Counseling Psychology

Admissions / Prerequisites

How to Apply

Admission is most typically for Fall Semester only (this includes students interested in transferring from other doctoral programs) in some circumstances students may begin taking courses during the summer with the permission of the advisor and director of training. Because of the relatively small number of applicants accepted annually, the competition for positions in the incoming class is quite significant. A master’s degree is required for admission, we do not accept applicants directly from undergraduate degrees (those people are directed to our masters programs in community or school counseling). To be competitive, applicants must have a completed master’s degree in a mental health-related area. Students are expected to come into the program having successfully completed master’s level coursework in such key curriculum areas as: Descriptive Statistics, Research Method, Cross-Cultural Counseling, Tests and Measurement, Counseling Practicum, Group Dynamics, and Career Development. In addition we expect students to have completed a practicum (usually at least 40 direct client service hours) and internship experience (usually at least 240 direct client service hours). Applicants without practicum or internship experience with individual clients will find it difficult to compete for admission.

Competitive candidates for admissions usually have the following general qualifications: relevant professional work experiences in counseling or a related area, research experience and interest, defined clinical and research interests that match both with the program’s goals and scientist-practitioner model of training and with faculty areas of expertise. Typical students have a graduate grade point average of 3.5, and undergraduate grade point average of 3.0, a combined score of 1100 on the Verbal and Quantitative subtest of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), a score of 3-5 on the writing sample and strong letters of recommendation from faculty members or supervisors. However, there is variation in the qualifications of applicants and candidates are asked to highlight areas of strengths and weakness in their statement of purpose. In addition to meeting graduate school standards for English as a foreign language, international applicants must be able to effectively counsel in English.

The admissions deadline is posted on the department webpage. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that all required materials are received by that date. Incomplete applications may prevent applications from being considered. Interviews typically happen in January or February and offers are made soon afterwards.

For 2008-2009 we are seeking to admit 10 students. The following faculty are interested in advising students with the following interests:
Dr. Calhoun (juvenile justice, supervision)
Dr. Campbell (psychotherapy and assessment)
Dr. Delgado-Romero (bilingualcounseling, Latino/a issues)
Dr. Getch (chronic illness, disability,advocacy, healthcare)
Dr. Glaser (juvenile justice)
Dr. Kleiber(adult development and aging and, in that age range, especially with coping with negative life events such as illness, divorce, loss ofspouse or child)
Dr. Stewart (interests that connect to bothcounseling, ecological, and/or environmental psychology. Especially interests in any of the following: seasonal affective disorder, fearof weather (storm phobias), trauma following natural disasters,weather-related risk-taking, emotional processes and the natural environment, measurement, statistics, test development and the natural environment).
These are the primary faculty advising students for this cohort, although other faculty may end up advising givenstudent interest. Please see faculty profiles for more information on faculty research areas.

Deferment Policy: Due to the high demand of our programs, we will not defer admission from one year to some time in the future. All prospective students are reviewed in light of a cohort model. This requires each years’ applicants to be reviewed as a group and decisions made about admission from that perspective. Anyone who is admitted to any program in our department and decides not to attend will be asked to reapply to that program if they seek admission at a later date. Applicants who are initially denied admission can reapply for the next year.

This link explains the American Psychological Association's (APA) guide to
accepting admissions and financial aid offers for doctoral programs. At the
University of Georgia we strictly adhere to this policy.