Counselor Education

Scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) are required for admission to the Ph.D. program. GRE scores are not required for the M.Ed. or D.Ed. programs. Requirements listed here are in addition to general Graduate Council requirements stated in the GENERAL INFORMATION section of the Graduate Bulletin.

M.Ed. applications with a 3.0 junior/senior average (on a scale of 4.00) and with appropriate course backgrounds will be considered for admission. The best-qualified applicants will be accepted up to the number of spaces that are available for new students. Exceptions to the minimum 3.0 grade-point average may be made for students with special backgrounds, abilities, and interests.

Doctoral applicants must have completed a master\'s degree in counselor education prior to admission into the Ph.D. or D.Ed. program. A master\'s degree is required for admission that must be comprised of a minimum of 48 credit hours that align with the standards of the Counsel for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). All doctoral applicants should present at least a 3.33 average in all graduate study completed prior to admission. Post-master\'s counseling experience is required for admission to the D.Ed. program.

For admission to the Graduate School, an applicant must hold either (1) a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or (2) a tertiary (postsecondary) degree that is deemed comparable to a four-year bachelor\'s degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution. This degree must be from an officially recognized degree-granting institution in the country in which it operates.

The language of instruction at Penn State is English. All international applicants must take and submit scores for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or the IELTS (International English Language Testing System), with the exceptions noted below. The minimum acceptable score for the TOEFL is 550 for the paper-based test, or a total score of 80 with a 19 on the speaking section for the internet-based test (iBT). Applicants with iBT speaking scores between 15 and 18 may be considered for provisional admission, which requires completion of specified remedial English courses ESL 114G (American Oral English for Academic Purposes) and/or ESL 116G (ESL/Composition for Academic Disciplines) and attainment of a grade of B or higher. The minimum acceptable composite score for the IELTS is 6.5. Graduate programs may have more stringent requirements.

International applicants are exempt from the TOEFL/IELTS requirement who have received a baccalaureate or a graduate degree from a college/university/institution in any of the following: Australia, Belize, British Caribbean and British West Indies, Canada (except Quebec), England, Guyana, Republic of Ireland, Liberia, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the United States, and Wales.