How Do I Choose the Best Family Therapy University?

Individuals who practice family therapy are usually highly trained counselors who are responsible for helping individuals to improve relationships among other members of their families. These professionals may conduct sessions either in groups or in one-on-one meetings. In some cases, family therapy professionals might also mediate conversations and negotiations among members of a family. To choose the best family therapy university, you first need to consider your own qualifications, as well as the requirements stated in a university's application guidelines. It also is important when choosing a family therapy university to consider factors such as access to professional training with seasoned counselors, teaching and practice models favored by faculty members, cost, and ease of accessing a university.

In order to find the best family therapy university, it is essential that you learn about requirements associated with each school. Most of these universities offer graduate level programs. It is common for a family therapy university to require that applicants have undergraduate degrees in fields such as counseling, psychology, or social work. Applicants also must have minimum grade point averages, specifically in fields related to family therapy, and satisfactory scores on proficiency exams. Most applicants to family therapy universities also are expected to have letters of reference from instructors in related fields or from professional managers or supervisors.

Once you have located a number of schools in which you are interested and to which you are qualified to apply, it is important that you begin to consider details about each family therapy university. The most reputable schools commonly allow students direct access to therapy centers, where they can work along side established professionals as interns and learn to counsel individuals with complicated family issues. Students in good schools also might have access to rich libraries and databases they can use to perform research that goes into completing their papers.

As in most fields related to psychology and counseling, family therapy professionals subscribe to different philosophies that govern their practices. For example, some professionals might specialize in psychotherapy while others might focus on systems theory. If you are unfamiliar with which kinds of techniques and philosophies to which you are partial, you might want to read some introductions to major practices prior to applying to a family therapy university.

It also is good to consider more practical matters when it comes to choosing the best family therapy university. For many aspiring family therapy students, the best schools are those which offer financial aid in the way of grants and scholarships. It also is important that you choose a family therapy university that either is close to your home or which is in a location to which you would not mind moving.