissions, rep or financial aid about what kind of a tuition reduction you might be able to receive from that partnership. And here's my contact information.

19:48So if you listen to all this and you think this might be the right fit for you, you'd like to learn more, please feel free to reach out to me. You can call or text the number there. That is my direct line. You know, my email, my Calendly. We're always happy. Me and Charice, who is also on this call, are always happy to discuss more in-depth. We're gonna be the two admissions reps for, the MS in counseling program. Alright. I did see we had one open question here. What is the total cost per year? Patricia, was that answered already on your oh, I see some of you Charisse has been helping me out answer some questions. Does anybody have additional questions that they would like to ask? Now would be a great time for that.

20:48If you have an advanced degree I have a PhD in biomedical engineering. Can I take the play can that take the place of a GRE score? Yes. Great question. So if you do have, master's level education or higher, we can submit a request to waive the GRE score. Typically, if you've completed that education, that degree, and you have from an accredited institution, typically, our faculty does allow you to waive that GRE. Once we have transcripts, we can formally make that request, and we will be able to let you know at that point. Unfortunately, I do not have a stat offhand about acceptance rate, but that's a good question. Do you have any four plus one programs? I'm not sure if I understand that question.

21:50If you can clarify that, whoever asked that question, that would be great. Is there any concern that Catholic counseling will become oversaturated with professionals? I am not aware that there is any concern about that. I this is the first that question has been posed to me, to be honest. I I think that as a trend in the field in general, the counseling field is only growing. I think that there's a lot of need for it. And for the most part, and this is kind of anecdotally because I don't have specific stats on it. But if anything, I've just heard people wanting to have that opportunity to have a Catholic counselor and not finding enough resources in their local area. I don't it you perhaps live in an area where there is a high concentration, but I certainly don't think that's the norm across the board.

22:50If I have two teaching credentials, what can be waived? That would be very difficult for me without understanding what the teaching credentials are. If it's a master's in education or something like that, we could discuss a GRE waiver. But for the most part, all of those admissions documents we'll still need. For the 50% discount, that's gonna be the merit based scholarship. If you have a 3.5 GPA or higher, you're welcome to apply for that scholarship through financial aid. And the way that that, is determined, it is merit based, and they have a scoring system that factors in, GRE, GPA, and then your scoring on the essays. So that is just based on who else applies for it. We do offer that every start.

23:43So each cohort would be awarded one one student in each cohort would be awarded that 50% scholarship. So it depends on who else applies and how competitive that particular start is. But as long as you have a 3.5 or higher, you're welcome to apply. And it is a 50% off that follows you throughout your your your time at Divine Mercy University. It does just require that you remain enrolled full time. Good question. Yes. We do accept applications on a rolling basis. So we have three different application periods throughout the year. We have a start time in the fall, one in the spring and one in the summer. And we do accept we accept applicants on a rolling basis as well. So if, we will accept, students into the program until the cohort has been filled.

24:42We have a cap right now of 48 students per cohort. So after a 48, we would just generate a wait list for future terms. If you start part time and then switch to full time, then you would not be eligible for that 50% tuition scholarship. You would have to start full time in order to, qualify for that merit based scholarship and remain full time. However, if it's a concern for just eight weeks, if you wanted a little bit of time to adjust, you always only start with one class. So your first class is gonna be counseling five ten, and that first eight weeks, you will only be in one class regardless of whether you're full time or part time, if that makes a difference. You can also take leaves of absences if you need to take off a semester or something, but you do have to be full time for the entirety of your program.

25:38Thank you, Charisse. That's a good addition to that. When you say one tuition discount, does that mean you discount for only one semester, or does that discount apply to all semesters? For if you were in a a tuition agreement, for example, if you were a part of one of our partner organizations and there would be a percentage discount, that would follow you throughout your, time of enrollment, if that answers your question. On the tuition page on your website, it talks about indirect expenses that include room and board. I thought this was remote learning. So on that tuition page, that's going to be kind of according to what the FAFSA is going to consider, for in terms of giving you loan money.

26:27The FAFSA doesn't really you know, when you apply for financial aid through the federal, FAFSA page, they're gonna factor in those costs. And, a lot of people will choose to, for example, especially during their internship time, it can be difficult to work a full time job with twenty hours of internship on top of that. And so it's really helping you to factor in the cost of living while you're in school. It's certainly not an expense that would come directly through Divine Mercy University. That's just so that you can kind of get a picture of what it might cost to be in school versus maybe working full time. The only costs that will come through Divine Mercy University are going to be the fees that were outlined on that page that we talked about, the tuition plus technology fee, lab fee, residencies.

27:19Good question though. The internship is going to be two semesters of, on-site work under a clinical supervisor. So it has to be somebody who is licensed to be a supervisor who can get you that, direct experience in in the counseling field. So you would you would get set up with a local site. The way that it kind of works is a good starting point. We have a, we have a database of sites that we've worked with in the past, and you can search that database to find a place that's local to you. Or if you would like to set up a new site that's not in our database, there are ways of working with that as well. You would have a faculty, instructor that's kind of helping you and guiding that process, but it is up to the student to secure the practicum and internship sites.

28:15The practicum, as I mentioned, is one hundred hours. Those internships are three hundred hours each. So what that looks like over the course of sixteen weeks is about twenty hours a week on-site under a clinical supervisor, getting those hours in the field. When are we required to come there, and what is the time frame? So as I mentioned, there's only three times throughout the program that you'd be required to be on-site for those residencies. It's a four day long weekend where you're on-site. And if you were to enroll fall semester, those that first residency, I could tell you right now is gonna be October eighth to the twelfth. It's eight weeks into the program is that first residency. And then the next one would be about a year after that, and the final one would be right before your practicum and internship depending on how quickly you're moving through the program.

29:12The dates to apply. So our early application deadline is going to be June 23, so that's coming up this month for fall semester. We will be accepting applications as long as there's still room in the cohort ongoing. I think the final deadline with an August start is probably end of July, beginning of August. Are most MSC grads getting licensed right after graduation? Are those grads having to do internships first? If so, how long do most internships last? Are most MSC grads able to open their own practice right away? So that's a great question, Michael. We, just with the way that state licensure works, it's not possible to get fully licensed right after your graduation due to state requirements, and that's gonna vary state to state.

30:08Each state has different requirements. But at the very minimum, there'll be some clinical supervised hours that so for for example, you if you graduate from the program, you take the the licensure exam, a lot of states will offer a probationary license or provisional license. So you can start practicing, but you wouldn't be able to do a private practice right away. First, you would have to obtain the required number of supervised hours. And, again, that varies state to state, but it's typically about two years after graduation of clinical supervised experience before you could then move on to open a private practice. And that's pretty typical. That's not specific to our program. That's just how the state licensing boards typically operate.

30:55But good question. Does DMU have MSC grads comfortably supporting single income families? That is a great question as well. I think it kind of depends on what you pursue. I think that there's definitely opportunity for, decent income within the counseling field. But it it does depend on what kind of counseling you're doing, what demographic you're seeking to serve. Are you working for a nonprofit? Are you doing independent practice? So there's a lot of factors there. If you have if you would like to connect with alumni, I'm sure we could connect you with somebody who could share a little bit more on that, or I could connect you with the the our alumni coordinator. She might have more answers on that for you.

31:50Well, thank you so much, anybody who's still on here, for joining me today. I hope you all found value in the conversation. Oh, I see there's a couple there's one more question. What is rough male to female ratio? That's a great question. I do know that, again, anecdotally, I can say that it's not all women. If that was your concern, we do have a pretty even split. I know in this current, application period, we've had a really good mix of men and women, but I'm not sure. I don't have a number ready for you offhand, unfortunately. Alright. Thank you so much for everyone who came. I hope that this was valuable. Again, feel free to connect with me or Charisse if you'd like to talk more. I look forward to being in touch with many of you to come.