In this post, I will share more secrets to acing your acceptance interview. For more secrets, check out my previous post.
9. Be open to feedback. Leave your defenses at the door. If we make a suggestion, do not tell us why you can’t do it or haven’t done it yet. Graduate counseling programs aren’t just about learning technical skill or knowledge domain content. A large part of your program will be about learning how to be present and in relationship with your clients. The nature of the feedback you will receive to become competent in this area is based on our opinions and is therefore subjective. For this reason, a defensive person does not make a good counseling student.
10. Show us your stuff. Think of this interview as a way to show us what you might be like as a future counselor. We know you don’t yet have the training, but we need to see some core aspects of your personality that indicate you will be a good counselor. Yes, we look for these when we are talking to you. (By the way, that last sentence is probably the most important “secret”!)
11. Get appropriate reference letters. Be sure to have at least one academic reference letter. Even if it’s been several years since you were a student, ask your professor anyway. We need to have some way of evaluating your academic ability, and your GPA and GRE scores can’t really give us a full picture. Oh, and please do not allow your references to use letterhead inappropriately. For example, do not present a reference from a friend on academic letterhead, even if that friend happens to be a professor. We notice these types of things and I’m sure you don’t want us to think you are trying to mislead us.
12. Research your interviewers. At least know the areas of interest, including but not limited to research interests. Not only will you impress us with your preparation, you will avoid “foot-in-mouth” disease. Let me elaborate. For example, if one of your interviewers is a sex therapist, avoid explaining to us what the term “sexual addiction” means. Or worse, referring to a frequent porn user as a “perpetrator.” At a minimum, this type of behavior can be interpreted as ignorant. Worse, it can make you appear arrogant. Not a good quality for a counselor.
13. Listen to the question. What is one of the most important qualities of a counselor? Ability to listen well. If you show us you aren’t listening to the question we will think you have poor listening skills. Plus it’s just darn annoying. And I know you don’t want to annoy us.
I hope these two posts were helpful. We really do want to see you succeed! “Bad” interviews are painful for us, too.
Yours in the Joy of Knowledge,
Dr. Barbara LoFrisco
