MSC Webinar May 6

0:00Hello, everyone. Thank you thank you for coming. We have a lot of attendees so far. Thank you so much for coming to the webinar today. My name is Charice Bennett. I am one of the admissions advisers for the master's in counseling program here at Divine Mercy. Thank you so much for coming. A brief introduction of myself, my name is Charice Bennett. I actually have a bachelor's in engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Those in Pennsylvania would know this university. And I also received my master's in psychology from Divine Mercy University. Now note this isn't the master's in psychology, not the master in counseling. But the other, master's, program that we have, I have I graduated from there two years ago.

0:43Wow. So we'll go ahead and get started. I will be respectful of everyone's time. Thank you so much for coming in. Again, this is part of master's in counseling webinar for Divine Mercy University. Thank you so much for entering your information on the chat, and we'll we'll go ahead and get started. So this is the webinar for masters in counseling, Divine Mercy University, five reasons to earn a master's degree in counseling. We have a lot of great information for you today. So even if, let's say, there's too much information here today, you want to ask more, information, my information will be at the end of the webinar. If you want to contact me for more information, happy to do so. For now, I'm also gonna put my email address in the chat.

1:30That way, if anyone has any direct any, questions, feel free to email me. Happy to help. So first and foremost, welcome to Divine Mercy University. DMU is a Catholic institution comprised of two schools. We were founded in 1999 as the Institute for the Psychological Sciences. I heard about IPS when I was still in college back in the day. So that's actually how I heard about I Divine Mercy University a while back was through I was at IPS. And then 2014, the institute launched the master's in psychology program, and then the following year launched a master's in counseling. So with two different schools, we have upgraded to university status as Divine Mercy University, and we're dedicated to the scientific study of psychology with the Catholic Christian understanding of the person, marriage, and family.

2:23Accreditations are very important to us. Of course, first off, we are institutionally accredited by SACSCOC. That is the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Now that's through the Department of Education, and it's that regional agent it's a regional agency. The SACSCOC deals with the Southern Side Of The US all the way from Texas to Georgia. So other schools that are accredited by SACSCOC include University of Texas all the way down to University of Georgia, Auburn, all those great, universities down South. And we are also, of course, accredited through TACREP. KCREP is the accrediting body for the LPC licensure. This is very important if you're looking to, be licensed in your state either as a clinical mental health counselor or LPC.

3:14Our program is KCRED accredited. And not only that, our education meets the standards of all 50 states. So whether you're in Hawaii all the way down to Florida, Maine, all the way back down to California, Our program fits, those educational requirements for those states. Thank you so much, Maureen. Maureen, living in Massachusetts. Thank you so much for coming in. So what makes DMU unique is our focus on psychology and counseling. We like to view people view the whole person. Now we have this wonderful textbook. It's actually about this thick, but don't worry. It's actually not that scary. It's It's called the Catholic Christian mental model of the human person, and you can actually get it on Amazon.

3:58Now if you are actually very, very website savvy, you can actually find a the first two chapters for free on the website. If you find the Catholic Christian mental model, page on our website, you get the first two chapters for you. It's very accessible. It's a wonderful book. Because what we really want to teach is the whole view of the person. We view each person theologically, philosophically, and psychologically. Essentially, we are made in the image and likeness of God, but we have rational thoughts and emotions. But then how does that play into vocations and living a virtuous life? How do how can we flourish, in light of that? So this university is really dedicated to the renewal of the Catholic Christian intellectual tradition as well as really, the Catholic view of the human person.

4:46That's really what makes Divine Mercy unique. So the number one reason, of course, you're interested in this master's in counseling program is if you want to be a licensed professional. So, with this master's in in counseling, it's it's designed to meet the educational requirements for the professional counseling licensure. So LPC in most states to prepare students for a career as a professional counselor. There are, I think, about 10 states that might need, like, an extra course, but those courses are still offered through Divine Mercy. All of that is actually listed on the counseling webs masters in counseling website, on our web page. So how this typically works is, K Prep requires at least sixty plus, hours, to get to get your master's degree in counseling, then you can sit for the licensing exam in your state.

5:43And at Divine Mercy University, one hundred percent of our students who graduate from our program also pass their licensing. So that's a that's a great graduation rate and a great pass rate for the LPC test. Right? And that's something you really wanna look for if you're looking at other schools for our masters in counseling program. One, the CACREP accreditation, their graduation rate, as well as their test pass rate. So after you pass the test, and you gain your licensure in your states, then you have a then you are provisionally licensed for another about two years. Now every state's slightly different. For example, I am in Texas and you have to do another two thousand hours of supervision before you're a fully licensed LPC, and that approximately takes about two years of full time LPC work.

6:30So, again, it'll just vary per state. But then afterwards, you can start your own practice. You can work online. There are so many ways you can utilize this licensure. So definitely look into what your state states about, how long the whole process takes, what the test is like, what other requirements you would need, but we are here to assist you through that process. Now another reason to to for this to gain this master's degree is really that we have a lot of in per, practical experiences. So first off, we have three in person, residencies. Now the majority of the program is online. We do have in person requirements. So about once a year, there's a four day weekend. We call those residencies.

7:18They start from a Wednesday evening through Sunday afternoon. And, honestly, it's really fun. It's great to meet other call other counseling students. It's great to meet the faculty members. There's a lot of food. Don't worry about that. But it's also a great time to to do those counseling school. The things that you can't even learn online, of course, as a counselor, you want to be able to interact with people. Right? So the residencies also really bring that great cohesion, within the cohort. So, yes, we have we do have in person requirements, but about a once a year, four day weekend, And there is a cost associated with that, and that's part of your tuition. And that residency cost covers training, hotel, and most meals.

8:00So as long as you're able to fly up to Sterling, Virginia once a year, awesome. Now, we also have the practicum internship, which is part of the, the program. The practicum consists of a hundred hours, basically, for you to learn, how your internship site works. Like, even where's the bathroom? How do we log? What's the system like? And which you're already going to start direct service with direct services with actual clients. So that's about forty hours of direct services. So one hundred hours in a practicum, and then two internships follow that practicum. Each internship is three hundred hours and sixteen weeks, and that each of them consists of three hundred hours. So in total, practicum internship hours is seven hundred.

8:45Now students are responsible for securing that practicum site and internship site. They are not necessarily the same thing the same site, I mean. But, generally, students would pick the exact same site for both practicum and internship. And not only that, a 100% of our students get placed in an internship site. So other other schools, other programs tend to require you to stick with a clinic that is partnered with that program. But here at DMU, we encourage you to find, locate research clinics that are not only in your area, so it's, of course, local to you, but secondly, more geared towards the area of interest that we're interested in. Right? So let's say you're interested in marriage and family.

9:28We would help you locate, other marriage and family clinics in your area, and we would partner and we would work with you to, approve this site to get it so that you can use that as your internship site. But a lot of students really just focus on what the area of interest in and find a internship site that relates to that. So we have a director of internships that will assist and provide oversight to help you locate and secure these internship sites. K? Oh, I meant to say in the beginning that if any of you have any questions, feel free to put it in chat. I will try to answer along the way, but I will just keep going unless unless there's questions. But feel free to stay in the chat if you have any.

10:11And, of course, we have experienced faculty here at, at DMU. Doctor Eric Perry here is the program director. He actually also came from, he also worked got his PhD from Duquesne Ducan Duchenne Duchenne University, I think, in Pittsburgh. So a lot there's a few, Pennsylvania people in the chat in the webinar today, so it's amazing. We also have doctor Keyes and doctor Sharp who are both directors of internship and training. Of course and if you look at if you look for the Center of Trauma Studies on our web page, doctor Keyes is the director for that. We also have professors here like doctor De Liao. He's actually in The Philippines. So, we also have a lot of international, international professors as well and master and of course, doctor, Hume's here.

11:03All of our faculty members, love to hear from counseling students. So our their biographies are actually on our web page. And if there's any one of them that you wanted to contact, they love to hear about prospective students and help, you through this process. So code number four to earn this master's degree is to increase your employment and salary opportunities. So with the LPC licensure, you're actually able to, have a broader scope of counseling. Because, for example, in this slide particular is a small first is a small batch of is this a small sample of what our alumni have gone into after, after graduating from DMU. So clinical mental health counselor, you can do marriage and family, you can do rehab, grief and trauma, substance abuse.

11:53There are so many ways you can utilize this LPC licensure. For example, I know I usually get the the question about what if I just want to do marriage and family and you just want the licensed, marriage and family therapy. Well, let's say what happens if you've encountered, a grief or a trauma a trauma situation. You'd have to outsource them to a trauma counselor. So but so with the LPC licensure, you're able to really cover a lot more detail, a lot more clients under your belt. So a lot of great salary opportunities here for mental for mental health counselors. Not only that, I believe every year, mental health counselors are on the rise job job market wise. So it's really great. However, salary, of course, is really dependent on the need in your area.

12:41So definitely look at, like, career trends, this little website down here for, for mental health counselors. And I mentioned earlier, we are an online program, an online hybrid program, so you really have the opportunity to learn anywhere, anytime. While a lot of the work is asynchronous, meaning every week you have the opportunity to work on, work on the work work on the classwork as needed, there are weekly due dates. So as long as you're able to really be flexible during the week to complete those assignments, that's no problem. The counseling courses, of course, require do require some synchronous times. So those are prearranged times for students to meet online with other students or the professors.

13:24Now, obviously, we have students all over The US, but they tend to, arrange those times based off of region. So, we have students in California meeting with other Washington State students, for example, and all of those in the East Coast would meet usually at the same time. They're they tend to be very cognizant of that kind of issue. And what I love about this, I was, again, a graduate of the pre of the other program, masters in psychology, but I know Canvas, which is the learning management system. I can access Canvas wherever. I remember when I was on a cruise ship, I was on vacation, and I forgot to turn something in. I was able just to log on to Canvas while on the water. As long as I had Internet, I can still turn things in.

14:07So you're able to really access Canvas anywhere, anytime. It's great to have just have that flexibility, while you can still also work while earning this degree as well. We have students that do part time, student load and are able to work and do and be a student at the same time. Of course, it'll take a little bit longer to complete the program, but they're able to work both at the same time. So if you're interested in the, in applying, here are the general acceptance requirements to be in the program. First, you must have received a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited, meaning one through, let's say, for example, SACSCOC through the Department of Education or an internationally recognized school, we would need official transcripts from that, from that institution.

14:59And international students, if you have received it from internationally recognized school, you're responsible for any transcript evaluations and translations as needed. A minimum overall three point o GPA scale now, or a three point o in the applicant's major field of study or or a minimum three point o GPA in the last 60 credits. I know that's a lot, but really minimum three point o GPA is required. If it is below three point o GPA, you would have to request a GPA waiver. There is still a possibility to be able to get into the program that way, but you would have to state the reasons why as well as what your plan is to improve your g to make sure you keep the three point o GPA, which is the minimum requirement to graduate, with this master's degree.

15:46So, unfortunately, you do have to take the GRE. The GRE is the standardized test for graduate schools. So luckily, though unfortunately, you have to take the test. But luckily, there right now, there is no score cutoff. So you can take the GRE as best as you can. We're really more focused on the verbal and the writing section. I know probably some of you maybe have not done geometry in a decade, and that's perfectly fine because we're really looking at your verbal and writing scores. The majority of the work that you're doing outside of talking and practicing counseling skills is paper writing, APA style paper writing. So those are again, verbal and writing scores are more important. Other than that, other admissions documents include, letters recommend a letter of recommendation, resume, personal statements.

16:36You must complete all of that as well as the financial package. So the great thing about DMU is that we do one on one meetings with financial aid. Once we get an application, financial aid will try to set up a meeting with you to determine all scholarships and grants available to you. Then there's also a secondary admissions interview after all these documentation is submitted. So the total investment into your into your degree and your licensure is, is listed here, $953 per credit. That and there are 66 credits in this program. There's a $50 tech fee per class, one lab fee, and three residence fees for a total of 69,323. But, of course, that's not all upfront. You pay per semester. And and not only that, it's spread out throughout time.

17:29Right? You're not going to do all six six credits, in the first year. So there are many ways to make grad school more affordable. Of course, those who qualify for federal aid can, apply for student loans. Definitely check with your employer if there's any tuition reimbursement and as well as we are approved for veterans funding. If you have a GI bill, we are also an approved yellow ribbon school. So this is a really great way to fund your education if you have any approved veterans funding. We have a whole list of scholarships and grants. Now the best scholarship you'll be, we can offer is the merit scholarship, which is a competitive, up to 50% tuition discount. So there, there's a list of requirements, and you can just read them up on our scholarships page here.

18:17Waste of all of alternate funding for, of course, our private funds. There's a lot there are a lot of nonprofits, that can match match funds. For example, here in Texas, I already forgot the name. Sorry. My my mind's kinda blank. But there are a lot of nonprofits in your area. Check with your diocese. Check-in your area for any nonprofits that can match funds. They have a particular in my study, there's a particular Catholic nonprofit that will match funds as long as you're able to prove that it's a Catholic institution and you're Catholic yourself. You're a practicing Catholic and what you plan to do with it. So definitely research a lot more grant programs in your area. And this is something I did when I was a student with your cash plans.

18:59So, you can set up monthly interest free payments through the school, and that's interest free, which I thought was really great. I also worked while I was completing my degree, so I went to work and fund my education at the same time with the monthly payment plans and hit the wall a little bit less with the with the monthly payment plan. So definitely that's something we can do just through the school. Now this is a very wonderful this is a very interesting program. I've never heard about this until I became an admissions here, which is the National Health Service Corps. If you Google this name, it should be the first thing that pops up. But, once you graduate with a degree and you're already working as an LPC, so this is more of a retroactive thing, up to $50,000 towards tuition cost can be covered after serving in an area designated either low income or underserved.

19:49So this is actually a really great, federal program. Look into their programs. There's actually, I think, a map on the website where you can determine where they desk where they you can figure out which which areas are low income or underserved. And that's really great if you want to work in that area, working with the homeless, giving up some of your time, definitely look into this program. So there are many ways to make grad school affordable. We also have a lot of partnerships with, with many Catholic Catholic organizations out there. St. Paul's Outreach, SPO, Focus, Legatus, Teach for Christ, Brendon Christie. We also have partnerships with certain diocese like Diocese of Austin or Charleston, Oklahoma City.

20:33So definitely and also, of course, certain universities we've partnered up with, like Belmont Abbey and Ave Ave Maria University. Definitely look into, what kind of partnerships we have. It's all listed again in our financial aid page on our website. And feel free to to look up whether or not you have any partnerships because those are really wonderful tuition agreement tuition discounts for those who have been part of those organizations. So in general, again, this is the MSE acceptance requirements, must have received a bachelor's degree, minimum three point o GPA, must take the GRE, as well as a couple more things, resume, personal statements, and letter of recommendation. And then there is an interview process, one with me, as your admissions counselor and another one with, a faculty member and another group of applicants.

21:26So that's a group faculty interview. Once you complete that interview process, you would we would let you know as soon as we know whether or not you're admitted into the program. So I'm seeing that there's no, no questions in chat. Hopefully, I am making this fairly clear for y'all. If I have made anything unclear or not emphasized enough, please feel free to add it in the chat. But definitely think about whether or not is this master's in counseling degree right the right path for you. Do you have the desire to help the whole person help, to help heal the whole person, help people flourish? Oh, oh, Lucy. Thanks for coming in. Do you want a career that enables you to answer the question, how can I help people?

22:11What can I do to make a positive contribution to other people's lives? Can you gain instrument of healing? And can you commit to the successful completion of the program if accepted? If you've done previous graduate work done, is the GRE still necessary? We would have to look at your graduate transcripts to see if we can apply for the GRE waivers. So, yes, if you have done graduate level work before and the g and the GPA is access acceptable, we would take your graduate transcripts and apply for the GRE waiver. So So it is possible to so that you don't have to take the GRE. Have you had anyone complete this while living abroad? We've had we've had, US students complete this while they're abroad, but, again, as long as they're able to come back for the in person residencies, that's generally no problem.

22:57But remember that this this program is generally geared to those for The US. Right? We are we are made for state requirements meaning the state requirements. So but we have had them we've had students living abroad welcome to complete this. Oh, sorry if I missed how long is the part oh, I've never even mentioned this. So if you're doing a full time load, which is two classes at a time, it would just it would take right under three years. I think two years and nine months. If you are taking part time, especially for those who can't dedicate full time load, who are still working and still want to work during this program, it takes about four about four and a half years. K? So from three to four and a half years, really just depending on how fast you want to complete.

23:48Now, of course, we do have students, for example, that want to be able to shift up to two classes or shift down to one class, that's perfectly fine. As long as you're able to get it approved through the directors, that's really no problem. If a jury was written years ago, is it still valid? I think you have had to have taken it within the past few years for it to still be valid. Do you have any examples of how part time students working full time in another field have complete practicum internship requirements. So the part time students, they're only taking one class at a time. Right? So if they are doing their internship, classes, that's the only thing they're doing. They're adding in about another twenty hours on average a week to complete their internship hours, but that's just on average.

24:33Right? Some students end up working can work a little bit longer. As long as they're able to meet the hours, before the classes before the class is over, it is still possible to do that. So do keep that in mind if you're still choosing to work full time. You would have to tap on a couple of extra hours every week just to complete your internship hours. What's the minimum number of courses to take at the start of part time studies? So part time part time load is only one class at a time. So, let me see if I can explain this. 66 credits divided by three credit hours is 22 classes. So 22 classes. At DMU, we have eight week courses, which we call terms. So eight week courses, we have terms. And we have five terms in an academic year.

25:22So we have two terms in the spring, one in the summer, two in the fall, five terms possible in an academic year. So if you're taking just one course at a time, it'll take about four and a half years to complete the 22 courses. But if you're taking full load time, which is, two classes at a time, just under three years. K? On average, each class is about about fifteen hours of work a week. Really depends on how well you write, how well you absorb the material. For example, I I've known fellow students who can finish all the work in just a couple of hours, great on them. But for me, as I mentioned, I was an engineer. I had never I barely written my life, and I needed more time. So it really just depends.

26:09Do you recommend applicants who have no undergrad graduate experience in psychology to have course? It's not necessary because we believe that psychology and counseling is applicable to any background. So, no, you do not need to take any, like, free courses in psychology to be able to do this because even the first course is an intro to counseling and intro to, intro to psych psychological sciences, so not not needed. I should mention that the undergraduate, degree itself does not need to be psychology or counseling or anything related. We have students from engineering to teaching to finance, wanting to change their careers, and that's what and that's what makes this program really great too is that you don't need to have all those all the all that foundation just to start this program.

26:57You want to be a counselor. You want to help heal people. You can just start as long as you have an undergrad. Any other questions while I'm here? Hopefully, I'm under hopefully, I'm I'm answering everything well. Are there three different yes. Times in the year that you can start the program or deadlines for each day? Oh my gosh. The deadlines for each date. Okay. So we we've just passed the deadline for summer, which was May 5, which was yesterday. That summer we have three starts every year, January, May, and August. And you are thinking about at least three weeks prior to start for the deadline. So the next the next deadline we have is August first week of August. I apologize. I don't know the date.

27:47First week of August because that the next start that we're working on is August 20. For those who are interested in the application process, there is an application online to complete. It takes about fifteen, twenty minutes to complete. I will also give you the code to waive the application fee if you give me a couple more minutes to get to the next slide. Begin the financial aid process, submit all the required documents, and then complete your interviews. Accepted applicants, can will be admitted, and then, of course, classes begin August 20. So think about the first week of August to get all your things in. But, honestly, the longer you wait, the long you may not get a slot in for that interview.

28:33So if you're gonna wait until August to apply hoping you still get in on August 20, that will be a very you'll the probability will be lower and lower as you wait. I don't know, internship internship. Interview slots fill up fairly quickly, so go ahead and start this application if you're interested. Here on the bottom here is the code to waive the application fee. Thank you so much for coming in today. I'm not ending anything yet. But here's the application fee waiver, CCMMP1999, if you're interested in applying. Are there three different oh, I already answered. Are there any neuroscience type classes focusing on the complexities of the brain and nervous system? There is one required course on the brain, and there there is one.

29:18So, I don't particularly remember what it was called in the master's in counseling program, but for sure there is one on on the brain. Generally, it's a class on how how how it's generally class about motivation, emotions, how parts of the brain works, etcetera. So, yes, there is one class. A lot of the rest of the classes are generally mainly more counseling or and there's a handful in theology. K. Hopefully, everyone broke down this waiver. Can you audit courses? Yes. You can. But remember that it wouldn't be for credit. If you do audit a course, you will be you will have access to material. You won't be great on anything, but you won't get any credit for it. So definitely think about whether or not you really want to audit a course.

30:14Did any undergrad classes be counted towards the program? No. So no undergrad courses can be transferred in. That's an accreditation issue. They have to be graduate level courses in order to be transferred in. And we are a graduate school. We don't have any undergrads, programs, so we can't transfer any undergrad courses. If you do wanna transfer any courses, maybe something you've taken, it has to have been in the past five years for it to count. If you want, please feel free to to jot down my phone number here, jot down my email address. If you wanna schedule a quick call with me actually, I should write that down. If you want to schedule a meeting with me, here you go. I'm happy to help you answer any more questions that you have.

31:08What are the dates for the fall residency? The fall residency is October '12, I believe, mid mid October, Wednesday Wednesday evening through Sunday. Perfect. Are there any other questions while I'm here? I'm happy to answer. I'll hang on for a couple more minutes, but I really just wanna thank you for your time. Hopefully, I've explained things. There's so much to learn, so much still about the program, but I'm, of course, happy to do one on one time with you. Oh, yes. Yes. That full academic calendar is also available online. Awesome. Yes. Thank you, Kathleen. Thank you so much for coming. Anybody else have any questions? Again, I'll be here for a few more minutes, and then, feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

31:54Thank you so much, Moira, Anna, Maureen, Roger. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you. Thank you, Mari. Lucy, Jorge, David, father Eric, thank you so much for coming. Happy to help you in any other way. Thanks for coming. Have a great day. So so you can audit courses, but I think you can only audit certain courses. You'll have to get that approved through a, through the program director. And, Dottie, I think I can I I can I'll reply to you about audits? I'll make sure to make a note of that for you. I I need to I think there's only a handful of courses that you can audit. I will get back to you on that. Any other questions? Nope. I think a lot of people have left. Thank you, Christina. Thank you, Lawrence.

32:46Thanks for coming. Have a great day.