I have been accepted into several online master's programs for Spring 2021 and am wondering if you guys can give me some advice on which to choose. I know that online programs are generally seen as inferior to brick and mortar programs, but for a variety of reasons I must go the online route. My goal is to become a *private practice* therapist, so please keep that in my mind. Here are my options:
University of the Cumberlands online master's in clinical mental health counseling. This is CACREP accredited and likely the cheapest option, coming in at around $25,000 total. One negative for me is that the classes (2 per bi-term) meet synchronously once a week, meaning that two days a week I will need to be in class at a particular time. I would prefer the classes to be asynchronous so that I could take them whenever I want. I also haven't found any reviews online from people who have went through this program.
Capella University Clinical Mental Health counseling. CACREP - $42,000. I know that for-profit programs have a bad reputation, but given that I'm going the private practice route eventually, I'm not sure how much it will matter. In other words, I have little intention of applying to work at an agency or hospital where this degree would make me less competitive. One major benefit of the Capella program is that I could start in November (the other programs start in January)
West Virginia University Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling. CACREP - $39,000. This program combines clinical rehab and mental health counseling. I'm not too interested in the clinical rehab stuff but it seems interesting...
University of Kentucky MSW. This would be around $40,000 if I did a normal pace and around $25,000 if I did the "accelerated" pace. I know that the MSW degree is generally more respected and transferable than the LPC, but I'm much less interested in the MSW curriculum than the LPC curriculum which is why this program isn't higher on my list.
Does anyone have any experiences with any of these programs? Right now I think my top two choices are University of the Cumberlands because of the price and Capella because of the November start date and asynchronous classes.
Thank you!
