Antioch University Psychology and Counseling Options
Antioch University appears in our ranking of the Top 25 Master’s Degrees in Marriage and Family Therapy Online.
Antioch University offers psychology and counseling programs for online students and those who live close to one of its campuses. Some of those campuses offer opportunities for students that they will not get online. Its Seattle campus is home to a counseling center that offers support and services for both students and local residents. Counseling students can complete their practicums and internships at this center and what it is like to work with real patients.
Its online Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling has accreditation from the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). It ranks as one of the top 20 online counseling programs because it requires that students do practical work in their own regions and cities. Students must do at least 20 hours of field work each week, and many students choose to do their fieldwork experiences on the weekends. Students will spend two weeks on the campus to complete a residency requirement, but all the other work they do is online. This includes taking classes such as Assessment: Principles and Methods, Professional Orientation and Ethics, Issues in Addictions Recovery and Research and Evaluation for Counseling and Therapy.
The MA in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) is offered in a “low-residency” format, which means that six face-to-face residencies are required throughout the three-year program. During the third year of the program, students will have a 12-month internship near their place of residency.
Online students can also major in different areas of psychology. The university’s Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology prepares students for helping others who suffer from mental health conditions. Students can graduate after taking eight quarters of full classes, but they can also take part-time classes and graduate in 16 quarters. The courses they take can include Human Sexuality, Domestic Violence: Spousal, Elder and Child Abuse, Research for Mental Health Professionals and Contemporary Issues in Aging.
This program is also available with specializations for those who want to focus on a key area such as child studies. The child studies specialization features courses on identifying signs of abuse in kids and working with special needs children. Other specializations are available in general practice, applied community psychology, trauma studies and spiritual and death psychology. Antioch University offers one of the only graduate psychology programs with a specialization in LGBT affirmation studies too. Undergrads can enroll in the university’s Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies with a specialization in psychology program or its applied community psychology certificate program.
About Antioch University
The university system now known as Antioch University started with just one branch in Ohio. Established in 1852 as Antioch College, it opened in the small town of Yellow Springs and featured an educational system that borrowed heavily from the one used by Harvard University. This college expanded in the coming years and acquired several campuses in other states. Each of those campuses now has a name that includes Antioch such as Antioch University New England in New Hampshire. Antioch became an official university system in the 1970s. The original campus in Ohio became an independent college in later years and now operates as Antioch College.
Students today can apply to any Antioch University branch, but they must submit their applications directly to each campus. They can also take online courses and sign up for programs that include some offline components. Many of the university’s psychology and counseling programs require that students attend some residency sessions. This will require that they attend a two-week session on the campus responsible for that degree program. Antioch University now has campuses in New Hampshire, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ohio. The Ohio campus uses the name Antioch University Midwest to separate it from Antioch College.
Antioch University Accreditation Details
It’s very important that students look at accreditation when comparing schools today because some colleges have religious or national accreditation. Regional accreditation is far better because it’s what the United States Department of Education requires schools to get and offer federal student aid. Antioch University has regional accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), which will also allow students who already earned some college credits bring those credits to the school. Each individual campus and branch of this university system has its own accreditation and accreditation for some of its degree programs.
Antioch University Application Requirements
Antioch University follows a quarter schedule and starts classes two times a year during each quarter. Students usually need to submit their applications at least two weeks before the beginning of a new start date, which gives the university time to process their work and any information that they submit. As the university only offers undergrad programs for those who already took some college classes, students must have at least 24 credits already completed before starting an online program at Antioch. They will submit official transcripts, a goals statement and the online application. Antioch University may require that students do an interview with a psychology or counseling faculty member or that they provide up to two letters of recommendation.
The online mental health counseling program requires that students have a bachelor’s degree and a grade point average of at least 2.7 on the standard 4.0 scale. This GPA must be cumulative and include all behavioral and social science courses and all other classes that the applicant took. They will also write and submit a short statement that explains why they want to study counseling at Antioch. Students usually need to complete an interview and submit three letters of recommendation and a resume too. The psychology programs that are available on its physical campuses have similar application requirements.
Tuition and Financial Aid
Graduate students enrolled in the clinical mental health counseling program will pay $700 per semester hour. This includes the university’s $625 tuition rate and its technology fee. Undergrads pay $350 per semester hour. They face the same rate for any psychology classes they take and any of the courses they take from other departments. On-campus students pay a tuition rate set by each individual campus.
Scholarships and grants are just some of the options offered by Antioch for students applying for financial aid. It maintains a database that shows students all the federal grants they might get and all the external scholarships that they can apply for on their own. The university does not offer scholarships for online students, but some of its campuses have scholarship programs for traditional students. Antioch University students majoring in psychology and counseling programs on any campus should submit the FAFSA too.