Hello everyone and welcome to the orientation lecture that focuses on course sequencing and advising. My name is Dr. Thomas Foster and I'm the program director of the counseling program and I will be walking you through this orientation. Let's get started. So, uh just a little bit of an introduction about the program. Uh you might already know this by now. Uh we are a 60hour KREP accredited uh counseling program. Uh we have two specializations uh one in clinical mental health counseling and the other in school counseling both of which are accredited by KRAP. Uh students have up to six years to complete the program and this is um uh set forth by the graduate school at ulm. Uh typically does not take that long to uh uh to get through the program. I would not recommend going through uh you know taking six years to do that because that can um erode clinical skills and content knowledge of of count you know of of what you're learning. So it's better to get done you know in a in a in a quicker amount of time so that way you can get out there and uh start practicing and not forget the skills that you've learned. But at any rate uh full-time in this program takes uh two years and two semesters. So, it's about two and a half years if you go full-time and part-time uh it takes three years and two semesters, which is about um uh you know about three uh three and a half years. So, uh that's the typically the amount of time if you go through uh the program in in the prescribed fashion, that's how long it'll take. Excuse me. Uh we have a sequenced uh all of our courses are sequenced in the program. uh we start with a fall cohort model. Everyone begins in the fall semester together. There is no spring uh cohort uh or summer cohort uh that everyone comes in in the fall and they go through the courses uh the sequenced courses in a in an order altogether. Now the first year courses are are mostly if not all foundational courses uh that uh speak to counseling uh in general uh uh or the profession of counseling in general uh that you know basic theories courses uh skills training um ethics things like that and then the secondyear courses build on the first year courses. These are more clinically focused and and uh they will uh you know build on the content knowledge and the skills of the first year but you know these courses are more related to um assessment uh diagnosis and treatment excuse me um courses are going to help prepare students uh uh for their clinical residency which is practicum and internship uh that comes uh later on in the program towards the second half of the program that student uh that you will begin your uh your clinical practicum and then move from the clinical practicum into your clinical internship. Now, typically we um we we really push since we're a professional program that students take 12 hours each semester for the fall and and the spring semesters to stay on track. uh three of the courses uh typically each semester will be required core courses. And then we also offer uh a series of electives during the fall and and and uh and spring semester that students can choose from if they're interested in those classes that will push them to the the 12-h hour mark. It's not a requirement to be 12 hours, but it's certainly something that we uh help uh students strive for uh each uh for you know for each semester. So the the courses that we have, like I said, I I've been saying that they've been sequenced uh and they're sequenced because they're only courses are only offered uh for one semester of the year. So we we do not offer all courses each semester year round. So if you miss a class, you're going to have to wait till that uh till the you know till that semester rolls around again in order to take that class. That's why it's really important not to miss classes or drop classes uh if if you don't have to. So, let's say you decided um uh like for your first semester uh uh if you're clinical mental health typically uh you would take intro to professional counseling, theories of counseling, and methods of counseling. Well, let's say you decided, hey, I'm going to I'm going to drop a course for whatever reason, and you drop methods of counseling. you're not going to be able to take methods of counseling until the following fall because we just we don't have we're not that large of a program to be able to offer all courses at all times. So, it's important that you take the courses in the prescribed order that you do uh because you don't want to miss a class and have to wait. But then also these courses build on each other and they serve as prerexs for each other. So like let's say you don't take methods of counseling uh in the fall semester that is going to disqualify you from taking group counseling in the spring semester of that year. So it's just it's really important that you follow the uh the prescribed order of the courses and take everything that all of the uh the required courses that you need to each semester because uh if you don't that will um that's going to throw you off track. Okay, let's move on to advising. Um, this process uh begins as soon as uh you're accepted into the program uh and you're given your student ID number. We call it a seaw number, which is uh short for campuswide ID. And then also your ulm email address. And you will receive an email from the graduate school that contains uh both of these things and and instructions on how to enter into your uh your email account. Now, I serve typically as your initial advisor once you're accepted into the program. I will help you uh with a number of things in terms of um uh getting your informal degree plan set up, uh submitting all of the paperwork that you need to such as your consent form, giving you your uh your um uh your counseling student uh uh handbook, uh you know, just a lot of those things, the vaccination waiverss. So, I serve as the initial adviser and I help you get all of that set up. Uh during that time, uh you also need to decide a few things. Uh number one, uh if you're going to go full or part-time in the program. And a lot of times people, you know, they they're they're kind of on the fence about, you know, whether they should or not, you know, depending on, you know, what their life circumstances are. And the one thing I always tell them is, you know, the the best advice I can give is always start out full-time. And during the first week or two, uh, in the fall semester when you, you know, have all the syllabi and you're laying it all out and you're trying to figure out, okay, how's this going to work? Um, if it looks like it's going to work, great, stay full-time. But if it looks like it's going to be too much, then drop down to part-time. It's always easier to go from full to part-time than it is part-time to full-time. Because if you go part-time to full-time, you're constantly trying to catch up to uh uh to the full-time status. And a lot of times that's going to be uh uh difficult to do uh because of the prerex uh set uh that are set up within the courses. So, but this is one of the things that you need to decide to do. And there's different informal degree plans that speak to full-time and part-time. So that's something uh you know that uh that I can help you decide to do or uh help you decide on as your initial adviser. Also what counseling uh track you want to that you want to pursue whether it's clinical or school. Uh now this would really been decided when you applied to the program that it the the application will ask you what concentration are you pursuing and and you would give it then and then depending on which concentration you'd be pursuing that would uh uh also determine who would interview you uh if you're if you are chosen for an interview. So this should really uh already be uh decided upon. The one of the bigger things that you need to do uh uh when you're creating your informal uh degree plan is deciding which elective coursework you want to take. That that's going to be the big thing. So once you decide on all this, then you can complete your informal degree plan. Uh this really needs to be done before you start in the fall because this will serve as the road map for what courses you need to take when. And I always tell people once you get this completed, send it to me. I will put it on file, but then also print it out and put, you know, put it somewhere where you you're always going to see it. So that way you know from semester to semester what courses to enroll in uh you know for that next semester. Um also uh uh this is you know the the part where you're uh for of the informal degree plan where you're filling in what electives that you want. Let me also say that if you you can always choose different electives there. I mean, I always say you pencil your electives in because initially you we just want a a kind of kind of a general idea of what electives you're coming in with that you're interested in. Now, after a semester or two, if you want to change all of your electives to something else, that's great. Fine. It's that's not a big deal. But we just, you know, we we we at least want to try to provide you a road map with the informal degree plan of if you if you choose electives and you decide to stay with those electives that you'll know exactly when to take them. So, uh, when you're done with your informal degree plan that I will send you, uh, in an email, when you're done with that, please send it back to me and I I will put it on file and I will review it. So, uh, just just to make sure that it all looks okay. Now, a a formal degree plan is going to be created in a uh in something called degree works. This is something that the graduate school uses uh that um spells out all of the required courses that you uh that you need to graduate and then also it as you take electives it will collect those elective and electives and put them in the uh the electives box uh in your degree works account. Now, you'll be able to access Degree Works through your My²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù uh uh account. And really what degree works is, it's kind of a it's a reflection of what you still need to take as a as a graduate student and also what you've already taken. So, it's it's a great way that you know you can um walk through this uh degree works account with your advisor once you're given a formal advisor uh you know and just to see you know where you at and where you're at in your in your degree plan and and and if you're on track or not. So, and and let me also point out like you know this is nothing you can't do anything in degree works. You can't change anything. you can only see what you've taken so far and what you still need to take. Uh and let me also point out you will be given uh a form a formal uh advisor uh during the orientation for the program which is typically the week before uh classes start in the fall. Okay. Once you're assigned your formal advisor uh how much should you stay connected with them? Well uh at least twice during uh during your time in the program. So, it it's going to be required to meet with your advisor each fall semester. Uh, and it's these are these are class requirements because we we need to make sure that you're meeting with them and that you're staying on track and if there's anything going on that they can help you with, they'd be happy to do that. So, for the first class uh for the first year uh in the fall, intro to professional counseling, that will be an assignment to meet with your advisor. Uh for the second year in the fall, uh most likely you'll be taking research and counseling. So you'll uh you'll meet with your adviser again at that time. Now you can meet with them every semester if you want or even you know a couple of times a semester if if you need to. Uh everyone's situation is different. So just reach out to them for those extra uh uh advising meetings if you need them and they they would be happy to meet. Uh you know when are some times that you really should contact them? typically when big things change on your degree plan like if if you're if you're uh you know reconsidering going you know from full-time to part-time or vice versa or if you want to make a concentration change which is going to be a little bit tricky if you want to go from school to clinical or clinical to school but meet with your adviser about that and they can guide you also you can meet with your adviser for a number of other things like uh as practicum and internship uh jobs uh near you might want to meet with them just to get share uh their thoughts and uh and guidance about maybe uh getting a you know securing a site or what kind of site you might want to uh you might want to uh look around for also for your comprehensive examination uh which is uh called the CPCE the counselor preparation comprehensive examination if you need to get guidance on that you know please meet with your adviser if you just want to talk to them about what jobs are available in the field that's always a good one because you know um I would say most of the faculty members are practicing clinicians in the field. So they might be able to guide you in terms of uh you know where to look for jobs or what kind of specializations uh are out there that you might want to pursue someday. If you're interested in doctoral studies, I'm sure they'd be happy to uh to speak with you about that or just the profession in general. So I think our adviserss are here to help you in any way they can. Uh just you know just reach out to them. uh they'll be reaching out to you or uh you know you'll be required to meet with them in the fu both fall semesters but for um you know for anything in addition please uh reach out to them. All right well this has uh been um uh an orientation on course sequencing and advising. If you have any questions please reach out to me. If not have a good day.