Mission
Program Objectives
Curriculum
Accreditation, Certification and Licensing
Admission Requirements
Professional Associations
Career Center and Library Resources
Key Faculty in the Program
Career Opportunities


Mission
Students who select this specialty have an interest in working with the career development of individuals in diverse settings (career centers, business and industry, employee assistance programs, or in private career consultation businesses). The curriculum of this specialty is based on the scientist-practitioner model of training as well as a holistic view of how career choice and adjustment impacts an individual's career and personal life. The mission of the MU Career Counseling degree program is to prepare individuals to practice successfully as career counselors and career center administrators in multiculturally, socially, and economically diverse work settings.

Program Objectives
To achieve the mission of the program - to prepare individuals to practice successfully as career counselors in the multiculturally, socially, and economically diverse work settings -Six program objectives have been established. The career counseling masters candidate in the program:

1. Will be able to demonstrate competence in individual and/or group career counseling.
2. Will be able to select and apply appropriate career theory with clients and will be able to articulate own personal theory of career counseling.
3. Will be able to select and use appropriate career assessments and information to promote clarity of choices and effective transitions.
4. Will be able to use knowledge and awareness of diversity issues to understand unique aspects of the career development of clients.
5. Will be able to demonstrate ability to integrate career and social/emotional counseling issues.
6. Will be exposed to a wide range of career planning services (and service delivery modes) and be able to transfer those services to a new work setting.

Curriculum
The "program planner," which guides the curriculum for this degree can be found here.

Accreditation, Certification and Licensing
The program leads to the granting of the M.Ed. degree. Students obtaining this degree will also have all or most of the necessary courses to apply for a license as a Professional Counselor (Licensed Professional Counseling; LPC) in the State of Missouri. Most positions that our students gain following their Masters degree do not require licensure, but if you are planning to apply your skills in more of a private practice or community mental health setting this may be important to you.  If so, please contact the State of Missouri licensing committee at 573-751-0018.

Admission Requirements
Admission to the M.Ed. master's degree requires a minimum 3.0 undergraduate GPA from an accredited undergraduate institution, a completed Department application form, at least three letters of recommendation, and official reports of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). The preferred combined score of the GRE on the Verbal and Quantitative is 1000 or higher. One of the most important admittance requirements is a strong interest in career development. Applicants should indicate their specific interest in the field of career development.

The preferred TOEFL score for International students is 580 for the paper test or 237 on the computer test for the masters, educational specialist, and Ph.D. degrees. In all cases, the Department seeks qualified applicants from diverse backgrounds with regard to race, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and disability status.

Professional Associations
Students are encouraged to join and become actively involved in the associations of the profession both on the state and national level. Depending on the eventual career path of the student, different organizations will serve them better. A discussion of the most helpful organizations given unique career paths should be initiated with the students' advisor. Some typical organizations that students within the Masters in Career Counseling area join are:

• American Counseling Association (ACA)
• American College Personnel Association (ACPA)
• National Career Development Association (NCDA)
• American Psychological Association (APA) and especially becoming involved in the Society for Vocational Psychology (SVP)

Career Center and Library Resources
The Career Center at the University of Missouri is a major resource for Masters students in the Career Counseling area. The Center is one of the largest and most programmatically diverse centers of its kind in the world. The Career Center has a long history (founded in the early 70's) on the MU campus and is nationally known for its paraprofessional program, its web site, and its integration of research and practice. Many Masters students gain assistantships working in various aspects of the center which provides excellent exposure to the Center as well as providing the Center with excellent staff!

The University library system carries these major career counseling journals including:

• Journal of Counseling and Development
• Career Development Quarterly
• Journal of Vocational Behavior
• Journal of Career Assessment
• Journal of Career Development

Key Faculty in the Program
A number of our faculty teach courses and conduct research in the career area. Those most directly involved in this area are: Drs. Lisa Flores, Norm Gysbers, Mary Heppner, Puncky Heppner and Joe Johnston. You may read more about their background and interest by going here

Career Opportunities
A wide variety of career opportunities exist for graduates of the masters in career counseling program. Many of our graduates have gone on to direct career centers, become career counselors at college or university centers, worked in student affairs on college campuses. Still others gain positions in business and industry, consulting, or in employee assistance programs.