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• School of Applied Psychology and Counselor Education
• College of Education and Behavioral Sciences

Prospective Students

As a prospective student you probably have many questions about our program.  We have designed this website to answer the most commonly asked questions.  If after reviewing our website you still have questions, please contact:

Brian D. Johnson, PhD
Coordinator & Director of Training
PhD Program in Counseling Psychology
288 McKee Hall/Campus Box 131
The University of Northern Colorado
Greeley, CO 80639
(970) 351-2209
brian.johnson@unco.edu

Please Note:

While our program is fully accredited by the American Psychological Association, the APA will not recognize our PhD curriculum until after we have successfully gone through the reaccreditation process.  We are scheduled to have our reaccreditation site-visit on January 14-15, 2010. We hope to receive official notification from APA about the accreditation status of our PhD program by early April, 2010.

How Long Does it Take Students to Complete Your Program?

Since the year 2000, students entering the Counseling Psychology program with a Master’s degree in counseling (or a closely related field) have taken on average 5.3 years (median 4.0) to graduate from our program.  Below is a breakdown of their time to completion:

Time to Program Completion	# of Students	Percent
Less than 5 years	33	63.5
5 years	6	11.5
6 years	3	5.7
7 years	8	15.4
More than 7 years	2	3.9

Because we admitted our first cohort of students entering with a BA/BS degree in 2006, none have completed the program yet.  The program is structured, however, so that those entering with a bachelor’s degree could complete the program in 5 years.

What is the Composition of your Student Body?

Our student body ranges in age from their mid 20’s to mid 50’s. During the past 7 years, 76 percent of our students have been female and 16 percent have been members of underrepresented groups.  Six percent of our students have come from foreign countries to study at UNC (China, Taiwan, and Thailand).  At UNC we embrace the cultural and individual diversity of all of our students and faculty.

What is your Program’s Attrition or Drop-Out Rate?

Once admitted into our program, we work very hard to help ensure that students successfully progress toward degree completion.  Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons not all students complete the program.  During the past 7 years our attrition rate has been about 12 percent (6 out of 51 students). 

Year of Enrollment	# Enrolled	# Graduated w/ Doctorate	# Still Currently Enrolled	# No Longer Enrolled
2003	7	1 (14)	3 (43)	3 (43)
2004	7	3 (43)	4 (57)	0
2005	6	5 (83)	1 (17)	0
2006	8	0	5 (63)	3 (37)
2007	7	0	7 (100)	0
2008	9	0	9 (100)	0
2009	7	0	7 (100)	0

How Successful are your Students at Getting Pre-doctoral Internships?

During the past 7 years, 42 students obtained an internship and 38 of them got one the first time they applied (90.5 percent). Student who did not obtain an internship on their first attempt reapplied the following year. No student was unable to get an internship during the second attempt. All of our students received a paid internship. Eighty-one percent (N=34) obtained an internship accredited by APA and 12 percent (N=5) obtained an APPIC member internship. Three students (7 percent) completed a non-accredited, paid internship. Two students (5 percent) completed a two year, half-time internship.

How Successful are your Graduates in Obtaining Licensure?

Depending upon the state there are different types of mental health licenses. We prefer that our students become licensed psychologists. We have had 34 students graduate between the years 2002-2008. Of those students, 80 percent (N=27) have become Licensed Psychologists.  Five students (14 percent) have obtained a different type of mental health license (4 are licensed professional counselors and 1 is a licensed nurse). Two of our graduates (6 percent) do not currently hold any type of mental health license.

What are your Admission Requirements?

Our minimum admission requirements for full admission are determined by the Graduate School and include:

• GPA at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale
• GRE Verbal & Quantitative scores at least 400 each.
• Analytical Writing score at least 3.5
• TOEFL score (for International Students) need to be at least 213 on the computer based test and 550 on the paper based test.

(Students who do not meet one or more of the above requirements may still be admitted and placed on probation for their first semester.)

What are the Average Scores for Admitted Students?

The average scores for students who have been admitted since during the past 7 years are considerably higher than the minimum scores established by the Graduate School.

How Many Applications do you Receive?  How Many do you Admit?

While the number of applications we receive can vary greatly from year to year, recently we have been receiving between 50-90 applications and we have admitted 6-8 students.  About half of our applicants have their master’s degrees, the other half have their bachelor’s degrees.  We typically admit 4-5 MA applicants and 2-3 BA applicants.

What are the Application Procedures?

Applying to the Counseling Psychology Program is a TWO STEP process.

Step 1: Apply to UNC’s Graduate School & International Admissions office.Download a Graduate School application. You can also call (970) 351-2831 to get an application sent to you. You can also write for an application by sending your request to The Graduate School, University of Northern Colorado, 501 20th Street, Campus Box 135, Greeley, CO 80639, or emailing the Graduate School at: grad.school@unco.edu

The Graduate School application will also request official copies of your transcripts, letters of recommendation (with UNC’s Recommender Evaluation Form), copies of GRE results and the application fee.  International applicants will be asked to provide their TOEFL scores as well.

Step 2: Complete the Counseling Psychology Program’s Supplemental Data Form and Application Questions. The supplemental data form and application questions can be obtained (following this link). Along with this supplemental information, please include a copy of your vita.

All information can be sent to: 

The Graduate School & International Admissions
The University of Northern Colorado
501 20th Street
Campus Box 135
Greeley, CO 80639

All information can be sent directly to:

Graduate School & International Admissions
The University of Northern Colorado
501 20th Street
Campus Box 135
Greeley, CO 80639
(970) 351-2831
grad.school@unco.edu

What is the Application Deadline?

The application deadline is December 15th of each year.  We only admit students in the spring semester to start the program the following fall semester. Once admitted, it is not possible to delay starting the program.

How Long do I have to Wait to Know if I got Accepted?

The faculty will review your written material and by late January, we will invite 20-30 finalists to campus for an admission’s workshop. The workshop is typically on the 2nd or 3rd Friday in February. If attending the workshop creates a hardship for finalists, they can also record their responses to the interview questions. By the end of February we make our initial offers. Applicants have until April 15th to decide if they want to attend UNC.  If someone declines our offer of admission, we make an offer to one of our alternates.

Offers are made in the spring for students to start classes in the fall semester.  Because we train on a cohort model, it is not possible to delay starting your program.

How Much does it Cost to Attend UNC?

Tuition at UNC varies depending upon your residency status. The Counseling Psychology Program is a member of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education’s (WICHE) Western Regional Graduate Program. What membership in the WRGP means is that applicants who are residents of 14 western states (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming) qualify for resident tuition status starting their first year in the program. Applicants who are US citizens, but residents of other states would need to pay nonresident tuition their first year on campus, but could then qualify for resident tuition status after 1 year in Colorado. International students currently remain classified as nonresidents throughout their degree program. Current information regarding tuition and fees can be found on the Costs page.

For more information regarding the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) visit their web site.  For more information regarding WICHE’s Western Regional Graduate Programs (WRGP) visit their web site.