Counseling and Psychology Programs at Edgewood College
Edgewood College appears in our ranking of the Top 25 Small Colleges for a Counseling Degree.
The Psychology Department at Edgewood College offers a program designed for undergrads that will prepare them for the college's marriage and family therapy. Students can also study other areas of psychology at the graduate level or find work for a private company or a nonprofit organization. This department is very small and accepts only a small number of new majors each year. The college believes that this will help students form better relationships with their teachers and their peers. Edgewood encourages students to do their own research presentations and internships, which they can complete at agencies across Wisconsin.
Graduate students who want to work with real clients can apply to the college's Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy program. Students must maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or higher in all their required classes and complete at least 48 credits of work. Some of the courses available in the program include Introduction to Systems Theories, Psychology of Trauma and Stress Disorders, Assessment and Substance Abuse Disorders in Marriage and Family Therapy, Marital and Couple Therapy and Ethics and Social Responsibility.
To meet the requirements for getting a marriage and family therapist license in Wisconsin, students must also complete a clinical internship. They will do 100 hours of fieldwork with direct supervision and 500 hours of clinical work. Edgewood College requires that at least 300 of those hours involve some direct contact and work with clients in the field.
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About Edgewood College
Edgewood College is a small private college in Wisconsin. Located in Madison, the college's campus overlooks a nearby lake and offers a number of opportunities for students who enjoy the great outdoors. Many students spend time on the water on the weekends and in between their classes. Founded in 1927, the school opened as the Edgewood Junior College. It took over the operations of an old boarding school designed for girls. As an arts and sciences college, it required that students take classes on the classics such as literature and history. After becoming a senior college in the 1940s, it added its first bachelor's program. This opened the door for the college to introduce more bachelor's programs and some graduate programs.
After facing financial issues and changes in its enrollment, Edgewood decided to admit male students in the 1970s. This simple change led to enrollment growing to more than 2,000 undergrads today. Around 500 graduate and doctoral students also attend the college each year. Edgewood College has an affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church through the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters who helped establish the college.
Edgewood College Accreditation Details
The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and its North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCACS) granted regional accreditation to Edgewood College. This is the type of accreditation that lets students seek out financial aid opportunities from the government. They can also transfer credits to an Edgewood program or carry credits they earned at the college to another school. Edgewood also has accreditation from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) for its graduate program of the same name.
Edgewood College Application Requirements
Edgewood College has set requirements in place for undergrads who want to earn their bachelor's degrees from the college. Those students can use the application portal that the college designed. This lets them enter information about the high schools they went to and any extracurricular activities they did. Once they complete this application and submit it the college, they will need to send in their official test scores and transcripts. Edgewood also encourages students to apply if they previously went to college but never finished their degrees. It will give students credit for some or all of the courses they already took.
The college's marriage and family therapy graduate program has different application requirements. These students must have a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited school and have a grade point average of 3.0 or higher. They can submit their transcripts to show their grades. The college will also use this information to make sure that the student has a strong background in the social sciences. There is a $30 fee that students will pay when they submit their applications too. The program asks for a reference form that lists the names of two professional or academic references. Those references must write letters of recommendation on behalf of the applicant.
Competition for this program is fierce because the college receives more applications than it has space for in the department. One way it picks students is based on their goals statement. This statement must be two pages long and list what experiences the student has that will help him or her in the marriage and family field and how the student placed to succeed in graduate school. Students will then submit a resume and go through an interview with a professor from this department, which must take place on the Edgewood campus.
Tuition and Financial Aid
Marriage and family graduate students pay $963 per credit hour as of 2018. The college estimates that this price will rise by at least 3% each year in the future. Any graduate student who takes at least three credits of classes each semester will qualify for the unsubsidized loan program available from the federal government. This program allows students to borrow a total of $20,500 each year. Grad students can use alternative loans that come from other sources such as private lenders too. Edgewood offers payment plans for full-time and part-time students who can make regular monthly payments also.
Freshmen and other undergrads can expect to pay at least $29,500 a year for tuition and school fees. On-campus residents will pay around $11,000 each year for room and board too. Incoming Edgewood students who complete the FAFSA should receive an award letter within a few weeks, but it may take longer for students who filed later in the year to get their letters. There are both federal grants and loans available for undergrads. They can also look at some of the grants available to Wisconsin residents such as the Wisconsin Talent Incentive Grant, which provides assistance to students from low-income families. Edgewood College also offers institutional aid for students majoring in psychology or counseling who demonstrate that they need more aid on the FAFSA.