Wake Forest online Master of Arts in Counseling students discuss the benefits of the program’s two residencies. It’s a great opportunity to connect with professors, fellow students, and practice and develop the skills you’ve learned.
Video Transcript:
Philip Clarke: One of the advantages and experiences of students who come to our residency, well our masters of arts in counseling online students have to come to Wake Forest campus twice for what we call residency. That’s something that the online students that our on campus students don’t get. We teach our on campus students for a two and a half hour class, but with our online students who come to residency, we work with them all day for several days in a row. So, it’s really high engagement. Students are challenged and pushed and find that they grow substantially because they’re going beyond just did I do well in a multiple choice test. They’re learning applied clinical skills and that takes training and commitment and our students – you can’t help but be changed as a person in a positive way, by learning a lot of these clinical and counseling skills.
Jennifer Rodgers: There’s residency one for students that are earlier in the program and then residency two is students that are just about to start practicum. It’s wonderful because we get the chance to really connect in person with the students and for the folks in residency two, we get the chance to see them again, see their development. We do skills assessment, so we assess their counseling skills to see that they’re ready for practicum and ready to start working with real clients.
Chris Mundy: During our first residency, I thought it was the most positive part of the entire year for the program. I had some hesitation about that set schedule, but this year, I was giddy, looking forward to it. It feels like a vacation despite the fact that I’m on a strict time schedule the entire time. Just having that one thing to worry about versus two or three. You know, it’s relaxing. I very much feel like I made the right choice coming here to Wake Forest. I feel like a member of the Wake Forest community, even though I’m sitting in Pennsylvania for 99% of the program. When you come here for residency, you know, I got here last year and these professors who I had never met before knew my name because of the little thumbnail image on our online post, which I thought was – you know, it just shows the level of caring that they have towards the students in the program and that they’re very much invested in the online students as well as the people who are here for the brick and mortar program.