Transcript
Adam Hanna:
Good afternoon everyone. My name is Adam Hanna. I’ll be the moderator for today. And I want to welcome you all to our general information session webinar, for our online Master of Arts in Counseling Programs. I’m just going to go through a couple of logistics before we get in to the presentation today. Please note that you are all in listen only mode. So you’ll be able to hear us, but we can’t hear you. So I do ask that if you have questions, please go ahead and put those in the Q&A box, and we’ll have some time at the end of the presentation to answer those questions. The other thing you want to make note of is that you will receive a copy of the slides and the recordings from today. So no need to take down any notes, please go ahead and ask any questions you have and we will certainly follow up with these details. And then our enrollment advisors will be available as well, for any follow up questions.
Adam Hanna:
So as we move into the presentation today, I just want to go over our agenda and what to expect as we move through some program details. First, we’ll give you an introduction to who we are. Wake Forest University, as an institution, and then we’ll move right into the Master of Arts in Counseling Programs, give you a high level overview of the two tracks that we do offer. Talk about the wonderful faculty that we have in this program, as well. Of course, talking about that online experience. We know some folks have had that, other folks have not. So we want to talk about what that will mean to you as an online Wake Forest student. And we will cover the enrollment or admissions requirements and what will be needed of you as you start this process of applying to the online program. And like I said, we will save some time at the end of the presentation for a short Q&A.
Adam Hanna:
As we move into our webinar here today, I do want to welcome two of our guests who I am pleased to have with us today to share some more details about Wake Forest, about the program that we offer online. So I want to welcome our program chair and associate professor Dr. Nathaniel Ivers. And our program manager, Louise Schatz. So you’ll hear from them very shortly and two integral components of the program. You’ll hear from them as you become a student and work with them, as well as our enrollment team. And again, my name is Adam. I’m the enrollment coordinator with our online program. And we’ll work together as well through the admissions process. But before we get into those admissions requirements, like I said, we do want to talk about Wake Forest University and who we are as an institution. So I’ll turn it over to Louise.
Louise Schatz:
Thanks, Adam. Hey everybody, it’s Louise Schatz. Glad you all could make it today, we’re glad you’re here. Tell you a little bit about the history of the university. Not enough to bore you, just a little bit to hopefully get you interested. As you can see on the slide we were founded in 1834. The east of Winston, Salem where we are today, I’m not going to read the slide to you. So, we can move on to our motto, which is, Pro Humanitate, the spirit of service. The Master’s of Arts in Counseling Programs were dedicated to training highly skilled counselors, who are committed to serving the needs of their communities. The faculty, students and alumni, excel as community leaders and practitioners who embody the spirit of Pro Humanitate. That’s after all, the Wake Forest motto. For example, our faculty was present to help in the aftermath of 911, hurricane Katrina, the tragedies that Virginia Tech, they’ve been all over the world, training and developing counselors.
Louise Schatz:
We also have, can we go back one slide? I’m still talking about slide seven, or the one before it. Yeah, thank you. The clinical skills focus, is what I wanted to chat about. We do require two skills courses in our program. One basic and one advanced. And that’s the both track to the candidate program, which we’ll get into in a moment. We’ll also be doing 800 hours of supervised professional experience, that’s a required part of the program. And that’s one of the reasons that employers like the graduates of our program, is that you will have quite a bit of experience before you get out into your first position as a licensed counselor.
Louise Schatz:
We do operate on the student centered model. Our primary focus is, like I said, we are providing you with the training, the knowledge and the support you need to make an impact as a counselor.
Louise Schatz:
Okay, are we going up? Can we go back one more slide, please? Okay, no worries. We can start from this one. As you can read… Thanks. And as you can see we… Well, I was talking about the US News and World Report as you can, you’ll see that in the recording when you go back. We are ranked by US News World Report. One of the main things I wanted to talk about on the slide, is the 95% pass rate for our graduates taking the NCE, and that’s their first attempt. Everybody needs to pass either that exam or one other one, which we can talk about later in order to become licensed. But, what we think is good news is for the students, or graduates of our program, who took this MTE exam last year, the pass rate on the first attempt was actually 97%. So we’re going in the right direction. And that should be good news for you guys.
Louise Schatz:
Okay, and we can go to the next slide, please. Nate, I’m gonna turn it over to you.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
Alright, thank you so much. Welcome, everyone. Thank you so much for your interest in our program and your desire to be a counselor, a helper, the world needs counselors. And that’s what I’m going to talk about right now. 20% of the population has mental disorders, and that may be on the low side of it. Because mental disorders aren’t always something that is persistent with someone. A lot of us have episodes in which we do have some issues, a cluster of symptoms that are beyond our coping mechanisms, and they start affecting other parts of our life. And sometimes people need that support. And you don’t have to have a mental disorder to seek counseling. We work with individuals who we call the worried well, or the walking worried or something like that. Walking wounded. Counseling can be very beneficial to lots of different people, and especially in this world today, where there’s so many uncertainties, so many unprecedented moments. And a lot of the challenges that we’re facing as a world and as communities is very open ended in nature.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
Counseling is certainly a great place for people to work out some of these challenges that they’re experiencing, the anxieties that they’re facing, the depression that they have, the relational difficulties that they’re experiencing, as well. It’s a great way to serve the needs of a community. Having a program like ours, which has an on campus component, as well as an online component, and each of them dovetail and enhance the other in lots of different ways. These are separate programs, you would be accepted to the online program, or you’d be accepted to the on campus program. But our faculty teach in both of them. And they learn things in online that they apply to on campus and vice versa and it becomes really helpful. It’s a good opportunity for us because we’ve had our program for many, many years. And it’s been on campus for a long time up until 2012, when we brought it online. And we realized we could take this program that has 15 students per class, on campus 30 students in all. And open it up to the whole United States, essentially, for individuals who can’t take off work and come full time to Winston, Salem. Those who can’t travel, or relocate to Winston, Salem. And so, we can accommodate individuals who would be fantastic counselors to help out individuals in their community without doing some of those other things.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
So, we hope that becoming a counselor is because you have this sense of Pro Humanitate. That is this desire to serve others and to help others. That it brings you a sense of meaning beyond just having a job. We hope you create this career and this meaning in your life through helping others and being a counselor. So let me take a few minutes now to tell you all a little bit about the Master of Arts in counseling program.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
Actually, I’m going to turn the time over to Louise and let her talk about our particular tracks, clinical mental health in school.
Louise Schatz:
Thank you, Dr. Ivers. And as Dr. Ivers just mentioned, there are two tracks in the program. You’ll have a choice between clinical mental health, and school counseling. One of the things that I think sets our program apart from other council programs, is we don’t make you decide which track before you are accepted or shortly after you’re accepted. You’ll have the opportunity to take several classes, chat with your professors, chat with your peers, kind of get a feel for what type of environment you’d like to ultimately work in and then you can make your track choice. If you decide on the clinical mental health, you will take the common core classes that everybody takes but then you’ll have those three specialty courses also that are shown up on the slide. And vice versa for the school counseling track. Everybody takes a certain number of the same classes. But if you’ve decided you want to be a school counselor, those are the three specialty track courses that you will take.
Louise Schatz:
No matter which track you pick, you are going to have to have 60 credits in order to graduate. Like I said, 21 courses. We already talked briefly about that 800 hours of clinical experience and that will be completed in your local area. We’re not going to ask you to come to Winston, Salem to do your practicum or your internship experience. Those things happen within driving distance of where you currently live. And you’ll be working with our clinical manager on finding sites that are appropriate for those particular experiences.
Louise Schatz:
We do also have a residency program. We’ve had a few hiccups with that with COVID-19 recently, but those are required experiences. When we are able to hold them in person, here from Thursday night through Sunday afternoon, you’ll get to actually meet people in person that you’ve only met online. You’ll get to have some face to face time with your professors. Your complete experiential group requirements for that time, we’ll let you know the dates of those experiences well in advance. You’ll have plenty of time to plan and those residences are held here in Winston, Salem. And if you stick to the course sequence that we will give to you as soon as you are admitted. The program is designed to be completed in nine academic semesters or three years and it just, those nine semesters, start whichever semester you start with us.
Louise Schatz:
That’s all I have for that one. I’m going to turn it back to Dr. Ivers for the licensure requirements.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
Thank you, Louise, appreciate that. I’m going to talk with you all a little bit about licensure and accreditation. Whichever program you pursue, if it’s a counseling degree, please pursue one that is CACREP accredited. That will be really helpful for you with certifications and ultimately with licensure. CACREP is the accrediting body for professional counseling education programs. We and other programs that are CACREP accredited, must meet minimum guidelines, by this particular group, CACREP to be accredited, which demonstrates that our students have learned up to a certain threshold of what they need to learn to graduate as counselors. And the certification bodies and licensing bodies at the state level have recognized CACREP as being extremely essential and significant. And so, it oftentimes increases the pathway to be able to be licensed or to be able to be certified with a national certification, if you graduate from a CACREP accredited program. If you do not graduate from a CACREP accredited program, in some states, you’ll have to meet far more requirements than you would have otherwise. So certainly look for something that’s CACREP accredited. Both of our tracks are CACREP accredited. Clinical mental health and our school counseling track. And any counseling program that you go to, even though there will be a practicum and internship experience. If it’s CACREP accredited, it will not fulfill all of the hours that you would need to complete to be independently licensed as a counselor.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
When you complete our program, in most states, you would be able to be provisionally licensed after you’ve passed that state’s licensing exam. But then you would have to accrue a number of hours, sometimes it’s 3000 hours, 1500 of them have to be direct client contact hours, to be fully independently licensed in that particular state. And our program because it’s CACREP accredited, it fulfills a lot of the curricular and experiential requirements to be provisionally licensed as a licensed professional counselor or some variant of that in the state that you’re in. And we also have a disclosure form that we submit to applicants of our program and students for our program, indicating all the states in which our program meets licensure requirements. And then the few states in which additional courses might need to be taken, for them to be able to be provisionally licensed after they graduate.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
So for clinical mental health counseling students, licensure would be a licensed professional counselor, or some name very similar to that. Our school counseling graduates in many instances also have fulfilled curricular requirements to be licensed professional counselors. Not in all instances but in many instances they do, but if they want to practice as school counselors, they also need to receive a school counseling license which would be a process that’s administered through the Department of Public Instruction in that particular state.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
So we need to talk a little bit more now about each of these individual tracks that we have. The slightest is on its way, it’s going to be just a second. But for clinical mental health counselors and professional school counselors, there may be questions about what can I do? What doors do I open? Which doors might close by choosing a certain track. And as Louise mentioned, there’s one, I think the important parts of our program is that we do allow students some time to really consider what type of counselor they want to be clinical mental health or school. There are options that are similar with both of them. But there also are some things that you would get by choosing one that you might not get by choosing another.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
Clinical mental health counselors, often they work in the community. They may work in community mental health agencies. In private practice, in nonprofit agencies, in hospitals, in substance abuse centers, they may work with individuals and groups and families and couples. They may work in college counseling centers as well. The emphasis in this is individual and group counseling. They assess and they diagnose, and they certainly focus on individuals from a wellness developmental model, which is an important part of being a counselor. Professional school counselors work in K through 12 settings. They do classroom guidance, and they do individual counseling, they do some small group work, as well. They coordinate activities. They work in the school as administrators, and also as counselors in that regard. So one thing to recognize as some of you may be wanting to do college counseling, you might think, well, school counseling makes sense since college is a school. But clinical mental health counseling would be the route you would want to take if you wanted to emphasize college counseling.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
Let me tell you a little bit about our faculty. I’m going to start with two of the notable ones. They were in the program for a very, very long time. We used to be a part of the Department of Education. And we split from the Department of Education and became the Department of Counseling in 2003. And Dr. Sam Gladding was our first chair of the department of counseling. And following him, was Dr. Donna Henderson. In fact, Dr. Henderson was the first online program director for our program and really help set up the structure of what we have now. We don’t like to or our students who graduate from our program to just be counselors, we want them to be leaders. And if they are going to be leaders in the profession and in their communities, we also have to be leaders in the profession and in our communities. And Dr. Sam Gladding and Dr. Donna Henderson certainly have fulfilled that.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
We have lots of faculty though, as well. We have, I think 21 or 22 of us with diverse backgrounds, and diverse interests. And all of them they teach on campus, and they also teach online, fantastic faculty members. And so if you’re looking for a particular niche, I’m quite certain that one of them would probably have experience in that particular area of expertise. So I’ll point out a few for you right now. Dr. Jennifer Rogers writes a lot on addictions work. And Dr. Seth Hayden, is currently the president of the National Organization related to career development in counseling. And a lot of impressive faculty and certainly not enough time at this very moment to go over all of them.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
So, online learning. So you may be wondering, how do you translate counseling, which is very interpersonally based, to an online format? Is that possible? Can I learn the skills? Can I develop the self awareness? Can I really become a counselor remotely from afar? And that was certainly one of our questions at one point as well. But we found over the years that our online technologies and the way that we engage with our students to create community really does allow for them to become exceptional counselors. Who do really well in their internships, and really well after they graduate, as well. We tried to set up our program to accommodate different learning styles, not all of you are going to learn in the same way. But we also make it flexible for you. Although it is rigorous because we do graduate with a degree in counseling from Wake Forest University to work with real people with real problems. We want you to be ready and prepared for that. But we also understand that you have other things pulling at your time. So we try to set up situations that will help people step by step through the learning process in asynchronous and in some point instances in the program synchronous ways.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
So a few things that we do, we’ll use a voiceover for our PowerPoints to present. Faculty will send out weekly announcements, there will be discussion boards which will be similar to class discussions. We will have videos that faculty will present, there will be virtual live sessions that you can attend when faculty go over different components. There also the office hours for you to attend as well. And Louise also mentioned the residency in which everybody comes together. And once COVID is no longer a major scare, we’re going to be able to do that in person again. So there’s advantages to online learning. One is certainly the flexibility attached to it. Detailed instruction, we dot our eyes and cross our T’s. Doesn’t mean that there aren’t mistakes every once in a while, but usually, there’s very detailed instruction for you to go by.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
Connection and interaction. Well that’s a really important part of our program, we call it being high touch. But we also believe that it’s creating community. We believe that we don’t learn in a vacuum, we learn with others, and we try to create opportunities for you to get to know us and to get to know each other and interact in that sort of way. So we do create a cohort model for you. You will be going through the program, in many instances with the same people throughout. And so you’ll get to know each other, which creates a nice network of support. And also just different ways of learning from each other from a scaffolding or zone of proximal development sort of way. We have a great library that has amazing e library resources. And we’ve used a lot of creativity in our courses to help students. My very first experience in doing something beyond the traditional classroom as a student was an independent study course that I took, and it was in statistics. And it was a major stressor for me. I had a year to take it. I was sent a binder with the information that I needed to read and what I needed to submit via snail mail to my professor. And I was able to extend an additional six months. But I completed that course in 18 months, and it was one of the most stressful things I ever did.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
I got the opportunity to develop our research and statistics course. Which is one that is really, really important. But it’s also one that can provoke some anxiety sometimes for our students. And I remembered my experience really doing this all on my own. And I tried to create this research and statistics course in a way that provides stepwise examples for students to follow. So for example, if there’s a formula for doing a particular statistical analysis, I’ve created this thing where you can drag and drop numbers from a word problem into that formula. And once you drag and drop them in the right location, it triggers something to actually help you solve the problem one step at a time. So there will be a lot of support, a lot of guidance and a lot of resources for you throughout the process. All right, Adam, I’m going to turn it over to you.
Adam Hanna:
Thanks, Dr. Ivers. So, just a quick introduction, of course to the program. I don’t think that there’s ever enough time in the day to talk about all the great things that are involved. But a quick overview. And, we’re here in admissions to help support you through that process and learn more. But first, I want to talk about what’s required in order to apply to the program and what you’ll need as you move through the process. First, I do want to mention, you will have an assigned enrollment advisor who will support you through the process. So never feel like you’re alone as you’re moving through admissions requirements. If you have any questions along the way, not only about admissions, but does this program, will it help you achieve your goal? I think that’s paramount as we help you apply to the program and support you through that process. It’s also that, it’s the right program for you in the end as we get you started. But know that enrollment advisor is here to support you in submitting these items that you’ll see on your screen here.
Adam Hanna:
Most importantly, you have to complete a bachelor’s degree before submitting your transcripts to us for your application. And we only require the unofficial transcripts as part of the admissions process. So I know a lot of folks as you graduate, you are providing the transcripts sometimes you still have access as a student to be able to have the unofficial transcript. So that’s all you need for admissions and then once an admissions decision is rendered, we’ll work with you to get an official documents submitted.
Adam Hanna:
But unofficial transcripts will be required. And we do require a minimum of a 2.5 GPA in order to apply to the program. That’s gonna be a cumulative GPA over your course of study from your bachelor’s degree. You’ve got any questions, get those transcripts in hand and our enrollment advisors can take a look with you to make sure we’re looking at the right numbers. Going hand in hand with the transcripts, we do also require a GRE score. So if you’re not familiar with the GRE exam, our enrollment advisors can talk to you about the steps you’ll need to take to register and take that exam, and what you’ll need to do to prepare.
Adam Hanna:
We do, at times offer waivers for the GRE requirement. You will want to talk to your enrollment advisor about that, and also have transcripts in hand to be able to talk to them about a potential opportunity. Not always an opportunity for everyone. But again, if you need to take that GRE, we’re happy to help you out in planning how, where and when you can take that. So you’ll see some scores here, then if you’ve never taken the GRE, then maybe just some numbers thrown out there. But we can talk about scoring as well, that 300 that you’ll see is a combined verbal and math score. And then the three is the writing score. So there are three separate components to the GRE exam. And again, we can provide you more information on scoring and what that looks like. What’s going to be important, is that you are prepared to take that exam and also get it taken in a timely manner, depending on the term that you’re looking to apply to. Because it does typically take about a week and a half, two weeks to get official scores. And so we want to make sure we give you enough time. So certainly that could be one of the final things you submit. But I want to make sure you have that conversation early and start planning.
Adam Hanna:
The other thing that’s a little bit outside of applicant’s control as we move forward is letters of recommendation. And we highly recommend identifying those folks who are going to be offering you a letter of recommendation through this process. And we look for academic or professional recommendations. And we do require a minimum of three. Now these are all submitted online, so you don’t have to worry about collecting letters and physically sending them in. We ask that you identify those folks, provide their contact details so that those recommenders can actually upload directly into your application. Again, identifying these folks early will allow you to work on other admissions requirements, as they work on their letter of reference for you. Should you have any questions about who you could utilize, sometimes a quick conversation with an enrollment advisor will help in identifying who those folks can be. Because the goal as we review our applicants is really to get a holistic view, utilizing all these pieces to that process.
Adam Hanna:
So again, if you’re unsure who you can utilize, a quick conversation with an enrollment advisor will help you identify who those folks might be able to be. We do require a personal statement as well, roughly 500 to 1000 words, this is your opportunity to talk to us about your story. What is your dream look like prior to coming to us? What are your plans? And where do you see yourself going? That just gives you a small outline to help prepare that statement. But ultimately, it’s about identifying what your goals are to make sure to help us understand rather, this is a program that aligns with the goals that you have.
Adam Hanna:
The other thing that we do require and something I work with all of our applicants on, is the webcam interview. This is a process that you’ll set up with your enrollment advisor. And we will get that schedule a time that works for you. We will go through a series of questions through an interview format, and do that via webcam. So that is recorded. And what that allows our review committee to do, is again deal to see a holistic view of our applicants. So understanding from my personal statement, take a look at your previous academic history, your transcripts, taking a look at letters of recommendation, other folks perspective on the work and experiences I’ve had with you. And then that webcam interview, it allows us an opportunity to meet you before you become a full time student with us or a part time student online. But, really allowing us to build that connection early, like Dr. Ivers and Louise talked about earlier in the presentation. It is about a student centered model and working collaboratively. And we really think that begins to the admissions process. So, we will be able to meet you through that interview. And again, we’ll schedule it at a time that’s convenient for you.
Adam Hanna:
The final piece of the application is going to be an $8 application fee, which we always recommend submitting last. So work on the other pieces, submit your application fee as the final piece, which will indicate that it is time to submit you for review. And submit that to the review committee. So we will work with you along this process. I always recommend creating a checklist for yourself. But your enrollment advisor can send you one as well. We try to make sure that we create a plan that works for you, but also that aligns with the admissions requirements and the application deadline, as you should see for our upcoming term here. And we are currently taking applications for the spring 2021 term which starts in January. I know 2020 just seems like it started these last few months. For some of us have have flown by but we are taking those applications for spring now, which again begins in January. You’ll see our application deadline is still about a month and a half or so away on November 1st, and classes do begin for that spring term on January 11, 2021. But as Dr. Ivers did explain early on in the presentation and Louise as well, that we do offer multiple starts throughout the year.
Adam Hanna:
So although spring is our current term we’re taking applications for, we do offer a summer start as well as a fall start. So don’t be hesitant about reaching out to an enrollment advisor, because this is an opportunity for you to create that plan. Whether it’s now, six weeks from now, whenever that may be, it allows us to create a plan for success for the application. So let us know what questions you have. As part of the admissions process, we’ll enter those one on one. But before we provide some contact details for you, I do want to jump into some of the questions that we have for today, to make sure we get those answered and then just provide a little bit more detail.
Adam Hanna:
So, I’m going to jump into the first question here, which is just about classes themselves. And we have a couple of folks who have asked, what is the length of classes? What does that look like in terms of commitment for myself, especially if I’m a working professional? Dr. Ivers, do you want to talk about the different requirements. I know there’s a few classes that are a bit different, but do want to talk about some of the course length, or perhaps the least, about what those different lengths are for our courses.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
I’m happy to. He has a really good question. For many of our courses, the content based courses, you would take them one at a time. And there’s seven weeks each. And so you would take two courses each semester for many of the semesters, there are some differences as you move along in the program. How much time it would take to commit to each of these courses to get the grade that you would want to get, and to learn what you need to learn would really vary based on your particular learning style. I used to have students asked me how long will a test take to complete? And sometimes I would give the test and some would finish it in 15 minutes, and others would take two hours. And so there’s quite a lot of variability. The best I could say is, it will be a master’s level reading level as well as assignments and things of that nature. And so it’s doable for working professionals. But I would say, it will be rigorous. It can be a lot, but I think it would be very, it’d be significant. But it also will be very meaningful throughout that process.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
Our clinical courses are 14 weeks in length. And that’s important because you have to accrue so many hours at your site. So for practicum, it’s usually 11 to 15 hours per week that you would be at a site for internship, it’s a little over 20 hours. So it’s almost like, it’s like a part time job if you’re going to go over 14 weeks during this. And so, RK grip also requires that these experiences be a minimum of 10 weeks in length. And so, that one’s longer. We have different options available for students to accommodate different work schedules and challenges that they might have. And so for some, internship doing 20 to 22 hours a week plus their job is just not feasible.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
And so we can spread it out over three semesters where they do 200 hours, each of these three semesters. We also have an option for some students. And they have to have done really well academically for this and have done well in their other classes. But for some, we can collapse it into one semester, kind of a full time internship is 600 hours in length. And they could complete those two requirements in that very semester. For some people, they can say I can take a sabbatical or something at work to be able to focus on my schooling at this time and then go back to it later. So there are some things to help very busy people like yourselves. And it is a commitment. And that’s I think that’s something to recognize as you move forward.
Adam Hanna:
Thank you, Dr. Ivers. And again, if you have more detailed questions about how it might impact your life that, that I think is number one. Because [inaudible 00:34:03] Dr. Ivers said, very. So I think having a good understanding of what your schedule looks like, will help. So again, ask those questions early. We are here to support you through that process and making sure you can put the puzzle pieces together for your life. Because we know in the last few months, things have changed. But we still have to move forward. And so we’re here to help you through that process. So definitely reach out, if you’ve got more detailed questions about timing. So I appreciate that Dr. Ivers and you’re actually coming up.
Adam Hanna:
A few more questions with the, sort of the adjustment of hours and the possibility of that. So I appreciate that. And we do have a couple of folks asking about different backgrounds. I don’t come from a psychology, social work or sociology background. I come working in a lab environment with a geology background, but I am interested in becoming a clinical counselor. Are there things I shouldn’t do before applying to become a better quality candidate for the program?
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
I think actually, one of those beautiful things about the counseling program, is that it brings in people from diverse backgrounds in terms of their training. That’s not always the case with other helping professions, such as the psychology. You have to have had a degree, an undergraduate degree in psychology to move on to get a degree in counseling or clinical psychology. I think that’s the case in all, if not most programs. But in counseling, we assume that you do not necessarily have a social science background. Many students do, but not all do. And so we don’t teach you as if you would have known. A lot of these concepts, we teach you all these things as if it’s the first time that you’ve experienced it. And in a way it is because you’re not learning it in terms of just gaining the knowledge, you’re learning it in terms of how do I apply that knowledge, which is a much different process in many ways.
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
So we welcome diversity of training. And yes, I mean, there’s certainly some things you could read, to maybe begin to build up that background and that knowledge. But also know that you will not be behind with a geology background, or environmental science or english or one of the other humanities, if you were to come in the program without having done some of that preliminary work.
Adam Hanna:
Thank you, Dr. Ivers. I think, from my experience working on admissions, I think we see that all the time. So if you’re ever worried, again, talk to an enrollment advisor. Talk about the experiences they’ve had working with other applicants, because truly, that’s part of the diversity of this program is only the makeup of our students with their educational backgrounds. And I think something we enjoy, understanding how did you get from your original background into this? So again, if there’s more questions about that, let us know. Just a few more questions. And then if we are unable to get to your question today, we will definitely have an enrollment advisor follow up.
Adam Hanna:
But we do have some questions about, if I’m in another CACREP accredited program, or if I’ve changing classes at the graduate level, will those classes transfer? Or will those meet the requirements at Wake Forest? And Dr. Ivers, you have more information. But I want to start by saying we do accept up to six transfer credits, from faculty approved courses. So just because you’ve taken the course doesn’t mean it’s necessarily going to be accepted as a transfer credit. We’ll need a couple of things from you, in order to submit that request, that we do submit that request upon successful entry into the program.
Adam Hanna:
So we would need a syllabus from each of those courses. And then you will need the transcripts as well. And you would work with your enrollment advisor to get that submitted once you’re accepted into the program. Any additional information on transfer credits, Louise or Dr. Ivers that you want to provide?
Dr. Nathaniel Ivers:
It’s actually very well said, Adam. The only thing that I would add is in many instances, if it is a CACREP accredited program, we would accept it. But it has to go through our process. We send it to a faculty member who teaches that particular course, and let them look at it in terms of alignment, then a decision would be made. But there are certain courses so we say we really need them to be here. And we need to understand their development. So for example, if it were a basic counseling skills course, or an advanced counseling skills course, or a clinical course, such as practicum, or internship, we would not accept a course like that from another program. Because we’re putting our stamp on you saying that you have met our requirements, we really want to see that in person. But some of our content based courses, very likely, if it comes from a master’s level programs CACREP accredited, we would accept it. But it still would obviously have to go through our process.
Adam Hanna:
Thank you Dr. Ivers. Again, I think this just shows the importance of working collaboratively to make sure that, we all know that folks are working, they have families, have other things going on and so we want to make those conversations to sink and get you what you need to make this smooth process. So again, if you’ve got more detailed questions, if you’ve taken courses, if you’re in a program currently looking to transfer, let us know so that we can help you on navigating that portion in addition to the admissions requirements. So we are coming close to time here. And I know we’re a bit over a half hour. So I want to just touch on one additional question and we will follow up with the other folks who unfortunately, we’re not able to get to today.
Adam Hanna:
Dr. Ivers didn’t touch on the requirements for some of the states, and that some states may require additional coursework in order to get licensed. And folks, a couple folks who are interested in seeing that list or what will be required is not something that can be obtained prior to starting the program. We do have that and that, again, is something our enrollment advisors can provide. So, again, mention up early, so that you can know those requirements because again, Dr. Ivers said we’re here to support you through that process and help you understand because there’s a lot that goes into it with clinical skills, internship hours. And so, understanding what your best options are. Sometimes it’s pursuing the program with us here, and being able to find that course or work with us to be able to take that outside of the core sequence. So, did you have concerns about applying in your state?
Adam Hanna:
First and foremost, I would recommend finding your state licensing requirements so that you have those on hand. I think that’s important from day one of applying all the way through graduation, because you’ll be working with your state board. But also, our enrollment advisor can talk to you about those requirements. I think, if you’re potentially mobile during this process, you want to make sure that you have those few states on the list that you may need to look into. But again, that is part of the admissions process as well as helping you understand, how do we get into that end goal once we start the process of enrollment. Like you said, I know there’s couple questions we were unable to get to today, but we will have an enrollment advisor follow up with you on those specifically.
Adam Hanna:
Like I said, in this process, we have a wonderful team who’s supporting both current students, future students, and those just interested in learning more, it starts here in admissions or with our enrollment team. So if you do have any questions, do let us know. Like I said, we are currently taking applications for the spring 2021 term. We are excited to help students navigate the admissions process for that deadline of November 1, and getting started in classes on January 11. You can contact us directly with a quick call. You can see our phone number there on the screen. Please go ahead and give us a call, you’ll be assigned an enrollment advisor and they’ll be able to follow up with you with more contact details.
Adam Hanna:
If you feel more comfortable scheduling an appointment directly with our enrollment team, you can find our online calendar through the scheduling tool, which you can find right on the screen there as well. Either way will work and will get you to the same team. What’s important to us is that we can make the communication work. We know that everyone has other things going on whether that’s work family, other obligations. And so we have multiple methods of contact, phone, text messaging, email appointment scheduling. And so, it’s a matter of working with you to get what you need. So please reach out if you have questions. I do appreciate everyone’s time today. I want to thank again, Dr. Ivers and Louise for joining us for the presentation and we hope you all enjoyed it as well. We look forward to working with you. If you have any questions, please contact us.