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School guidance counselor vs psychologist

The differences between school guidance counselors and psychologists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a psychologist has an average salary of $97,803, which is higher than the $49,562 average annual salary of a school guidance counselor.

The top three skills for a school guidance counselor include crisis intervention, community agencies and professional development. The most important skills for a psychologist are patients, crisis intervention, and rehabilitation.

School guidance counselor vs psychologist overview

School Guidance CounselorPsychologist
Yearly salary$49,562$97,803
Hourly rate$23.83$47.02
Growth rate10%6%
Number of jobs82,54512,516
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 48%Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age4247
Years of experience--

What does a school guidance counselor do?

School Guidance Counselors assess students' ability and potential, provide private counseling, and coordinate with fellow professionals on student matters. To help students in realizing their objectives, school guidance counselors evaluate their attributes. Also, they identify behavioral problems and appropriately to remedy the situation. Part of their duties is to cooperate with parents, external partners, and academic staff. To succeed, these guidance counselors must be authentic and accessible with good communication skills and a profound interest in helping students to achieve career and academic goals.

What does a psychologist do?

Sales managers are responsible for leading the organization's sales team. They oversee the progress and performance of the whole team, set area assignments to team members, and set weekly or monthly quotas. Sales managers oversee training team members during onboarding and providing further coaching to help them achieve their goals. They manage the challenges that team members may meet and help mitigate any problems that come along the way. Sales managers also set the strategic direction of the sales team and follow through by ensuring that the team's activities are in line with the goals.

School guidance counselor vs psychologist salary

School guidance counselors and psychologists have different pay scales, as shown below.

School Guidance CounselorPsychologist
Average salary$49,562$97,803
Salary rangeBetween $36,000 And $67,000Between $68,000 And $139,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyTolleson Union High School DistrictSierra Corporation
Best paying industryEducationHealth Care

Differences between school guidance counselor and psychologist education

There are a few differences between a school guidance counselor and a psychologist in terms of educational background:

School Guidance CounselorPsychologist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 48%Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common majorSchool CounselingPsychology
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaNorthwestern University

School guidance counselor vs psychologist demographics

Here are the differences between school guidance counselors' and psychologists' demographics:

School Guidance CounselorPsychologist
Average age4247
Gender ratioMale, 24.7% Female, 75.3%Male, 35.2% Female, 64.8%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 14.2% Asian, 3.7% White, 67.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%Black or African American, 5.1% Unknown, 3.6% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 4.2% White, 75.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage11%20%

Differences between school guidance counselor and psychologist duties and responsibilities

School guidance counselor example responsibilities.

  • Participate in IEP's staff meetings, parent meetings and individual student counseling.
  • Attend and participate in IEP meetings, truancy elimination meetings, children s clinic meetings, and parent meetings.
  • Remain non-denominational, open, flexible and ecumenical in service to patients while also providing additional resources from local spiritual communities.
  • Collaborate with peers in leadership capacity at recreational summer camp leading, coordinating and organizing daily activities and weekly field trips.

Psychologist example responsibilities.

  • Supervise mental health staff, including the overseeing of the provision of mental health services in a correctional facility.
  • Provide EMDR therapy for clients with trauma and anxiety.
  • Perform tests to diagnose autism in children or tests for the detection of autism at an early age.
  • Provide supervision and mentoring for APA Pre-Doctoral interns.
  • Supervise clinical activities of doctoral level psychology interns in APA accredit internship program.
  • Evaluate veterans for psychological disorders that may have resulted secondary to their military service for compensation purposes.
  • Show more

School guidance counselor vs psychologist skills

Common school guidance counselor skills
  • Crisis Intervention, 7%
  • Community Agencies, 7%
  • Professional Development, 6%
  • Financial Aid, 5%
  • Career Planning, 4%
  • K-12, 4%
Common psychologist skills
  • Patients, 18%
  • Crisis Intervention, 7%
  • Rehabilitation, 6%
  • Mental Illness, 5%
  • Clinical Supervision, 5%
  • APA, 4%

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