<p>Hi</p>
<p>I need some help choosing btw the schools for masters in counseling psychology</p>
<p>I have received admission from</p>
<p>Teachers College-Columbia Counseling psychology (2yrs program)</p>
<p>University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Counseling psychology (2yrs program)</p>
<p>I am still waiting to hear from University of Toronto-Counseling psychology (1.5 yr program)</p>
<p>Although I want to become a counselor, I want to work with children and/or students. Therefor, I want to become a school counselor (or academic advisor in universities) instead of a mental health counselor.</p>
<p>I am a Canadian and I would like to work in Canada, but the problem is that I need a teaching certificate as well as a school counselor licensure to work in Canada. Since psychology isn't teachable major, I would need to spend another severals yrs to get a teaching certificate.
(In the states, it seems like they don't require teaching certificate for school counselors)</p>
<p>For this reason, I would not go to University of Toronto even if they offer me admission. Their program focuses on mental health counseling also.</p>
<p>so..I have to decide between University of Minnesota and TC@Columbia</p>
<p>According to the rankings, TC is #1 in Education, and Minnesota is somehwere around #13. Whereas for counseling psychology programs, TC is somehwere around #17 and Minnesota has been ranked as #2 consistently.
However this is for Ph.D, not masters, so I am not sure if all this ranking actually mean anything</p>
<p>Anyway, although TC provides school counseling specialization, it seems like their whole program put great emphasis on adult mental health counseling.</p>
<p>On the other hand, University of Minnesota seems to provide adequate courses on school counseling for those who intend to pursue that field.</p>
<p>In sum, both school will eventually lead me to become a school counselor.</p>
<p>But then, there's the whole school prestige thing again...</p>
<p>all my friends and family think I should go to TC because it's Columbia</p>
<p>I even talked to the senior advisor in my school, and he said there will be a definite difference between Columbia and Minnesota when I apply for jobs.</p>
<p>However, on this forum, many ppl seem to be against TC.. and prestige doesn't really mean anything in the field of psychology.</p>
<p>Is this true?</p>
<p>Right now, I don't think I would want to go for Ph.D.</p>
<p>How is Univeristy of Minnesota in terms of its general prestige?</p>
<p>It seems like ppl in Canada..at least the ones around me think there's no reason to go to the States for such school.</p>
<p>Whereas they think University of Toronto is ok as long as I don't mind becoming a mental health counselor.</p>
<p>Maybe it's because the tuition is much cheaper for UofT(around $7000 per yr whereas it's around $30 000 for Columbia. I think it's around 15 000 per yr for Minnesota)</p>
<p>In this case, what should I do?</p>