Additional Requirements
Level of Scholarship: A grade point average of 3.00 is required for the M.A. in Counseling. Only nine hours of C are permitted for the M.A. in Counseling degree, and these must be balanced by an equal number of hours of A credit.
Personal Development: All students are expected to pursue their own personal development and self-awareness by obtaining counseling as they academically prepare themselves in this degree program; therefore, students are required to pursue personal counseling in order to remain in the program. Students are expected to have started their personal counseling by their second year in the program.
Academic Advising: Every student is expected to meet with his or her academic adviser prior to registering for classes each term.
Assessment: Each spring, students enrolled in the M.A. in Counseling program will receive a written annual evaluation of his or her progress through the program. A summary of the evaluation will be provided for each student. Counseling faculty will work with students not currently meeting program expectations, or who are experiencing special challenges in order to create a remediation plan to help them succeed. Such a plan may include referral for personal therapy, deferral of course work, or withdrawal from the program.
Degree Candidacy: The student should apply for candidacy to the degree during the first week of November of the academic year in which he/she hopes to graduate by filling out a Request for Degree form and returning it to the dean’s office. The student is responsible for notifying the registrar if, after applying, he or she is unable to complete graduation requirements.
Statute of Limitation: All degree requirements must be completed within a 10-year period from time of entry into the program. Students who have the M.Div. may transfer up to 30 hours of equivalent course work to the M.A. in counseling degree; students with our M.A. or M.A.C.M. may transfer up to 27 hours into this program. Such transfer students have 10 years to complete the degree from the point they enter the M.A. in Counseling program. If one goes beyond the time limit, one may obtain a time extension of one year for each additional three-hour course successfully completed in one’s area of area of study with the approval of his/her adviser.
Probation: After the completion of 12 semester hours and thereafter, students with grades below a 3.00 average will be placed on academic probation. To remove probation, a student must achieve a 3.00 overall average during the next 18 hours of study.
Counseling Department Handbook: Students are expected to know and follow the information and policies contained in the HST Counseling Department Student Handbook. The Handbook is available online at www.hst.edu.
