How It Works: Getting A Masters In Counseling Degree Online

Video Transcript

Host Question: Can you do any of your masters in counseling counseling degree online? And if so, what would be the advantages or disadvantages?

Guest Answer: You definitely can. I did. I chose a master’s program that was online, like I said, because I was clear about my work schedule. Also, online programs, not only do they give you the flexibility, but they often give you the opportunity to really see what’s out there. Admittedly, when I did the research or a local college to go on campus and do in-person classes, I wasn’t really impressed with their program. And so that really is what pushed me to looking into other avenues. And so I landed in an online program. And I was able to pace myself. And I think that was key. There were semesters where maybe I was term somewhere, maybe I was only taking one course, but especially for research and statistics class, that was enough because I was having to spend all of my time and energy and mental capacity on that class because I wanted to do well.

Guest Answer: Now there are actually some entire master’s programs that are all online, sometimes completely online, except for the clinical portion. What I am observing is that there are just more and more opportunities for virtual therapists, folks that are running private practices that are entirely zoom, private practices where they’re not actually meeting clients in-person. I think from an academic standpoint, there certainly is quite a practice component to earning a master’s in counseling, like a lot of role playing and having your classmates practice on you. And perhaps having a doctoral student or a faculty member sit-in and give feedback on what you’re doing well. And I think some of those pieces, some students may find easier to do in person. And there’s a lot of opportunities with the technology platforms that we’re using now that, like, didn’t exist even five years ago. I think it’s all about what your ultimate career goal is and how that education program might match to that.

Host Question: Can you do a master’s in counseling degree online? And if so, what would be maybe some advantages and disadvantages?

Guest Answer: Well, I can answer from my perspective of not having an online course. Like I really appreciated the interaction with my peers. And also the class work was more hands on than I would imagine doing it remotely. But I think remotely would just be like the accessibility. But then the challenges I would imagine that might come up would be when you’re trying to do your practicum, because I would always go to campus and have access to my teachers if something came up. But otherwise, I imagine you might have to do a lot of phone tag trying to get a hold of someone.

Guest Answer: There are a lot of programs out there with online master’s in counseling. The plus side of doing that is that you can work in whatever job you have and take classes on the side and be able to juggle both of those rather than going to a lot of in-person programs. The drawback, though, is that there’s a lot of sharing and talking and group dynamics that you can gain from in-person classes that you may not get in an online setting. A traditional face to face master’s program really provides that interpersonal connections that you can gain from students that are valuable to the counseling process. I went to a brick and mortar program and we had a cohort of 24 students and in our courses with a lot of small group work partner were practicing role playing. Just a lot of those honing the counseling skills that I really valued with going into a traditional program.