Admissions

The following information pertains to program admission standards, procedures and financial support. For general VCU admission information, refer to the Graduate School’s Web site.

Please note that we no longer mail hard copy materials to applicants.

Prerequisites
Profile of admitted students
Financial support
Academic and personal support
Minority support
Attrition rates
Application evaluation process
How to apply
FAQs
Courses FAQs
Contact the program assistant

Prerequisites

To be admitted to the counseling psychology program, you will need 18 undergraduate credit hours in psychology, including courses in statistics, experimental and introductory psychology. If you are an exceptionally qualified student, however, some of these prerequisites may be waived.
Although a master’s degree is awarded in progress toward the doctoral degree, only students who are seeking the Ph.D. are considered for admission. Students with master's degrees are encouraged to apply.  However, if you did not complete a research-based thesis as part of your master's (or if it is not comparable in quality to those produced by VCU students), you must complete another master's degree with thesis in progress toward your doctoral degree.

Profile of admitted students

Because developing research and skills in our students require intensive work by our faculty, class size and the number of students admitted are necessarily limited. Approximately 160 applicants have been considered in each of the past few years. However, only about eight new students are admitted each year, including a few with master’s degrees. We also have a strong commitment to minority recruitment.

There are no minimum GRE scores or GPA requirements, allowing outstanding strengths to compensate for possible weaknesses in your application. Our GRE code number is 5570.

Financial support

Backed by a research university, the VCU psychology department provides ample funding for our counseling psychology students. Typically, you may expect to receive an assistantship for the first three years of study and to secure a paid off-campus practicum for the fourth year. Teaching and research assistantships provide full tuition remission and an income of approximately $10,000 per year. University fellowships, grant-funded research assistantships and loans from the Office of Financial Aid also are available.

Academic and personal support

Counseling psychology students elect two student delegates each year who attend all counseling program faculty meetings and share one vote in all proceedings. In addition, the Psychology Graduate School Organization represents Department of Psychology graduate students from all five doctoral programs and elects student representatives to serve on various standing departmental committees, on faculty search committees, and on faculty promotion and tenure-review committees.

Minority support

In line with our commitment to multicultural diversity, ethnic minority students have received substantial support. For example, selected ethnic minority students entering their first year of graduate study have received minority fellowships. We plan to continue to seek this university and state financial support in the future.

Attrition rates

We have a strong commitment to seeing our students graduate. About 90 percent of those who enter the program receive their Ph.D. Those who leave typically do so to pursue their personal needs and goals. We have, on rare occasions, determined that a student does not meet our expectations for doctoral level training as a result of either skill limitations or personal issues.

Application evaluation process

Applicants are reminded that the deadline for submission is Dec. 1.
Applications are reviewed in the early spring for admissions the following fall. Completed applications are evaluated by a three-member admissions committee, with additional input from counseling program faculty members. Recommendations for admission are made to the department chair and the dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences.
Variables considered when the admissions committee evaluates applications are:

• academic preparation, including relevant course work and academic performance.
• other evidence of ability, including scores on the Graduate Record Examination.
• letters of recommendation.
• previous professional and personal experience.
• personal goals.
• ability to communicate clearly and concisely.
• fit with the philosophy and goals of the counseling psychology program.

All of the above are considered by the admissions committee. We urge you not to set up an interview with the hope of special consideration as an applicant, although you may wish to visit to help you narrow your choice among potential programs. After applications are reviewed, individual faculty members select one or more applicants for possible admission on the basis of two additional criteria:

• match with at least one faculty member in research interests.
• telephone or personal interview.

In recent years we have set up structured group interviews, allowing both prospective graduate students and faculty an opportunity to meet and discuss their mutual interests. Prospective students have found these interview days to be extremely helpful. A formal personal on-site interview is not required prior to final selection. However, before you are offered admission, a telephone interview — at a minimum — will be necessary.
Decisions are usually made in early to mid-March and offers are extended as soon after the decision as possible. Many candidates who have not visited campus after being placed in the final pool of applicants will, after receiving an offer, visit campus to help with their decision of whether to enter the program.

How to apply

It may help you to use our application check-list.

Application forms and instructions for applying to all graduate programs are available on the Graduate School Web site.

A $50 nonrefundable application fee must accompany each application. This fee will not be credited toward tuition payment.

Completed applications and all supporting materials must be submitted directly to the Graduate School by Dec. 1.

Graduate students are encouraged to initiate application to graduate study by using the Graduate School’s online graduate application. Supporting materials for online applications must be submitted promptly to the Graduate School. An application cannot be given final consideration until all required documentation has been received.

Applications (if not completed online) and supporting documentation should be mailed to the following address:

Virginia Commonwealth University
Graduate School
P.O. Box 843051
Richmond, Virginia 23284-3051

Applications submitted in person may be delivered to the Graduate School office at the Moseley Building, 1001 Grove Ave.
               

FAQs

After reading through the following questions and answers, please refer to the FAQs for perspective students page on our Web site where we have compiled a full listing of some of the most frequently asked questions about the graduate psychology programs at VCU.

I am curious about the admissions process. Do the faculty members narrow the applicant pool down and then do interviews? If so, when does that take place? Also, if I don't make that interview “cut,” will I be notified at that time?

We do a first run through the applications and narrow the applicant pool down the best that we can, although it is always a difficult process because we have such a large number of wonderful applicants. We look for students that are strong in a variety of areas and that appear well rounded in their abilities, including having a well-written personal statement. And of course, we seek to find students who are interested in being both a researcher and a practitioner, and who have common research interests that make them a good fit to work with members of our core faculty.
After we narrow down the applicant pool we ask a group of the prospective students to come for interviews at VCU. We conduct the interviews in both individual and group formats. If you don’t happen to make it to the interview cut we will try to notify you; however, because of the great number of applicants it may be hard for us to contact all of our applicants in a timely manner. If you are interested in the status of your application and it is past March 15, you can e-mail us at counspsyc@vcu.edu to find out where you stand and where we are in our process of selecting our final class for the upcoming year.

Can I come for an interview at VCU prior to submitting my application or before I get invited for the group interviews?

Because of the large numbers of applications we get each year (approximately 150-200), we are unable to accommodate all of the requests for interviews that we receive. However, we do welcome students to e-mail us at counspsyc@vcu.edu or call us at (804) 828-2975 with any questions that they may have. We welcome students who have been offered admission to visit VCU to get a feel for what Richmond life is like and to see our beautiful historic buildings.

Is the VCU Counseling Psychology program more research oriented or more clinically oriented?

Program emphasis:

Courses FAQs

Can I take classes from any faculty once I am enrolled?

Yes. Each program has their curriculum outlined (see our graduate handbook for details [PDF]), with specific courses suggested for each semester through the third year of study.

Where can I find a list of classes that are needed to obtain the Ph.D. in counseling psychology from VCU?

Look at the “program details” page on our Web site where we have posted our graduate handbook, which lists all the courses required for the master’s and for the Ph.D. After looking at this you can find course descriptions on the VCU Web site.

I can't decide whether to apply to counseling or clinical psychology. Should I apply to both to increase my chances of getting into graduate school?

Rather than choosing a graduate program based on previous academic success and/or likelihood of acceptance, you should think carefully about your career goals and interests. It cannot be emphasized enough how important it is to find a good match between your interests and training needs, and the faculty’s interests and training goals. Remember that choosing a graduate program is much different than choosing an undergraduate program. You will be spending at least five years studying a specialized area, which requires patience and dedication. Working in an area of interest during this time makes it much easier to manage during these years! You may want to check out the below Internet resources to help you with your decision: http://www.bls.gov (and look at the “occupational outlook handbook” link on the left hand side of the page to find info on the differences between counseling and clinical and to find info on the job prospects in the field and the likely salary) or look at http://www.onetcenter.org for other career information.

What is the student make up?

In the Counseling Psychology program we have about 42 students total, since we usually accept eight students into the program each year. There are approximately 125 students total in all the Psychology programs at VCU (including counseling, clinical, biological, social and developmental programs.). At least three-quarters of all our students are on campus taking classes, working in research facilities, teaching as adjuncts or conducting their own experiments.

Further questions

If you have any other specific questions that were not addressed on this FAQ, be sure to refer to the FAQs for perspective students page on our Web site where we have compiled a full listing of some of the most frequently asked questions about the graduate psychology programs at VCU. If you have a question that you think should be included on the FAQ, please contact the our Counseling Psychology program assistant.

Contact the program assistant

Claire Russell
Counseling Psychology Graduate program assistant
806 West Franklin Street
P.O. Box 842018
Richmond, Virginia 23284-2018
Phone: (804) 828-2975
E-mail: counspysc@vcu.edu