Hi all!
I am brand new to the admissions blog site! My name is Marjorie and I am a second semester student in the Ed.M program in Psychological Counseling (school counseling concentration). My program is 60 credits and takes about 2 full years to complete. Depending on your concentration, the program prepares you to be licensed either as a school counselor or a mental health counselor. When I graduate the program, I hope to work as a school counselor either in NJ or NY.
The semester is definitely getting busier as spring break approaches because professors like to cram in all of their exams and projects before we leave for break. I was supposed to present a midterm project in class tonight, but the class was cancelled due to the snow! So, I’m, bit frustrated that I have to wait until next week to present because I spent a lot of time making sure that I would have everything ready for tonight, but hey, things happen, right? I have a midterm tomorrow (Tuesday) and also one on Thursday, consisting of multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions. My last midterm will be on Monday next week. Luckily my fifth class is an experiential course that does not require a midterm.
I’ve found that this semester I have a lot more group projects and presentations than actual exams for my classes, and I really am not quite sure how to feel about that. The projects allow me to collaborate with others and really learn the material, yet can be more challenging in terms of the amount of work, etc. The exams, while they can be very stressful, are usually a bit easier because they are over and done with very soon if you study hard. I am glad that my professors, in giving a mix of projects/presentations and exams, are catering to different student comfort levels and learning styles.
Aside from thinking about midterms, I am also trying to secure a fieldwork site for my second year of the program (a major portion of my program is doing 600 hours of fieldwork in either a mental health or school counseling setting). It has been a little stressful trying to apply to a bunch of sites and go on interviews while still trying to keep up with the work in my five classes. Hopefully it will all pay off next year when I have an excellent field placement.
Anyway, I hope that everyone is having a good semester! Talk to you soon.
-Marjorie
mes2208@columbia.edu
