Finishing School

This has been the question of the year. How will Rachel finish school while having to work full-time? As many of you know, I've been trying to get a job as a school counselor with provisional certification. A job as a school counselor would allow me to finish my 600 practicum hours (and get paid at the same time.) It's just not feasible w/ Tony in school for me to quit my current job and get those done w/out any sort of income. So... nothing has opened up job wise -- most of the school districts would rather not hire provisionally. Makes sense. So it's been kind of weighing on me that I might not finish this degree that I've been working on and paying for. I'm only 2 classes and the practicums away from the Master's degree. But we just couldn't seem to find a way to get it in before we would be ready to move next summer.

Last night I went to dinner with friends from school and all of a sudden it dawned on me. I've been working on a dual track degree that gives me both a Master's in school counseling and a master's in licensure counseling (professional counseling). The licensure track only requires 300 practicum hours... where the dual track requires 600 hours. So... the thought is that instead of getting both degrees I will just finish the licensure degree.

I called my advisor today and it isn't going to require any extra classes. I will have to take Multicultural Counseling this fall, Research Methods in the spring, and then get my 300 hours done in the spring. Of that 300 hrs, I can complete up to 100 of them early, this fall. So I will shoot for that. The only other thing I have to do is complete a portfolio class that I'm currently enrolled in. It is a class that I had to take for the school counseling, but they are able to count it in lieu of a graduate project. So... I scheduled an appointment on Monday to change my major and schedule my class for the fall.

I will have a Master's Degree after all!!