<p>
Which profession is that? Because I’ve noticed that often two different individuals with exactly the same profession post completely different responses to this question.</p>
<p>With the exception of investment banking, where there appears to be unanimity that you need to go to a “high end” school, with a little variation on exactly what “high-end” means.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all the help. Every website I have been to has the following blurb:</p>
<p>To become a registered art therapist, the American Art Therapy Association (AATA) has determined that one must possess a master’s degree from an AATA-accredited program.</p>
<p>Now maybe what the AATA thinks is irrelevant! I don’t know. But based on that, we have always assumed she should get an MA in art therapy.</p>
<p>I’d have to check the license requirements in every state to determine what each will require because I don’t have any idea what state she will end up living in. That sounds like a lot of work!! </p>
<p>After talking to my daughter, her plan of action is to apply to multiple schools and see how the money all shakes out. She knows she can’t just pick the one that throws the most money at her and that there are other factors to take into consideration, but at this point we don’t know what offers she might get. Once we see what is out there, the answer might become a little more clear…I hope because it is pretty muddled right now!</p>
<p>Obviously, where professional licensing is an issue (e.g. civil engineering), then the minimum should be that the school has a properly accredited degree program in the desired major.</p>
<p>Even when accreditation per se is not required, it can function as an indicator of baseline quality, although, in some majors, a non-accredited degree program can still be of good quality (although non-accredited degree programs can also be of poor quality). Of course, how high the minimum standard for accreditation is can vary between different subjects.</p>
<p>OP- the AATA may not be as important a credential as they’d like you to believe. In New York State, for example, there are loopholes:</p>
<p>To meet the professional education requirement for licensure as a Creative Arts Therapist, you must present evidence of receiving a master’s or doctoral degree in Creative Arts Therapy from a program that is:</p>
<pre><code>registered by the Department as licensure qualifying;
accredited by the American Art Therapy Association or another acceptable accrediting agency; or
determined by the Department to be the substantial equivalent of such a registered or accredited program.
</code></pre>
<p>A program located outside the United States and its territories may be used to satisfy the professional education requirement if it:</p>
<pre><code>prepares individuals for the professional practice of Creative Arts Therapy; and
is recognized by the appropriate civil authorities of that jurisdiction; and
can be appropriately verified; and
is determined by the Department to be the substantial equivalent of a registered licensure qualifying or acceptable accredited master’s or doctoral program in Creative Arts Therapy.
</code></pre>
<p>The New York State website goes on to list all the ways you can provide “substantial equivalence” if you are not AATA accredited-- you can check the site, and the requirements seem pretty straightforward. To my knowledge, none of the people I know went the AATA route. It is not that hard to get another type of degree and fulfill the requirements. (unlike for example, the State Bar Associations… very hard to become a licensed lawyer without attending law school.)</p>
<p>But again- the bigger point is your D may not want to end up at a school she chose which will lead to the Art Therapy/AAATA accredited route if she ends up abandoning Art Therapy entirely.</p>
<p>What really matters is what standards OP’s dau will be held to.
[So</a> You Want to be an Art Therapist, Part One: Art Therapy as a Career Path | Psychology Today](<a href=“http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-healing-arts/201101/so-you-want-be-art-therapist-part-one-art-therapy-career-path]So”>So You Want to be an Art Therapist, Part One: Art Therapy as a Career Path | Psychology Today)</p>
<p>There’s a link to NIH/Nat Inst of Health. You can follow the author’s set of articles. It will eventually bring you to the credentials board, [Art</a> Therapy Credentials Board](<a href=“http://www.atcb.org/]Art”>http://www.atcb.org/) which clearly states, Becoming a Registered Art Therapist (ATR) requires the completion of master’s level education (including art therapy core curriculum and supervised practicum and internship experiences) and post-education supervised clinical experience.
If they are wrong, so is NIH.</p>
<p>She’s got a few years to refine her goals. Best of luck.</p>
<p>“My daughter is absolutely going on to grad school and she will be attending a top school for that. Her graduate degree will be very specialized and there are only a handful of colleges across the nation that offer this degree.”</p>
<p>wakeup13: Why not a Bachelor’s in Art Therapy? There are also about 30+ institutions that offer a Master’s in art therapy, and about as many that offer a Bachelor’s. That’s quite a bit more than a handful.</p>
<p>PolarBear–great suggestion. I looked up schools with Art Therapy UG’s after I saw your post. There are a lot of schools on that list that give great merit aid too.</p>
<p>^ This is the short answer:
As a minimum of a master’s degree is required to practice art therapy and to become a registered (ATR) and board certified (ATR-BC) art therapist, our goal is to assist these students in exploring art therapy as a career choice and to help prepare them for graduate level education. (Seton Hall)</p>
<p>Still leaves grad school.
Note that when someone already has a related Masters, eg, counseling, it seems they are run through addl coursework and etc to certify for art therapy.</p>
<p>I would strongly recommend having her sit in on some classes, if possible, at both the larger Us and the Gulf Coast college. One issue may be the level of discussion and challenge at the college with less rigorous stats. If she finds that the higher level classes are fine and the professors of interest, it is probably a good bet. Also, the focus of the students both in and out of the classroom is something to consider. </p>
<p>If not, she may be better off at the bigger school, even with the bigger classes. I can’t believe she would not have the opportunity to take smaller classes. The UF website common data set reports many classes with smaller numbers of students. </p>
<p>It may not matter that much for grad school admission or for the job market. However, it may make a big difference in her undergraduate experience.</p>
<p>Checking out the honors college may also make a lot of sense.</p>
<p>I would also suggest looking at some “lesser ranked” LACs who might offer her enough merit dollars to make the COA the same as UF. Good luck!</p>
<p>I looked up the Cost of Attendance at UF which runs just under $21,000. I looked up one school on the list, Seton Hill, that has an Art Therapy UG degree and automatic merit aid and after a starting cost of $42,800, brought the cost down to $28,000 but also opportunities for other competitive scholarships as well.</p>
<p>Other schools on the list-Bowling Green, COA $30,000, again, minus merit aid, lower cost than UF for OOS. There are other’s on that list where the OOS cost is less than the in-state cost at UF or close to it. Florida State U has an UG major in Art Therapy. A lot of schools on that list are “no name” schools for CC, however, there is a very good chance they are great feeder programs to the master’s programs she wants/needs since they appear to be structured that way.</p>
<p>Mom2and, I was just talking to a friend yesterday who suggested the same thing. I think it would be great if she could sit in on a couple classes!</p>
<p>SteveMA, She does not want to UG in art therapy. The focus of <em>most</em> UG in AT are art centered. She does not want a degree in art. </p>
<p>I know there are merit scholarships out there but she would need to get accepted into the school plus have high enough markers to qualify for the full merit. Also, the cost of moving OOS needs to factor into it. She needs to start applying and see what she is offered. At this point, it is all a guessing game. “If you get X amount from this school…” Also, passing on a Florida school will mean she can’t use two different FL only scholarships that she has. Maybe the OOS will come in with a better price but I’d need to see all the numbers to make sure.</p>
<p>Has your daughter considered an undergraduate degree in Social Work? She would gain experience through internships and would be an applicant with a professional degree when she applied for a master’s program.</p>
<p>Have you thought about UMiami? I realize the price tag is very high, but it seems to want to attract the top Florida HS students. Several students from our HS have gotten very good packages – close to free rides – merit scholarships and grants. You should at least run the NPC numbers.</p>
<p>Entertainersmom, The problem with an UG degree in social work is that she needs a mandatory 30 hours of coursework in psychology to get into the art therapy program. 99% of the SOW classes won’t count. She also needs 30 hours in art so she would have to major in social work and minor in both art and psych. I’m not sure there would really be any point in that. </p>
<p>10smomlc, We are definitely going to take a look at UMiami. We’ve added UTampa, as well. We are looking at a lot more privates now than we were in the beginning.</p>
<p>Here’s how I feel about State schools. They are as good or as bad as the education system in the state where they are located. </p>
<p>When looking at state schools, I always try to keep in mind the quality of the K-12 education system in that particular state. Most students matriculating to a big state school, will have been educated in-state. Therefore, one can surmise, a state with a highly ranked, very good public school system (across the board) will have very good state universities that provide good educations. </p>
<p>Those located in states where the public K-12 education system is struggling, are likely to have State Universities full of kids whom were educated in this system. Therefore, the student body as a whole, is not going to be as well-educated. </p>
<p>Just my .02</p>
<p>You may already know the answer to this, wakeup13, but if not, it would be worthwhile to check: Do the schools with the Master’s programs in Art Therapy have a preference for students with B.A. degrees in Art Therapy? Even if they do not, what fraction of their admitted students already have an undergrad degree in Art Therapy? I could see someone in graduate admissions saying that the school did not matter, when they were thinking about an applicant whose undergrad degree was in the same field as the M.A., without considering a wider range of possibilities.</p>
<p>Lauren, I’m not sure the evidence supports your hypothesis.</p>
<p>Massachusetts for example- strong public school systems for K-12; the U Mass and State college systems are often described as step children in a state which has exemplary private colleges ranging from large universities (Harvard, MIT, BU,) Liberal Arts colleges (Smith, Mount Holyoke, Williams, Amherst, Boston College) small universities which feel like LAC’s (Tufts, Brandeis, Clark) and colleges with strong reputations but a narrow niche (Simmons, Hampshire, Olin).</p>
<p>I would not extrapolate from the relative strength of the Mass K-12 infrastructure and assume the same relative strength of its public U’s. U Mass is not Berkeley or U VA although many people wonder why not.</p>
<p>Steinhardt/NYU Master’s in Art Therapy:</p>
<p>admission prerequisites</p>
<p>Matriculation requirements include a Bachelors Degree from an accredited college or university. The undergraduate prerequisites are a minimum of 18 credits in studio art, 12 credits in psychology (in addition to Intro to Psychology), and 30 credits in the behavioral or social sciences and/or liberal arts disciplines. Applicants are expected to show proficiency in the basic area of the visual arts: figurative drawing, painting and clay modeling. The preferred choice of prerequisite psychology courses include: Abnormal Psychology, Theories of Personality and Child Psychology (or Developmental Psychology). Deficiencies in course credits may be made up either prior to admission or during the first semester that courses are available.</p>
<p>Seems to require fewer Psych credits and offers many options for other credits…
I know NYU is very expensive and tight with scholarship money, but perhaps other programs have more flexibility also.</p>
<p>Yeah Blossom - Mass is a wonder. As you point out, there are just so many really exceptional private schools. From Harvard to BC to BU to Wellesley there are seemingly zillions of great private schools in the number one education state. This is one reason why UMass is not UVA. So, you are probably right. But, I stand by my hypothesis. UMass is the exception, not the rule. And…I would absolutely send a kid to UMass before I’d send a kid to a State U in a state that ranks at the bottom.</p>
<p>I guess I don’t understand why she would not want an UG in Art Therapy. The programs are most likely geared toward getting kids into the Master’s Programs and would most likely have advisers to help facilitate that process, much like you see with pre-med programs, etc. As for out of state vs in-state, you don’t know until you know. I know that Florida has some pretty nice in-state scholarships so that is a consideration but don’t discount OOS privates just because the initial price tag is high. Until you get your final package, you just don’t know. Run the net price calculators on some of those schools and find out where you really stand before making any assumptions. One school DS is considering with the highest initial price tag comes on the NPC as his least expensive school. They have substantial merit aid there apparently because our EFC is high.</p>