The Counseling Program offers a (MS) degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. This 60-hour program prepares graduates to counsel in clinical mental health settings such as mental health centers, private counseling agencies, drug abuse treatment centers, centers for counseling older adults, child counseling clinics, family counseling centers, pastoral counseling settings, private practice, and business and industry. Students completing the entire sequence of course work will meet the educational requirements for the Texas State License in Professional Counseling. Students who wish to become licensed professional counselors in Texas are required to have specified supervised experiences. To obtain a License in Professional Counseling, the State of Texas stipulates additional requirements such as passing the national counseling exam and obtaining 3,000 clock hours of supervised clinical experience after the master’s degree has been obtained. Consult the Texas Department of Health website for details at https://www.bhec.texas.gov/.
Program Department Chair: Dr. Samuel Bore, Email: Samuel.Bore@untdallas.edu
Admission Procedures
1. Submit the following to the UNT Dallas Office of Graduate Admissions:
a. Graduate School Application for Admission (https://goapplytexas.org/)
b. Graduate School General Application Form (https://laserfiche.untdallas.edu/Forms/Graduate_Application)
c. Official copies of all college transcripts
2. Submit additional admission materials for review by the Department of Counseling and Human Services.
a. 3 Letters of Recommendation Forms
b. A one-page, type-written Writing Sample I.
c. Successful applicants are invited to participate in a required, in-person group interview. Applicants invited to the group interview will additionally be required to complete Writing Sample II, an additional, in-person essay component.
3. An individual interview with UNT Dallas graduate Counseling faculty may be required at any of the levels of the holistic applicant review process described below in the Admission Standards section. The purpose of the individual interview is:
- To assess personal qualities useful for graduate and eventual professional work as a counselor;
- To clarify questions and/or concerns that the committee may have about an applicant’s admission materials; and,
- To determine whether the applicant’s professional goals are in alignment with the objectives of the program.
If application materials are deemed satisfactory, applicants will be invited to the required group interview.
Admission Standards
- Applicants must have at least a 3.0 GPA on the last 60 undergraduate semester hours of work leading to the bachelor’s degree, or a 2.8 GPA on all undergraduate work toward the bachelor’s degree, to be considered for admission to graduate studies at UNT Dallas. Applicants who have already completed a master’s degree must have at least a 3.4 GPA on the master’s degree or meet the undergraduate GPA standards.
- Applicants must hold at least a bachelor’s degree.
- Successful applicants who receive an invitation to the group interview and who currently live within 100 miles of campus must attend the required, in-person group interview
- Admissions are based on a holistic process that first considers the GPA; then the second level review of letters of recommendations
, and Writing Sample I; and the third level review where the in-person group interview and Writing Sample II components are rated, evaluated and scored. If an applicant passes all three levels, then they are granted provisional admission.
- All students granted provisional admission to the master’s program are required to enroll in both COUN 5710 Counseling Theories and COUN 5680 Basic Counseling Skills. during the first term/semester of enrollment in graduate school and must receive a grade of B or higher. Students must receive a grade of B or higher in these two courses to be considered for full admission to the program.
- In addition to earning a B or higher in and , admission to the counseling program is provisional until the student’s progress is evaluated by the counseling faculty upon completion of . The student’s progress is evaluated on the basis of the demonstration of adequate subject matter knowledge, basic counseling interpersonal skills required for counseling, and personal characteristics demonstrated in the program.
- After the progress review described above, the counseling faculty either recommends that the student continue the program or reserves the right to withdraw the student from the program.
- Following this initial evaluation, the student will be routinely evaluated on the criteria of knowledge, interpersonal skills, counseling skills, and personal characteristics to determine if progress is adequate, if remedial work is needed or if the student should be withdrawn from the program.
Program Requirements
The MS degree requires a minimum of 60 semester hours, including completion of all MS requirements and a passing score on the written comprehensive examination administered during student enrollment in or . All degree programs must be planned in consultation with the student’s advisor, and students must earn grades of A or B on all degree plan course work. Students are required to file a degree plan during their first term/semester of graduate study. The master’s degree program requires an internship, / , in lieu of a thesis. The internship should be the last enrollment in the master’s program. Placement for the internship is selected in cooperation with the supervisor and must be approved by the program.
The master’s comprehensive examination will be the national Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE), a service of the Center for Credentialing Education (an affiliate of the National Board for Certified Counselors). The CPCE covers the following 8 areas: 1) Human Growth and Development; 2) Social and Cultural Foundations; 3) Helping Relationships; 4) Group Work; 5) Career and Lifestyle Development; 6) Appraisal; 7) Research and Program Evaluation; and 8) Professional Orientation and Ethics.
To prepare for the CPCE exam, students need to study the same way they would for the National Counselor Exam (NCE) sponsored by the National Board for Certified Counselors (see NBCC website for a list of study guides for NCE examination).
At the end of the first field internship, students can take the Computer Based exam online by registering through this link: https://www.cce-global.org/assessmentsandexaminations/cpce.
Required Courses for MS in Counseling
60-hour degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
*The MS degree requires a minimum of 60 semester hours including successful completion of internship, COUN 5720 /COUN 5721 , and passing a comprehensive examination.
Major Courses
Elective Courses
Select one of the following:
Select one of the following:
Total hours to complete degree: 60 semester credit hours