How to compare Masters research opportunities during admissions process?

[stantaj2]

Hi all! I am starting to get responses from Masters in Counseling. I hope to apply to move on to doctoral work in the future so I'd really love some input on what I should be looking for when considering which school to attend. Many of the schools I have applied to offer seemingly great research opps so I am wondering how I should compare them and if there is anything specific that I should prioritize. For example, when I spoke to a student at one school,  it seemed like the work she did for a prof. was a mix of administrative work and ad hoc research-related tasks. Is this pretty standard? Any thoughts on what to look for would be greatly appreciated! 

 

Also, wondering if the program being clinical mental health vs. just mental health makes much of an impact if I hope to apply for a Ph.D. in counseling psych. 

 

Thanks!

 

[ClinPsy01]

Hi there,

As faculty in a pre-doctoral prep Clinical Psych MA program here are my recommendations re: research experiences in a Master's program if the goal is to go on for a PhD. You'd be best served (for clinical or counseling doctoral programs) by attending a Master's program that requires a master's thesis or at least emphases research training. There are Clinical MA programs that are designed to help students get the experiences and training necessary to obtain admission to clinical and counseling Ph.D. programs. There are also excellent experimental M.A. programs with good track records of getting students into doctoral programs (including clinical and counseling programs). Mental Health and Mental Health Counseling programs emphasize clinical training and are focused on training students for licensure at the Master's level. While some may provide opportunities for research involvement I would ask the following questions:

1. Is it possible for students to do a master's thesis? If so, how many students on average choose to do so? Is the opportunity guaranteed or contingent on faculty availability (if they have a doctoral program, this is key as many faculty may not want to take on a master's student for their thesis.

2. If master's students volunteer (or are even offered a research assistantship), what opportunities will be available to present at conferences and to author or co-author manuscripts.

3. (perhaps most telling if a doctorate is your goal) How many students from the program are admitted to doctoral programs within 3 years. (And how many students who aply to doctoral programs are admitted within three years).

Best of luck and do reach out if I can be of additional help in any way.

[CowpokeMT]

I feel like research opportunity is typically very rare in Master-level counseling programs. CACREP-accredited programs usually only include one basic research course in the curriculum, and it is not expected that you get any further training in research methods or stats solely from the program. It is further important to note that most faculty members in counseling got their degree In Counselor Education, a very different trajectory compared to the field of psychology, and their research may not be relevant to the more common topics in psychology. You are expected to complete your training almost solely in clinical practice, which has very limited value in the admissions process for PhD programs in psychology (according to my personal judgment). Whether the word “clinical” is present in the program name is not important - it’s just a tactic for programs to advertise themselves. Feel free to DM me if you want to discuss more about counseling programs.

[Yep]

8 hours ago, CowpokeMT said:

I feel like research opportunity is typically very rare in Master-level counseling programs. CACREP-accredited programs usually only include one basic research course in the curriculum, and it is not expected that you get any further training in research methods or stats solely from the program. It is further important to note that most faculty members in counseling got their degree In Counselor Education, a very different trajectory compared to the field of psychology, and their research may not be relevant to the more common topics in psychology. You are expected to complete your training almost solely in clinical practice, which has very limited value in the admissions process for PhD programs in psychology (according to my personal judgment). Whether the word “clinical” is present in the program name is not important - it’s just a tactic for programs to advertise themselves. Feel free to DM me if you want to discuss more about counseling programs.

Objectively, I disagree with almost everything you said lol ?

But I think you are looking at it from a clinical Psychology Ph.D outlook rather than a counseling psychology outlook like the original writer was requesting insight in.

 

from my experience, I noticed many applicants in my interviews for counseling psych PHD were from counseling masters and most of the faculty came from a variety of masters level programs, none of which were counseling education (no offense to the writer who mentioned that).

If I was to go back in time and redo a masters, I would focus on counseling psych masters at big universities (U of Missouri, KU, UGA, UofKentucky, etc). These type of programs have funding opportunities, research lab opportunities, and train you to be a masters level clinician. In addition, you have higher chances to interview in the programs Doctoral level program and you could have additional advantage since you might know some of the faculty.

That’s just my perspective. I believe the faculty that wrote on here really gave all the insight needed to pick a program that will help you succeed. Also! Avoid all for profit schools. Don’t get sucked in

 

[CowpokeMT]

1 hour ago, Itzik said:

Objectively, I disagree with almost everything you said lol ?

But I think you are looking at it from a clinical Psychology Ph.D outlook rather than a counseling psychology outlook like the original writer was requesting insight in.

 

from my experience, I noticed many applicants in my interviews for counseling psych PHD were from counseling masters and most of the faculty came from a variety of masters level programs, none of which were counseling education (no offense to the writer who mentioned that).

If I was to go back in time and redo a masters, I would focus on counseling psych masters at big universities (U of Missouri, KU, UGA, UofKentucky, etc). These type of programs have funding opportunities, research lab opportunities, and train you to be a masters level clinician. In addition, you have higher chances to interview in the programs Doctoral level program and you could have additional advantage since you might know some of the faculty.

That’s just my perspective. I believe the faculty that wrote on here really gave all the insight needed to pick a program that will help you succeed. Also! Avoid all for profit schools. Don’t get sucked in

 

I see there are some misunderstandings here. What I am saying is that it is quite standard for the faculty members of CACREP-accredited Master's in Counseling programs to obtain their PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision instead of any field of psychology. I did some research after reading your comment, and I noticed that it is also true that some Master's in Counseling programs have faculty members from other psychology-related fields, only if the universities also house an APA-accredited PhD program in counseling psychology. So I think this is something original post should be thinking about when evaluating which counseling program to choose. I am speaking from the perspective of someone completing a CACREP-accredited Master's program in Counseling whose university does not have an APA-accredited counseling psychology program.