cancelling essay

MASTER OF COUNSELLING – Guidelines for Admissions Essay

The ability to write effectively is an important professional skill which is emphasized in graduate education. The application process for the Master of Counselling requires a paper defining your professional goals and addressing relevant past and current experience in support of your becoming a counsellor.

The writing sample is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your writing skill and to briefly describe your professional goals and personal values. Reflection on these topics also begins the process of self-exploration that will continue throughout the program.

Please write 1 to 2 pages for each of the main sections listed below. Your 4 to 6 page paper must be word- processed and double spaced.

1. Professional Goal Statement a. State your reasons for wanting to complete a Master’s degree of Counselling and why you have chosen

to apply to City University’s Master of Counselling program. b. Briefly describe the optimal qualities that counsellors should possess prior to entering the counselling

field, and the extent to which you possess these qualities. c. Identify your major learning goals for your master’s program, and the steps you will take to achieve

them. d. Describe what possibilities will be made available to you as the result of completing the Master of

Counselling program.

2. Personal Experience a. Briefly describe one or two important life experiences that have contributed to your identity and your

view of the world. b. Briefly discuss your most significant personal beliefs and values, and how these beliefs and values will

impact your work as a counsellor.

3. Self-Awareness and Commitment a. Describe the situational or institutional challenges you might encounter in your Master’s program, and

identify one or two strategies or strengths you will use to overcome those challenges. Situational and institutional challenges might include time, finances, program requirements, university requirements, etc.

b. Describe the personal or emotional challenges you might encounter in your Master’s program, and identify one or two strategies or strengths you will use to overcome those challenges. Personal and emotional challenges might include unresolved personal issues, personal biases, or blind spots, habits and attitude, interpersonal difficulties, etc.

4. Support System a. Describe your current support system including counselling for yourself, attendance at workshops,

participation in support groups, and other means of support. b. Outline how you will use and expand this support system throughout your Master’s program.

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