FAQ

The department only accepts application submissions during the application period (between October 1^st and January 15^th) for enrollment in the following fall. The department doesn’t review applications until the application deadline passes. This means submitting your application early has no influence on your admission.

All applicants must use Cal State Apply for admission. There are multiple parts of the application and applicants will receive instructions regarding all materials that will need to be uploaded into Cal State Apply. In addition, the Admissions section of our Department website provides detailed instructions for completing the application.

Be sure to read the instructions on our website regarding submitting the application fee online. That is all you need to do after completing Cal State Apply.

No. You must select one specialization (if you have multiple areas of interest, you may choose a secondary area that becomes your emphasis in addition to your primary specialization). Applicants may only apply to one specialization per application period. There is no opportunity to indicate a “back-up” specialization. If you are not admitted into your chosen specialization, you will need to consider reapplying the following year.

In terms of admission, there is no preference given whether an applicant indicates an emphasis. It is best to choose the specialization that is most aligned with your goals and if there is another specialization that you would also like to add into your plan, indicate that as your emphasis. You may add or drop an emphasis when you start the program.

Only complete and upload a “Personal Statement” (see instructions on our department website). Do not complete the university “Statement of Purpose”. For the Personal Statement, there is no minimum; maximum is around 1300 words (2-3 pages). It is important to write, read, review, revise, sometimes multiple times to ensure that you are clear, focused, succinct and minimize redundancy. Take time to think this through. Relate your personal experience to your professional goals, making sure you address the specialization and emphasis (if any) for which you are applying and stating why you are choosing this program. Some questions to consider: Why are you choosing to pursue this program? What experiences have you had that brought you to this point? How have your work and/or volunteer experiences contributed to your potential as a counselor? What has contributed to your understanding of yourself and others in terms of cultural identity and how that relates to your experiences and goals? Content will vary depending upon your experiences and personality. Pay attention to grammar, organization, and correct language usage. All students in our program are expected to engage in self-reflection and analysis of highly sensitive issues (e.g., cultural experiences and perspectives, family, history, sexuality, personal psychological issues). This is standard practice in most high-quality counseling programs. There is no specific prompt, rather it is an opportunity for us to get to know who you are and why you have chosen this path. It is important that you are the author of the Personal Statement and will need to verify that if you are admitted to the program.

Cal State Apply requires unofficial transcripts from all higher education institutions where you have completed coursework, even if you did not receive a degree from that institution. If you are admitted to the program, you will be asked to submit all official transcripts to the university. If you believe your past academic record does not reflect your current potential (e.g., was completed a long time ago), be sure to address that in your personal statement.

Bachelor’s degree must be posted on the transcript by the time a student begins the Master’s program. If the applicant is enrolled in required undergraduate courses at the time they apply, we will assume that those will be completed successfully. If accepted, the final transcript showing the posted degree is required before beginning in the fall semester. The GPA at the time of application is based on courses completed up to that point. Undergraduate prerequisite courses are no longer required by the program and although we consider courses applicants may have completed within our program, completion of those courses are not a significant consideration in the admissions review process.

Yes, you will need to contact the Division of Graduate Studies for evaluations of degree from universities outside the United States. If you are an international student, please also visit the Office of International Programs for all international student questions.

Please refer to the admission instruction for the current admission requirements. For students pursuing the PPSC, we advise that you take the CBEST either before or soon after starting the program. It is not required for the application. If you are admitted to the program, your Personal Statement will be used to assess your writing skills (thus, make sure you are the author of your Personal Statement).
 

Ideal people to write letters of recommendation would be professional or academic contacts who have been in a supervisory or instructor role and know about your potential as a graduate student and counseling trainee. Personal relationships are not appropriate for letters of recommendation (e.g., family, friends, personal therapists, etc.).

No more than two letters will be accepted. The requirement is two letters of recommendation exactly (submitting more than 2 letters may be subject to disqualification). The admissions committee will only review 2 letters.

No, there is no specific format; however, applicants can download recommendation form from the Department website (optional) and forward to your recommenders if you prefer. It is also acceptable for letter writers to use their own letterhead. Letters of recommendation must be signed by your letter writer and submitted through Cal State Apply. The first step is for the applicant to submit their recommender’s information, then Cal State Apply will send an automated email to the recommender with instructions. For more information, please visit our admission section of our website.
 

Letters of recommendation are due along with the Cal State Apply application (January 15). Letters of recommendation must be submitted through Cal State Apply system by your recommenders. It is important to monitor Cal State Apply and talk with your letter writers early, and check in with them throughout the process.
 

There is no specific format for resume, however, we recommend you visit the Career Services website of your undergraduate institution for tips and guidance on creating an effective resume. It is best if you can write it with your goal of a graduate program in counseling in mind.

Each applicant’s situation, experience, and strengths are different. There is no one right profile of an applicant and we look at the overall picture. It is important that applicants have clarity about the field of counseling and the specialization they want to pursue. Experience can help with that. There are many different volunteer opportunities in the community that provide great experience related to counseling. At the same time, we understand that the current health situation makes volunteer opportunities more challenging.
 

Counseling 690 is no longer a prerequisite; it is optional and recommended course (applicants do not need to take this course). COUN690 is offered every fall semester at San Francisco State University. Undergraduate psychology courses can be taken at San Francisco State or at any other community college or university. Undergraduate courses at SF State can be taken through “Open University” if you are not an enrolled SF State student. For more information, please visit our site: https://counseling.sfsu.edu/recommended-courses

Each year, we admit approximately 40 to 50 applicants total across all programs, and usually, there are close to 1,000 applicants each year.

Notification of acceptance are usually sent out by the university (not the Department of Counseling) starting April 1^st.

We do not allow any admission deferral since there are so many qualified applicants on the waitlist. 

While applications are open; we will post detailed instructions on how to complete the application in the Admissions page of our website. Click on “instructions” and then read the document. There is an additional link within that document with detailed information. Please note, this information is only available on our website during the admissions application window.

The most updated information about fees can be found on the Bursar's webpage and Financial Aid webpage.

Students from states included in the Western Regional Graduate Program may be able to pay resident tuition.

The program is committed to continuous evolution in living these values. We emphasize various aspects of these values in faculty research, our professional involvement in the community and nationally, in curriculum, and in our recruitment and retention of students as well as faculty. This past spring, we intensified our efforts to examine all of these aspects of our program and embarked on a multiyear self-study and plan for transformation. In addition, students are encouraged to pursue topics they are passionate about in coursework and the culminating experience project (similar to the thesis). We will continue this process as we recognize the need to continuously grow and challenge ourselves. The individual faculty bios and descriptions of the specializations may give you more specific information.

There are often opportunities to do research with faculty. This will vary depending on what research individual faculty members are doing and where the project is in the process. This can often be done for independent study credit. It will be important for students to reach out to faculty to discuss their interests and whether there are research opportunities.

Almost all Department of Counseling graduate courses are held in person. All students must be able to attend in person classes.
 

The minimum amount of time to complete any counseling specialization is 2 years (2 academic years, not 4 semesters). The master’s degree requires a minimum of 60 units to graduate including 2 years of internship (traineeship). Please look at the traineeship/internship webpage for more information on courses and hour breakdown.

The department makes its best effort to offer summer courses, however the university decisions about summer offerings vary from summer to summer based on funding. Thus, it is best to plan to take one’s courses during the academic year. We hope to offer summer and when it’s available, it may help lighten the load but it is best not to depend on it. Even if a student is able to take summer courses, they still must complete 2 years of internship.

Anything is possible. You may choose to complete the program part time or full time (7 years is the maximum limit set by the university). Keep in mind the time commitment for traineeship is 12- 16 hours/week for 1^st year internship and 16 – 20 hours/week for the 2^nd year internship. We highly discourage working full time for students who are attempting to complete the program in 2 years. In addition to the workload in courses, most internships require day time/weekday hours and thus it is very difficult to manage a full-time work schedule while completing internship.

No, some classes are only offered at night, some only in the day. This may vary from semester to semester but students will need to be somewhat flexible. Further, most internships require daytime/weekday hours.
 

Full Time:  15 units per semester & 16 hr./wk. of traineeship for 2 academic years

Part Time: This varies based on the number of units a student completes each semester.

For more details on required classes, please visit the specialization page and look at the curriculum sequence of study.  Please do not rely on summer course offerings in planning your curriculum; they are rarely offered and usually only serve to make your future semester loads lighter.

Usually, students are on campus 2 to 3 days and the rest of week is for internship.  We try to organize the class schedule so that students following the standard curriculums only need to attend class twice a week if possible. All past schedules are available on the SF State class schedule website.
 

All students take a core set of classes plus 2-4 specialization or emphasis classes plus internship. If you have an emphasis, you are required to take all the specialization classes identified by your emphasis in addition to completing the internship requirements for both your specialization and your emphasis. In some cases, the internships can “double count” in other cases they do not overlap. In those cases, a student would likely need to complete 3 years of internship or more depending on the situation. The only specialization that MUST be a specialization is MFCC. All others can be either Specialization or Emphasis. For school counseling, it is also recommended that School be the specialization given the internship requirements. To think about it in undergraduate terms, a specialization is like your major and the emphasis is like a minor.

The Academics portion of our website provide great information. In addition, short videos are available and online presenting each specialization.

It is possible to apply to add an emphasis or change your specialization after successfully completing one semester (minimum). However, there is no guarantee that your request will be approved. The coordinator of the specialization or emphasis will review your Application to Change request along with consideration of other applicants, students already in the specialization or emphasis, your academic record, and your justification for requesting the change. It is important that you thoughtfully consider the options and apply to the program that best fits your goals.

Yes, students are able to take classes outside the Department provided the receiving department allows them to. In most cases, classes outside the department cannot be used to fulfill counseling graduate requirements.
 

It is possible that incoming students may be able to transfer up to 12 units from another graduate counseling program if those courses are approved by the receiving department and if they have not been applied toward a previous graduate degree. A process of review is required to determine if the courses are equivalent to Department of Counseling courses. Courses taken after beginning in the program cannot be transferred in.

The Department grants about 18 small scholarships each year ranging from $500-$2000. In addition, there is one large training grant for students with CMHC specialization and a Rehabilitation Services Administration grant. Opportunities for a larger number of scholarships is available through the SF State Financial Aid office. The Graduate Studies website provides excellent information about tuition, scholarships and financial aid on their website “Funding your Education” https://grad.sfsu.edu/content/funding-your-education.

Students in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program are eligible for a training stipends/scholarship each year (20 students each year thanks to a federal grant). Students receive approximately $10k-13K annually for one or all of the years in they are in the program. Stipends can be used for anything (rent, books, expenses, tuition, travel etc.). The stipends entail a “work payback” which requires graduates who received a stipend to work in a non-profit behavioral health organization or a state/federally funded agency that serves those with health and behavioral health conditions and disabilities for two years for each year the stipend was received. (RSA Training Grant)

Stipends may also be available to students who commit to completing one academic year of school-based fieldwork in a project approved high-need K-12 school, and one academic year of full-time service as a school-based mental health provider in a high-need school post-graduation ($10,000). See information about the Equity and Justice-Focused School-Based Mental Health Training Project (EJF-SBMH-TP).

The Equity and Justice-Focused Integrated Behavioral Health Counselor Training Project Site is a four year (2021-2025) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant that provides opportunities for students to apply for a $10,000 stipend for their second year of internship (29 students eligible each year). The project is a direct response to the behavioral health crisis among our California youth, particularly those from underserved and historically marginalized communities.

There are very few paid graduate assistantship positions however there are some part time jobs available through the campus. There are a few opportunities to get experience as a TA for undergraduate classes although these have been for academic credit (currently there are no stipends available).

Class sizes depend on the type of class and range from a maximum of 10 in the internship and practicum classes to 25 in the core classes. Historically, we accept a total of about 50-60 students per year across all specializations. Each student has a full-time faculty member as an advisor and there are about 15-20 advisees per faculty member. Students will often have classes with the same peers. However, because students are able to choose how they will do the program (part-time, full time), there is some variation in who you will see in your classes.
 

Students are required to complete a Culminating Experience Project as their capstone project and it is completed during the second semester of their second internship year. Students enroll in a course during that semester that guides them through the conceptualization and writing process. For MFT students, the project is an in-depth case study whereas for Career, College, CMHC, School and Gerontological counseling, students have the option of completing a grant proposal, program design, research proposal, or program evaluation.
 

All students will have a faculty advisor that they meet with at least once a semester to help guide courses, internship questions and professional development. In addition, a Peer Mentor Project was launched Fall 2022 that matches incoming graduate students with advanced graduate students for their first year of the program. We have also just started a new platform through Career Services that provides opportunities for students to connect with program alumni.

The majority of our students are interested in practicing as counselors after completing their degree and are not interested in pursuing doctoral programs. However, we do have a number of graduates and alumni who pursue doctoral programs including Ph.D. programs, Psy.D. and Ed.D. programs in counseling psychology, clinical psychology, counselor education, higher education leadership, and other related fields. Students who choose to pursue a doctoral program with the intention to later teach in a California State University (CSU) can apply for the Chancellor's Doctoral Incentive Program that provides significant support both in terms of mentoring and financial assistance.

Important: Universities do not grant licenses. We offer degrees that lead to the license and once a student graduates with a Masters in MFCC or Masters in CMHC, there are additional requirements for licensure after completing the degree including post degree supervised hours and licensure exams.

First, it is important to clarify that pursuing the license goes beyond pursuing a degree. The MFCC degree is the first step to pursuing the MFT license and the CMHC degree or emphasis is the first step to pursuing the LPCC. To pursue a path that will prepare students for both licenses concurrently, applicants would need to apply to the MFT specialization and CMHC as an emphasis. It is important to review the courses required for each specialization to determine the overlap and additional courses. In addition, internships must fulfill MFCC requirements and CMHC requirements. Although it is possible to double count internships in many cases, it is possible that a student may need to complete an additional internship for their emphasis depending on whether their sites are approved for both MFCC and CMHC. It is important to note that, in addition to completion of the Master’ s degree, both the LPCC license and the MFT license require post degree exams and an extensive number of post degree supervised counseling hours. This is true of any professional license. It is likely that a combination of MFCC specialization with CMHC emphasis will require 2.5 or 3 years minimum.
 

We advise you to look into each of the programs you are interested in and see what their emphasis is in terms of the types of settings they work in, the type of clientele they work with and the licensure requirements. In our program, the LPCC path is the CMHC Specialization or Emphasis. The LMFT is the MFCC specialization. Often, professionals holding all these licenses work may work in similar settings, may have private practices doing mental health counseling, and may work with similar types of programs. There are differences in the focus and perspective of these different fields. For example, MFCC (or LMFT) focuses on familial-relational-societal systems, CMHC is aligned with a biopsychosocial model of health and behavioral health, social work tends to focus on societal systems and clinical psychology tends to focus on theoretical psychological training for clinical settings. Again, be sure to research the specific programs you are considering.
 

If you are interested in receiving a PPS credential, you would want to apply to the School Counseling specialization or request School Counseling as an emphasis. The combination of School Counseling and College Counseling requires a minimum of three years of internship (two at two different levels [e.g., middle and high school]) and College Counseling requires one year in a college setting (for an emphasis in College Counseling. A specialization in College Counseling requires two years in a college setting)

You may be qualified to teach within higher education (community college or university). For university level,  master's level candidates are typically eligible to teach as lecturer or adjunct faculty. Full time tenure track faculty positions generally require a doctoral degree. To teach in K-12, you must pursue a teaching credential. School counselors may have the opportunity to teach some advisory classes but this is a small part of their job, if at all.

Generally, no. You will need to contact each state licensure body directly to confirm your licensure eligibility (every state is different). The requirements for these licenses in California are more demanding than most other states, you should look at the state you’re interested in practicing and the requirements for becoming licensed in that state.

We provide students with the lists of internship sites that are pre-approved by our program (we have agreements with over 200 sites). Students apply to the sites (we recommend applying to at least 5 sites) much like a job search. We offer a traineeship fair for continuing students in January or February and another one for incoming students during the new student orientation. Once admitted to the program, students have access to the list of approved internships.

We encourage sites to be flexible regarding class schedules as much as possible. At times, there are required events at the site (e.g., staff meetings) that are scheduled on specific days and times. When applying to a site, it is important to ask if there are required days and times.

Internships are designed to provide students with opportunities to apply their learning relevant to their specialization. Thus, internships are in the types of settings where counselors related to their specialization are working. For example, mental health focused specialization students (e.g., CMHC, MFT and Gerontological Counseling) would be in mental health settings or in a mental health unit within a larger setting. College Counseling internships are counseling (e.g, academic counseling, student retention counseling, etc.) in higher education settings. School counseling internships are in k-12 settings. Career counseling may be in a range of settings doing career and vocational counseling (e.g., school, college, mental health, etc.)

One’s employment typically does not qualify as an internship site for several different reasons. First, the internship is an opportunity to engage in counseling at a master’s level. By already holding employment in a position, one presumably already holds the qualification and experience to do the job, thus serving as an intern would provide little increase in knowledge or expertise. Second, one’s role as an employee is to serve a function needed by the organization whereas, one’s role as an intern is to learn and have opportunities to gain additional skill and knowledge. If admitted to the program, it is important to talk with your advisor if you have questions about this.

Most internships begin the first week of the semester, some a week or two earlier, some slightly later.

All students who have committed to an internship must be enrolled in practicum/internship courses. In the first semester, this is two 3-unit courses and for each semester after the internship course is a 3 unit course. Internship courses meet weekly at a specific time and day and include course content as well as individual coaching from the internship instructor. The course focuses on developing counseling skills, group supervision, and special topics related to the practice of counseling. Internship courses are typically specialization specific although some are mixed sections. In addition, all interns will meet weekly with their onsite supervisor at their internship. The course instructor also serves as the liaison to the internship site and acts as a resource for both the student and site supervisor.

Most internships are in person although many provide some of their services virtually and thus, interns are trained in telehealth or remote counseling and may provide some of their services that way.