Linked-In

Get Linked-In with UNT Dallas Graduate studies!

If you are a member of the popular professional networking website and a current graduate student at UNT Dallas, we would love to network with you.

Please visit our public profile: UNT Dallas Graduate Studies
and sign up to our group for all graduate students at UNT Dallas.



Join our UNT Dallas Graduate Studies group today, on Linked-In!

Master's in Counseling - Career Resources

Master’s in Counseling -- Career Resources

What can I do with a master’s degree in counseling?

A master's degree in counseling psychology provides training for students who wish to work in private practice, universities and community colleges, industry, mental health and mental retardation centers, rehabilitation settings and hospitals. In many states, master's-level practitioners are required to work under the supervision of a licensed doctoral-level psychologist. With additional course work, graduates of the program may meet requirements for licensure as professional counselors or marriage and family therapists. (http://www.unt.edu/pais/grad/gmcpsy.htm)

Counseling Job-Related Titles
Private Counselor Psychologist Psychotherapist	Social worker Crisis Intervention Case Worker	Correctional Caseworker Hospice Care	Probation Officer School counselor

Bureau of Labor Statistics Information

• A master’s degree generally is required to become a licensed counselor.
• Job opportunities for counselors should be very good because job openings are expected to exceed the number of graduates from counseling programs.
• The health care and social assistance industry employs about 47 percent of counselors, and state and local government employ about 11 percent.

(http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos067.htm)

Specialties in counseling

• Substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors help people who have problems with alcohol, drugs, gambling, and eating disorders.
• Rehabilitation counselors help people deal with the personal, social, and vocational effects of disabilities.
• Mental health counselors work with individuals, families, and groups to address and treat mental and emotional disorders and to promote mental health.
• Marriage and family therapists apply family systems theory, principals and techniques to individuals, families, and couples to resolve emotional conflicts.

Counseling Job Search/Listings Websites

Psych job listings in geocities (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Flats/5353/classes/psychjobs/)

Social Service.com (http://www.socialservice.com/)

Federal Jobs (http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/)

Jobs with the US Department of Health & Human Services (http://www.dhhs.gov/jobs/index.html)

Jobs with the US Department of Housing & Urban Development (http://www.hud.gov/jobs/index.cfm)

The Corporation for National & Community Service (includes Americorp) (http://www.nationalservice.org/)

Professional Associations, Organizations, and List-servs

ACA - American Counseling Association (www.counseling.org)

TCA - Texas Counseling Association (www.txca.org)

EARLY REGISTRATION!!!!!!

10 Top Reasons to go to Grad School

1. Advance Your Career ----> Most professionals, especially doctors, engineers and scientists, need PhDs. Others that used to get by with BAs now need at least a master's degree.
2. Do Your Personal Best ----> Grad school is a great place to test your metal.
3. Joy of Learning ----> Grad school can give more of what you love to do, and gives you the opportunity to become an expert in your field.
4. Be Paid to Learn ----> As a grad student, you get paid to work as a teaching assistant or research assistant, which usually pays three times more than minimum wage and includes some benefits and vacation pay. What's more, you get the inside track on how your professors evaluate students' work.
5. Rite of Passage ----> After four years as a lowly undergrad, you finally earn some respect, and you can call your professors by their first name. You're part of the hood, literally.
6. Place of Refuge ----> Grad school is a good place to park yourself while you figure out what you want to be when you grow up. It also gives you a respectable excuse not to work.
7. Expand Your Mind ----> There's no better place than grad school for a complete mental workout.
8. Earn Prestige ----> A graduate degree will open doors to not only a myriad of professions, but also to the inner circle: the more letters trailing your name, the closer you get to the inner sanctum.
9. Build Your Network ----> Grad school will give you the opportunity to meet many people with diverse knowledge and experiences, many of them famous. Not only do you get to rub shoulders with the best and brightest, but you also get to establish valuable contacts that will serve you well in your future career.
10. Expand Your Horizon ----> Grad school gives you the opportunity to live and work with people all over the world.

GradSource.com

Why Go To Grad School?

Many people return to school after working for a few years in order to advance in their current career, and many others are returning for a career change.

Many professions require the education of a graduate degree perhaps for state licensing requirements or accreditation. If you want to manage others or start your own business, a graduate degree can prepare you for the demands of the modern work place.

Graduate work gives you the opportunity to obtain specialized training in an area or field of your interest. You will be instructed by professors who have either worked in these fields or have conducted some kind of related research.

Additionally, the same students in the program will be just as passionate about the subject you study as you are, helping you gain confidence through peer interaction.

A graduate degree is more prestigious than an undergraduate degree, and most companies and institutions realize this when they seek new employees. A graduate degree is a great achievement that increases job satisfaction and self-confidence.

Graduate students have more networking opportunities and receive knowledge and training that would take years or connot be learned on the job.

Those with master's degrees or doctoral degrees will earn significantly higher salaries than those with a bachelor's degree. Holders of a graduate degree end up being better compensated for their education than if they had stopped at the undergraduate level.

If you have a graduate degree, you are likely to start your career at a higher level and continue to advance your career at a faster rate.

Going On To Grad School

If you have a clear sense of your career direction, and if an advanced degree is required for entry into that field, then applying to graduate school makes perfect sense. Law, medicine, and college or university teaching, for example, are areas in which education beyond the bachelor's degree level is required.

For most college graduates, however, the decision to continue their education will not be as clear-cut. If you're unsure of your career goals, this can present a real problem at the graduate level, where you are expected to have clearly defined interests leading to an area of specialization.

A convincing argument can be made that working in an area related to your interests before pursuing graduate study can lead to a more effective experience in graduate school. First, related work experience will help you clarify career goals. You will learn what it takes to be successful in a given profession and can then assess your abilities accordingly; this knowledge should help you decide on an area of specialization. Second, the perspective, learning, and maturity acquired from practical experience can be applied to the theoretical concepts promoted in your studies and should increase your understanding of them. Finally, work experience can sometimes enhance your application credentials by offsetting mediocre grades or test scores. In the case of some competitive professional schools, admissions committees may be as interested in your work background as your "numbers."

read the rest of the article in Job Choices 2010, available in the Graduate Enrollment Office at the University of North Texas at Dallas.
Jane E. Levy. "Going on to Grad School." Job Choices 2010 p.51

Free GRE Online Demo and Practice Test

Thanks to our friends at the Princeton Review you can take a Free online Practice Test. This, of course, is an easy way to take advantage of another free resource to help you prepare for the GRE. Click on the link to get started: Free Online GRE Practice Test

Click on this link for the GMAT:Free Online GMAT Practice Test

Fall 2009 Registration Schedule

Textbooks: To Keep or Not To Keep . . . That Is the Question

By Jessica Recht

As an undergraduate marketing major I responsibly purchased all of my books at the beginning of each semester. At times, I was astounded by how much these textbooks would cost, even the used ones could run $90 and I am sure they cost more now almost 10 year later. I didn’t worry too much at the time though because I knew that, at the end of the semester, I would sell them back and get some much needed cash to celebrate the end of another semester. Sometimes the amount I would get back for a book was negligible, but as long as it was something I would gladly turn my books back to them. The only text books I kept were the ones that they refused to buy back because they were no longer current or not being used the next semester.

I was still in that mindset when I entered graduate school a year and a half later. The first semester I bought my books, and although I was more excited about them because the subject matter was something I was actually interested in, I still assumed I would sell them back at the end of the semester to soften the blow of their sometimes outrageous cost. Just like before, as soon as I was finished with my last final, I made my happy stroll over to the union to sell them back. I put the wad of cash in my wallet and left campus ready to go shopping!
Not so fast.

Later, during my second semester, I was taking a class and they referred to a book from a class we had all taken the previous semester. Several of my classmates still had their books and were able to reference them. I told them that I had sold my book back and they responded with shocked looks, ok maybe that was my perception, but still. After talking with them, they shared that “of course” they kept their textbooks, I mean after all this was going to be their career so they might need these books along the way.

Wow.

I had never thought of that before. I guess since I didn’t LOVE my undergraduate business classes and never thought I would need those books again it didn’t dawn on me that I might actually want to keep my counseling books. I felt kind of shortsighted. No worries though, at the end of the semester I went back to the book store and re-bought the books from the previous semester that I wanted back. I am sure they made some profit off of me (I mean who buys their book, then sells it, and then buys it back?), but in the end it was worth it. From then on I kept all of my text books and thus started my “professional library” of reference books.

I have been out of graduate school for three years now and in my office, on my bookshelf, I have several of my textbooks from graduate school. I have referred to them several times over the course of three years and they have really come in handy. I am not going to say I have looked at all of them over and over again, but you never know. Every now and then there is a situation that arises where I need guidance and I feel confident knowing that I have some resources to start with.

Moral of the story- if you plan on making a career out of your graduate degree then keep your books!

Jessica works in the Student Development Office at UNT Dallas and is in charge of Career and Personal Counseling. Jessica also holds a Master's in Counseling

What Is a Master's Degree Worth?

Check out this article from the NY Times website:

What Is a Master's Degree Worth?

I also enjoyed "Not All Degrees Are Equal" by Richard Vedder on the same page. It reminded me of how difficult it is to choose a life path that will influence the rest of your life. Remember when you were asked: "What do you want to be when you grow up?", perhaps the question should be "What master's degree do you want when you grow up? In today's economy it makes more sense to pursue a more specialized education, and from what these articles are saying, it seems like getting a master's degree is not without pitfalls.

This official guide contains Verbal and Quantitative sections from 7 previously administered paper-based GRE General Tests, including one test with explanations. It also provides several examples of each type of test question found on the test along with explanations of the correct answers.

It includes Analytical Writing information with sample topics, responses and scoring information and contains a math review section to familiarize students with the mathematical skills and concepts likely to be tested. Test-taking strategies, answer sheets, correct answers and score conversion tables are also included. For more information or to order please visit www.ets.org.

It's still time to early register for 5wk II

Graduate students Graduate students enroll:
7:00 a.m., March 30 through midnight June 22 (for graduate courses).
7:00 a.m., April 6 through midnight June 22 (for undergraduate courses).

Payment Deadline is:
5:00 p.m., June 23rd. If payment is not received you will be DROPPED from your classes for nonpayment.

Admissions Night 2009

Admissions Night

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

5:30 p.m.—7:30 p.m.

· Learn about University of North Texas Dallas Campus graduate programs

· Learn more about financial aid and scholarship opportunities for graduate students

· In order to have your application fee waived you must

1. Complete the online Graduate School application at www.applytexas.org.

2. Print the confirmation page of completed application.

3. Attach official transcripts to confirmation page.

4. Submit all documents during admissions night November 20th, 2008 to receive the application fee waiver.

5. Test scores (GRE, GMAT, Millers Analogies; if you have not taken any test please indicate when you will take one)