Our admission process begins when we receive your application through the School of Graduate Studies. In order to be considered for admission for the Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduate program you must submit your online application to Graduate Studies.
Clinical Mental Health Program Degree Maps
The Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program does not require the GRE for admission.
You will submit your recommendation letters using the links in your online application with Graduate Studies.
We prefer you seek recommendation letters from:
Applicants who meet the program’s minimum requirements will be invited for an interview.
This will be a group interview, where groups of 6-8 applicants meet with faculty members and current students. 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.
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 St. Cloud State campus. Generally the entire interview process lasts from 8:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. and applicants must be in attendance for the entire process. There are no make-up interview dates.
To prepare, you can work on your stress management and your presentation skills. It is equally important to be able to speak about your experiences and goals as it is to have them documented in your application.
Faculty discuss the results of the interview, share their impressions of each applicant on an individual-by–individual basis.
We will contact you about our admission decision with one of three designations:
Admission – The faculty would like to invite you to be a part of the 18 member CMHC cohort.
Waitlist – The faculty would like to invite you to be a part of the program, yet we are limited in how many students we can accept per accreditation. Once admission candidates have made their decisions (by April 17) the program director will notify you of two options:
Non-Admission- The faculty will recommend that you obtain experience (paid or volunteer) in the area of interest and re-apply for the following year.
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 graduates are fully capable of fulfilling the duties of a professional counselor (academically, professionally, and personally/interpersonally and that evaluation process begins during the application process).