Satisfaction in Counseling Alumni and Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate satisfaction in counseling majors. The four independent variables investigated were gender, program status, employment status, and age. The following subscales of satisfaction were employed as dependent variables: environment for learning, scholarly excellence, quality of teaching, faculty concern for students, curriculum, departmental procedures, available resources, student satisfaction with the program, and internship experiences. Four composite null hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of significance on a population of 162 counseling subjects. Copies were mailed to 57 counseling students. 25 advanced counseling students and 80 counseling alumni. Of the 162 instruments mailed, 74 useable ones were returned. A questionnaire was utilized and distributed to students and alumni involved in the Counseling program at a small Midwestern university. A total of 126 comparisons plus 126 recurring comparisons were made. Thirty-six of the comparisons were for main effects and 90 were for interactions. Of the 36 main effects eight were statistically significant. The Significant main effects were: (1) employment status for the dependent variable scholarly excellence, (2) program status for the dependent variable curriculum. (3) program status for the dependent variable departmental procedures, (4) employment status for the dependent variable departmental procedures, (5) program status for the dependent variable internship experiences, (6) age for the dependent variable available resources, (7) gender for the dependent variable scholarly excellence, and (8) gender for the dependent variable departmental procedures. Of the 90 interactions four were statistically significant at the .05 level. The following interactions were statistically significant: (1) among gender, program status and employment status for the dependent variable environment for learning. (2) gender and age for the dependent variable departmental procedures. (3) gender and program status for the dependent variable available resources, and (4) gender and age for the dependent variable internship experiences. Results of the present study appeared to support the following generalizations: (1) subjects not employed while attending graduate school were more satisfied with scholarly excellence than those employed: (2) subjects with 3-15 hours and counseling alumni were more satisfied with curriculum than those with 16-30 hours and advanced program status: (3) subjects with 3-15 hours completed were more satisfied with departmental procedures than those with advanced program status: (4) subjects not employed while attending graduate school were more satisfied than those with employed 10-39 hours: (5) subjects with greater than 16 hours. Advanced program status and counseling alumni were more satisfied with internship experiences than those with 3-15 hours: (6) Subjects with who were 26-35 years and 46 years and greater were more satisfied with available resources than those who were 36-45 hours: (7) female subjects were more satisfied with scholarly excellence than male subjects, and (8) interactions for gender, program status, employment status and dependent variable environment for learning: interactions for gender, age, and dependent variable departmental procedures: interactions for gender, program status and dependent variable available resources: and interactions for gender, age and dependent variable internship experiences.