Admissions and Requirements
Applications to the School Counseling and Clinical Mental Health Counseling specialties may be submitted at any time during the year. Admission decisions, however, are made one time per year.
Applicants may only apply to one specialty track: School Counseling -OR- Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Applications will be received until February 1, annually, with a priority deadline of December 1. Applications that are incomplete after February 1 will not be reviewed and applicants may re-apply for the next academic year.
Applicants may apply for Summer or Fall admission. Summer admission allows students to take 1 - 2 courses, as space allows; otherwise, and if Summer course enrollment is at full capacity, newly admitted students will begin courses in the Fall semester.
Applicants from diverse cultural backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Applicants who are recovering from addiction to alcohol or drugs are recommended to have 12-months鈥� sobriety before entering the counseling program, and 18-months鈥� sobriety prior to enrolling in field experiences.
Requirements:
(GRE) minimum scores of 150 on Verbal/Quantitative and 4.0 on Analytical are required. WCU School Code: 5897. The GRE may be waived if an applicant meets one of the following:
- A conferred bachelor's degree with a grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher
- A conferred master's degree
- (School counseling specialty track only) Two years' employment in a K-12 educational setting
If you meet one of the criteria above, you may submit a GRE waiver request within the application.
Applicants must also submit:
- Transcript(s)
- GRE test scores (if applicable)
- The WCU graduate application form
- Three recommendations for graduate study (we prefer that recommendations be academic or employment-related)
- Responses to 3 essay paragraph prompts (250 word count each):
- What attracts you to the WCU Counseling program?
- What kind of impact do you want to have as a professional counselor?
- Cultural humility is a lifelong process of self-reflection and exploration combined with a willingness to learn from others. Describe a time you enacted cultural humility and what you learned from the experience.
- A r茅sum茅 that includes your educational and employment history as well as other pertinent professional information. Please see example r茅sum茅 template.
You will submit application materials in the online application portal via the Graduate School.
Your application will be incomplete without all of the above information. All application materials must be submitted by February 1; however, the priority deadline is December 1.
Interview
Qualified applicants will be invited for an in-person, group interview in mid-to-late February/early March. Interviews are offered to those whose credentials qualify them for full or provisional admission to the program. Those who qualify for the interview will be contacted by the Director of the Graduate Counseling Program. The interviews will be hosted by current students and conducted by counseling faculty. Because of the interactive and interpersonal nature of the counseling process, the interview aspect of the person's application is considered to be extremely important when considering applicants for the counseling program.
Invitation to the interview does not assure acceptance into the program.
More details regarding the interview will be included with the invitation to the interview.
Admission decisions are made in early March through mid-April. On average, 30-35 candidates are admitted annually (approximate 17% admission rate).
Information Packet for Counseling Program Applicants
