Therapeutic Recreation and Leisure Studies
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What are the job opportunities for graduates of this program?
A:Our graduates have found employment in a variety of clinical, residential, and community programs providing therapeutic recreation services, in most cases, and related services in some settings. Graduates have secured jobs throughout Maine and New England, and increasingly in other parts of the country. Many factors enter into successful job hunting such as geographic preference, size and scope of agency in which a graduate would be comfortable, and population served. Incidentally, USM graduates have an excellent record of passing the national certification exam administered by the National Council for Therapeutic Recreation Certification.
Q: Can I select where I complete my internship?
A: Yes, to an extent. Each student, whether enrolled in the A.S. or B.S. degree program, completes the appropriate internship experience for their degree requirement. During the semester prior to the internship each student must enroll in a pre-internship course in which he/she will develop individual goals, learn of the various internship sites with which the department has working agreements, develop a resume, and interview at a selected number of agencies before deciding on the best placement.
Q: Does the RLS department accept transfer students?
A: Yes. Many current therapeutic recreation majors have transferred into the degree program from other academic institutions or from other majors within USM. Each student's transcript is evaluated and all appropriate courses are credited toward the degree requirements. However, if a student transfers into USM a large number of credits from an unrelated degree program there is a good chance that some of those credits will not fit the therapeutic recreation curriculum.
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