Prospective Students

About GPA Scores
Ours is a very competitive graduate program and we consider academic achievement (as indicated by a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0 in the last 60 hours [i.e., in the Major coursework]) to be a good predictor of success in graduate school. Given the removal of the GRE as an entrance criterion, the Counseling Program emphasizes a strong undergraduate GPA (in conjunction to the current/past experiences of applicants) in their admission decisions. It is important to know that we receive many applications for a limited number of openings (particularly for the Clinical Mental Health Counseling track). Therefore, there is a possibility of being denied admission even when all criteria are met (i.e. meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission).

Additional Application Requirements

Letters of Recommendation
All applicants will submit three recommendation letters using the links in the UCF online application with the College of Graduate Studies. It is a good idea to request recommendation letters from faculty, supervisors, mentors, and/or professionals who are familiar with your work ethic and experience. Ideally at least one of these letters would come from a current/past professor, but if it has been a while since you were in school, the letters may be obtained from others who can attest to your aptitude of being a Counseling graduate student and a future professional counselor.

Personal Goal Statement
All applicants will submit a personal goal statement indicating how their personal and professional experiences align with their future goals in the program and their future career as a professional counselor. It is highly suggested that applicants use the Goal Statement Template in the crafting of their statement, which addresses the following:

• Reflection on Personal Experiences: Describe specific events or experiences in your life that ignited your passion for a career in the counseling field. This could include personal struggles, witnessing the challenges faced by others, or a significant moment that made you realize the importance of mental health.
• Collection of Hands-on Experiences: Highlight paid experiences, volunteer work, internships, or research/laboratory experiences in counseling-like settings that have provided you with hands-on experiences and skills. This could include opportunities where you have spent time with the population that you intend to one day provide counsel.
• Connection to Personal Values: Explain how becoming a professional counselor aligns with your core values and beliefs.

The Personal Goal Statement should be between 500-700 words, typed using 12-point font in either Times New Roman or Arial, and will be uploaded with the application as either a Word document or a PDF file. Applicants will need to bring 1 copy of their Personal Goal Statement with them to the interview.

Professional Resume
All applicants will submit a professional resume that highlights their counseling-related experiences (as well as other work/volunteer experiences). It is highly suggested that applicants use the Resume Template in the crafting of their document, which would include the following:

• Counseling Related Experiences: Include experiences that demonstrate your skills and/or knowledge of the counseling profession. Information to provide includes: the position, dates (MM/YY to MM/YY), the employer/supervisor, city/state, and responsibilities/duties.
  • These might include paid positions, volunteer opportunities, internships, leadership positions, and/or research/laboratory work.
  • Ensure to include those experiences that are relevant to the Counseling specialty to which you are applying (i.e., Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Marriage, Couple, & Family Therapy, or School Counseling). Some examples include such things as behavioral health tech, case manager, classroom teacher (full-time or substitute), childcare worker, camp counselor, lab/research experience, crisis line worker, group facilitator/leader, etc.
• Other Work Experiences: In addition to what is above, include current or recent paid work experience.

The Interview
Applicants who meet the Program’s minimum requirements (noted above) will be invited for an interview. This will be a group interview, where small groups of applicants meet with a faculty member and a doctoral student. The interview will consist of two parts. In Part 1, each applicant will read their Professional Goal Statement to the group and then field questions from the interviewers about their statement. In Part 2, the interviewers will pose a series of questions to the group, varying the order of those who answer, with each applicant being given time to formulate an answer to the questions posed. The review of the Professional Goal Statement and the posing Questions are designed to assess each applicant’s professionalism, career maturity, emotional maturity, awareness of diversity, and personal awareness. Following the interview, applicants will meet with current students for a question-and-answer seminar (where applicants can ask current students about such things as their experiences as graduate students, program expectations, etc.). Applicants are then invited to join the current students on a tour of the UCF campus. Generally the entire interview process lasts from 8:30am until 1:00pm and applicants must be in attendance for the entire process. There are no make-up interview dates.

Following the Interview
Faculty discuss the results of the interview and share their impressions of each applicant (and their submitted materials) on an individual-by-individual basis. Interview results are also compared to any current or prior experiences that the faculty have had with the applicant (such as those resulting from applicants who have taken courses as an undergraduate or non-degree-seeking student) and then a decision is made.

Applicants who had a successful interview (as determined by an interview scoring rubric that assesses the domains noted above in “The Interview”) will be considered further for admission (more info below). Applicants who did not have a successful interview will not be considered for admission but may apply for a subsequent semester. Those not having a successful interview are often encouraged to do such thing as:

• Work on your stress management and/or presentation skills (how you speak about your experiences and goals is just as important as your actual experiences and goals)
• Obtain experience (paid or volunteer) in the area of interest and be able to speak about how that experience has influenced your desire to pursue a graduate degree in counseling, and/or
• Seek the counsel of others (professional or otherwise) who can assist you in recognizing your own potential sticking points as you consider helping others to recognize theirs

Invitation to the Program (and the Waitlist)
Final admission decisions are based on a combination of the interview, submitted materials, and the undergraduate GPA scores, all of which coalesce in what we call a “3-Star” decision. To be considered for admission, applicants must have had a successful interview (which would equate to 1-Star). That is, even if an applicant has a high GPA and evidence of prior experiences, they will not be considered for admission unless they received a Star on the interview. Following a successful interview, applicants’ submitted materials and GPA scores are taken into further consideration. Those with strong evidence of prior experiences that inform their future goals (as evidence by the letters of recommendation, Personal Goal Statement, and Professional Resume) earn 1-Star and those with an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 (or higher, based on the Counseling track) earn 1-Star. Thus, a competitive (i.e. 3 Star) applicant would look like this:

• A successful interview: 1-Star
• Strong evidence of prior experiences: 1-Star
• An undergraduate GPA of 3.0 (MCFT and SC) or 3.2 (CMHC): 1-Star

A 2-Star applicant is typically someone who had a successful interview, moderate evidence of prior experiences, and the appropriate undergraduate GPA.

All similarly competitive applicants will be regrouped according to their GPA scores. Thus, the top applicants with 3-Stars will be rank ordered by GPA and the top applicants with 2-Stars will be ranked similarly. The top applicants will be offered admission with the remaining competitive applicants being placed on a wait list.

For example, say there are 45 competitive applicants vying for 25 available openings in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program: 33 of these applicants have 3-Stars and 12 applicants have 2-Stars. Each group will be rank ordered by GPA with the highest scores at the top of the list. The top 25 3-Star applicants will be offered admission first and the remaining applicants will be placed on the waitlist.

Applicants being offered admission will be notified by email within two weeks of the interview with an offer of admittance. Applicants will be given two weeks to accept the offer of admission (by following the steps outlined in the offer email). For those applicants who choose not to accept the offer, or who take longer than two weeks to respond, these individuals will be removed from the offer list and then others on the wait list will be considered with the same two-week turn-around.

Following the earlier example, among the first 25 applicants offered admission, say that 5 choose to deny the offer. Therefore, the next top 5 applicants would be offered admission, with two weeks to respond, and so on until the 25 available openings have been filled.

Overall, we believe in being transparent with the admission process because we want applicants to recognize the rigor in bringing new students into the program. This is an important part of the gatekeeping function of faculty in the counseling profession: we must ensure that our students and future graduates are fully capable of fulfilling the duties of a professional counselor (academically, professionally, and personally) and that evaluation process begins during the application process.