Bec

Hi guys! I'm trying to make a decision for a School Counseling program. Ultimately I am trying to decide between Rider University and Villanova University. Has anyone also applied to these schools or have some insight about them that I might not have? I am thinking about posting on the Decisions thread with the pros/cons to work towards figuring it out. I live in PA and want to keep my options open for getting certified in both PA and NJ, but I realize that I can't practice in NJ unless I live there. Rider is a much closer commute for me than Villanova but it seems easier to get the LPC license at Villanova..?

Just submitted mine. It wasn't too bad at all! I think they just want to get a feel for how you write and that you can express yourself coherently. Best of luck to you!

I am doing the same thing for counselor education at Penn State! My writing sample time slot is Wednesday morning. Is yours before or after that?

Has anyone here applied to Rider University? I keep getting emails from them telling me to schedule an interview, so I've called 3 times now and nobody has been able to give me a date. They keep saying that I should "try calling next week" but it's already been more than 2 weeks since I got the first email. It seems odd to me because every other program gave me dates in their original email...

Ah, okay, I'm the opposite. I live in the Philadelphia area and I (mostly) applied to schools that I can commute to. I didn't apply to Lehigh, but my interviews for School Psychology are for Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and Rider (NJ). Also applied to Temple but haven't heard back. Best of luck on Monday with the interview! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Thanks for the responses everyone. It is indeed harder than I imagined to schedule these over top of my classes and I can't imagine how much harder it is for those of you with full-time jobs. I'm just going to bite the bullet and work extra hard to make up for the classes that I'm going to have to miss! I'd be more confident to ask to reschedule for a day I have off if they were individual interviews, but they are all group interviews so I know it's not possible. Love3, you are applying to School Psychology programs? 2 of my interviews are for School Psychology as well (the other 2 are for School Counseling). Did you apply to any schools in PA/NJ by any chance? And you are totally right--this is what we wanted, and hopefully down the road we will wonder why we were stressed in the first place!

Thank you so much for your reply baninterwebs! I'm sorry that you're in the same situation but it's also reassuring to hear that I'm not alone in this. I thought maybe I was being ridiculous or ungrateful, because I have friends who haven't received a single interview yet. My schools aren't exactly equal contenders either. The one I got an email for today isn't really as high of a choice as the other three. However, I would absolutely go there if I didn't get accepted to any of the others (that's why I applied, isn't it?) and you are right--how do I know for sure if I haven't even visited them yet? I already confirmed the other 3 interviews and this one said that the day for it isn't flexible. Yikes. I'm actually about to head out the door now to talk with my school adviser and hopefully he will be able to help me sort this all out. I'm also going to meet with my Monday class professors and hope that there's a way I can make this work. I mean, I can't be the only student they've had who had to go through this, right? Not sure about your boss's experience with that since it might be a more uncommon request for time off.

I feel like I'm having the biggest first world problem over here. Today I got an email for a 4th interview offer at a school. Awesome, right? Especially since they are all on different days. I should be jumping for joy, right? I was, initially. But I'm starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. They are all on Mondays, 2 of them consecutive weeks. Since I'm at college, I have to miss Monday classes to go all the way home and do these interviews. One or two is fine, I had my professors give me the OK, but now I feel like I'm going to be missing more than they'll be okay with (and missing more work than I can deal with), especially if I end up getting other interviews down the road. I also have to take off of work on these Sundays and Mondays too since I won't be here. I'm worried this will start to annoy my boss. She's understanding but that will be a lot of time missed. On the other hand, I don't want to turn down any of the interviews! I don't plan to. I guess this is just me ranting about how they are all on Mondays when it is a struggle for me to miss. I wish I could ask for them to be on Fridays (no classes that day) but they sound like they are all group interviews so it doesn't seem possible, and I don't want to leave a bad first impression. I realize that other people are probably in the same situation, so I'm wondering how everyone else it handling this? Even missing just one day of classes puts me far behind.