Ph.D. Counselor Education and Supervision: Admission Requirements

  • A master’s degree in counseling or a related mental health field from an institution accredited by an agency recognized by the US Department of Education.
    • Preference will be given to applicants who are professionally credentialed in a mental health occupation (clinical or school counseling, marriage and family therapy, social work, psychology, etc.). Those accepted without such credentials will need to take the necessary extra courses and internships for those credentials before graduating from the Ph.D. in CES.
  • Graduate degree cumulative GPA:
    • Minimum overall 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale
  • Complete the application process which includes:
    • Completed Application for Admission document
    • One Recommendation Form from an Academic Reference – If you believe you may have trouble obtaining an academic reference, please contact the Admissions Office to discuss this requirement.
    • Submission of official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions even if a degree was not awarded.
    • Submission of essays as noted in Application for Admission document and two video clips of clinical work (role play) and a teaching/presentation, minimum of 20 minutes each
    • Current Curriculum Vitae or Resume
    • $55 application fee
  • Availability for two video conference interviews after submission of all application materials.
    • Individual interview with admissions
    • Group interview with other applicants and CES faculty
  • International applicants must have completed the equivalent of a U.S. master’s level degree. Applicants holding degrees from outside the United States must submit any international transcript(s) to a NACES approved evaluation service for a course-by-course evaluation of their transcripts. For more information, please visit the NACES website at: naces.org.
  • International Students whose first language is not English or who have not completed a degree in which English was the medium of instruction must have taken the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) within the past two years, and the scores must be submitted directly to DMU by the testing agency. TOEFL scores must be at least 100 on the Internet-based version (IBT), 250 on the computer-based version (CBT), and 600 on the paper-based version (PBT). Academic IELTS scores must fall into the overall band of at least 7.0, with no individual band scores below 6.0.
  • NOTE: If an applicant is interested in an international internship, this should be clearly noted on the application.  The applicant would need to meet with the program director or a designee to determine the viability of a particular international internship prior to being accepted into the program.

After all application materials have been completed and received by our Admissions office, the applicant will be invited to schedule a video conference interview with admissions. Pending the outcome of the individual meeting with admissions, a group video conference interview with other applicants and the SOC faculty members will follow. If you are seeking admission to a program after the Primary Application Deadline has passed, please contact Admissions for further assistance and to inquire if additional spaces may still be available. Note that seating is limited and cohorts may fill to capacity prior to published deadlines.

Please note that individuals seeking admission to multiple programs of study (i.e., Ph.D. Counselor Education and Supervision and Psy.D. Clinical Psychology), must submit separate applications specific to each individual program.

Successful participants in the Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision program will demonstrate not only strong academic aptitude, exceptional research and writing skills, ability to gain knowledge that covers both a breadth of the field of professional counseling and depth in a specific area of the field, but also grit – the ability to persevere in the lengthy process of research and writing to complete the dissertation.  In order to best support students in this endeavor, the Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision at DMU uses a cohort model to create a learning community with three extended residencies on campus.  The initial cohort requires a minimum number of applicants  to ensure a cohort size that leads to an ideal learning environment.

Transfer of Credit

Students may transfer up to 30 semester hours from their Master’s degree into the 90 credits of the Ph.D. coursework. For a transferred course to replace a Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision course, the following requirements must be met:

  1. The school at which the course was taken must be appropriately accredited.
  2. Each course credit must be equivalent to one semester hours or 1.67 quarter hours.
  3. The student must have earned a grade of B or better in the course.
  4. The course must overlap with the Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision course by at least 80%.
  5. Transfer credits must have been completed as post-master’s course work (700-900 level) within the previous seven (7) years to be accepted.
  6. Courses with a recorded grade of B- or below will not be accepted.

Correspondence studies or life experiences will not be accepted for transfer credit.

Courses Available for Audit and Non-Degree Students

In general, courses in the Ph.D. program cannot be taken on a course-for-credit or audit basis unless special permission is received from the program director.