Once an applicant's complete file has been received by Graduate Education and Academic Planning and meets their admission standards, it is forwarded to the Department of Counseling and Human Development, where the applicant's materials are reviewed independently by the counseling faculty.
Counseling program evaluation criteria includes a minimum undergraduate grade point average for consideration. All applicants for the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program must have a minimum of a 2.8, and for the School Counseling program, the minimum GPA is a 3.0. Applicants must possess two strong letters of recommendation and provide a clearly written goal statement regarding their chosen course of study.
Clinical Mental Health Counseling applicants with a 2.6 to 2.79 undergraduate grade point average may be considered for admission if they earned their undergraduate degree more than five years prior to making application to the counseling program.
School Counseling applicants who do not meet the 3.0 UGPA standards, but fall within the 2.8-3.0 range, will be considered for admissions under the 10 percent Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) provision for exceptions (10 percent of admitted students can be below the 3.0 criteria).
Applicants who do not meet the stated UGPA requirements may be considered for admissions only if a strong case for a waiver is presented. Candidates in this position should ask for the GPA waiver request to be added to their application profile by emailing grad-documents@iup.edu.
In order to obtain certification in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Department of Education requires school counseling applicants to pass certain Praxis examinations. All certification applicants must take the Professional School Counselor Praxis. Most students take the Praxis exam during their field experience, but may also choose to take this exam after graduation.
As stipulated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education in Chapter 49, on or before January 1, 2011, approved teacher education programs (including school counseling) must require students to complete at least nine credits (or 270 hours) regarding accommodations and adaptations for students with disabilities in an inclusive setting. Additionally, at least three credits (or 90 hours) must address the instructional needs of students who are English language learners (ELL). These requirements are met directly through IUP's school counseling curriculum.