Admission

The Counseling Psychology doctoral program welcomes and embraces diversity through its choice of faculty, students, research interests, and commitment to the community. The doctoral program is also interested in applicants who are dedicated to the mission of our program, in particular its social justice commitment.

In making decisions about applicants, the faculty considers the following attributes:

• Grades (graduate and undergraduate)

• Research experience

• Experience in clinical work or counseling-types of roles

• GRE scores (verbal, quantitative; the Psychology test is not required)

• Personal statement

• Resume or CV

• Letters of recommendation

• Writing sample

Successful applicants typically demonstrate evidence of their preparation for doctoral study, commitment to the scientist-practitioner training model, and commitment to the social justice mission of the program via their academic work, curricular and extra-curricular activities, and research experience. Students who are hoping to obtain admission without a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology generally have substantive post-undergraduate experience and relevant work experience that conveys commitment to and skills in scholarship and direct services to client populations.

Ideally, successful applicants to the doctoral program should have completed as undergraduates or as graduate students the following courses:

Principles and Techniques of Counseling
Introductory Statistics
Psychopathology
Psychological Testing
Group Counseling or Family Therapy

In order to be considered, an applicant must have a master's degree in counseling or a related field that includes a 400-hour supervised counseling practicum. The master's level prerequisite courses for the doctoral program include the classes listed below; however, students without these specific prerequisites should still apply as some of our admitted students have not completed all of these master's level courses.

Students who have not completed these prerequisites need to complete prior to or during their doctoral studies in our program at their own expense.

The successful direct admit candidate presents with outstanding credentials and clear evidence of preparation for doctoral study, a commitment to the scientist-practitioner model, and a focus on social justice. Successful direct admit applicants also convey a level of maturity and commitment to excellence that is hard to quantify. Our advice for talented students without a master's degree is that it is worthwhile to apply for a doctoral degree if that is your clear, long-term goal. We often offer the option of enrolling in our master's degree to those qualified applicants who are not admitted to the doctoral program. It is important to note, however, that all of our master's students if interested in our doctoral program when completing their master's at Boston College need to re-apply for the doctoral program. There is no guaranteed admission to the doctoral program from the master's program although approximately half of our doctoral admits usually come from our master's students.

Prerequisite Undergraduate Courses:

Introductory Psychology
Developmental or Life-Span Psychology
Statistics
Personality Theory

For admission into the Counseling Psychology doctoral program in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, all applicants must submit the following materials:

1. The Lynch School of Education and Human Development graduate school application

2. Three letters of recommendation

3. An official copy of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), with scores being no more than five years old (GRE code: 3218).

4. An official transcript of all previous coursework, both graduate and undergraduate.

5. Writing sample.

6. Resume or CV

7. A 2-3 page statement of purpose discussing your personal and professional reasons for pursuing a doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology.

8. A non-refundable application fee

NOTE: All Application materials must be received on or before December 1.

Doctoral applications are reviewed by faculty in January, and a small number of applicants are selected to attend a one-day interview in mid February. A final cohort of between six and eight students are offered acceptance to the program.

Visit our Admission page for more information about the application process.