BA in Psychology with the Counseling Psychology Emphasis (CPE) and MA in Mental Health Counseling (MHC)

Overview

Trinity College and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) offer a dual Bachelor of Arts/Master of Arts degree that allows a student to take graduate course work toward the MA in Mental Health Counseling (MHC) while completing the BA in psychology with the counseling psychology emphasis.

This dual degree program is an accelerated program where undergraduate students, as early as the junior year, may apply to the Mental Health Counseling (MHC) program at TEDS. They may also begin taking one graduate course per semester/session from the Divinity School as part of the undergraduate load and, if admitted to the TEDS MA/MHC program, may count up to twelve of these credit hours toward undergraduate requirements.

Interested students are advised to discuss the program with their advisor as early as possible to allow for expedient course planning and to assure that overlapping course requirements can be planned and scheduled.

Junior Year

Upon completion of 70 hours with a 3.0 GPA and permission of their advisor or department chair, students may submit a cross-registration form (juniors need the signature of the college academic dean) to request permission to take graduate level courses (up to three graduate credits or one class per semester/session until admitted to the MA/MHC program).

Students may apply for acceptance to the Master of Arts  in Mental Health Counseling (MA/MHC) degree through Trinity Evangelical Divinity School admissions; they must have a Trinity GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale and 70 hours of undergraduate course work. They must also have a positive recommendation from their academic advisor or Psychology Department chairperson. Transfer students may apply for the program if they have 70 hours of undergraduate coursework, a positive recommendation from a former professor or their academic advisor, and a 3.0 GPA for all transferred college work including a 3.0 GPA in Trinity coursework. (It is also strongly suggested that the student be a member of Psi Chi.¹)

To be accepted to the MA/MHC program as part of the dual degree option, the student must have an interview with a full-time faculty member from the Counseling Department (usually the department chair) and it is recommended that the student take a course with a full-time member of the Counseling Department.

¹

Psi Chi is the International Honor Society in Psychology. Trinity is a registered chapter of Psi Chi.

Dual Degree Status

Once admitted to the MHC program the student will be granted dual degree status and up to twelve hours of credits that count toward the MA may also count toward the BA, reducing the total number of required hours to complete both degrees. Also, a student may then take more than one graduate level course per semester/session. (Only one graduate course per semester/session may be billed as part of the student's undergraduate load). Upon completion of the undergraduate degree, the student will be approximately a full semester ahead as he or she continues graduate studies in the MA/MHC program. In the last undergraduate semester, in addition to any other graduate level courses, the student should take ID 5080 for 0 credits to accelerate the path to candidacy in the MA/MHC program.

Undergraduate Bachelor of Arts Degree

Psychology major with counseling psychology emphasis completed either December, May, or August of senior year.

Semester or Session (Summer) Following Final Senior Semester

Students are eligible to take a full load of graduate work. Graduate course work would continue until the Master of Arts Degree (Mental Health Counseling) is completed (2 ½ years).