CCNY counseling this year vs waiting for better school till next year?

[aceegreene]

Hey All!

I am a Fulbright scholar and am being sent to the City College of New York's (CCNY) Mental Health Counseling (MHC) Program for Fall 2016 this year. However, my application is still pending at Teachers College, Columbia and their decision was not waited for before deciding where I should be sent. At this point I am deciding between going to CCNY's program this year VS waiting another year and seeing if I can get into one of the elite counseling schools out there. 

I am thinking that a better school would provide me with a better opportunity for PhD admissions later on as well as better work opportunities.

Please advise!!! Thanks! 

[khunconan]

If you want to go to a PhD program in counseling or clinical (especially clinical) you should rather go to general or experimental psychology master's program or any program that is research-oriented with a lot of research opportunity. Research experience is VERY important for PhD  admission. Some professors are very biased against people with a counseling/clinical master's degree (mainly because the applicants may look way too clinical-oriented).

[Plasticity]

After reviewing CCNY it does not look to research oriented and looks more like a LMHC type program.