The Counseling Doctoral Programs are no longer accepting applicants for Summer and Fall 2024. The program is currently accepting applicants for 2025. The Deadline for doctoral applications is December 15, 2024.

The doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Supervision is intended for M.A. or Ed.S. level professionals who wish to teach and/or supervise in higher education or in school and community settings. Applicants usually have recent clinical experience and are licensed or license-eligible. However, it is possible to pursue the doctoral degree with backgrounds and/or advanced degrees in related academic areas.

Program Requirements

Formal programs of study for the doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Supervision are designed in cooperation with assigned advisor. Depending on the student’s academic background, some of the requirements below may have been completed in previous degree work.

General Requirements

• A minimum of 96 semester credits (up to 10 allocated for the dissertation).  Depending on career goals, advisors may require more credits for particular programs of study.
• A minimum of 30 semester credits in the primary area (Clinical Mental Health or School), excluding dissertation credits.  The dissertation must be in the primary area.
• A support area of at least 20 semester credits must be identified.  This may be defined as a field of knowledge or a specific curriculum and may draw on all coursework—can be Mental Health or School, or another concentration you work out with your advisor.
• A minimum of 1/3 of all coursework in the primary area must be completed at the University of Montana (usually 30 credits).
• Three full time semesters in residence are required, two of which must be consecutive.  A full time semester is considered to be 6 credits.

Additional Requirements

• Students must complete the core research curriculum in the College of Education and Human Sciences –600-level Statistics, Quantitative, and Qualitative, usually taught by Educational Leadership, but equivalent courses from doctoral programs in other departments may be substituted.
• Students must have completed COUN 633, Supervision of Counseling, or a Doctoral Seminar in this same subject area, and must engage in supervised teaching experience in higher education.  Doctoral students are usually licensed as a mental health counselor and/or as a school counselor at the time of graduation. Exceptions to this would include individuals with two or more years of experience in a non-licensed counseling-related field or equivalent.
• Students must pass a written comprehensive examination developed to cover the primary and support areas and research.  An oral examination may also be required.
• Students must complete and defend a dissertation.  Students must register for dissertation credits every semester in which they are working on the dissertation.  The minimum number of credits for continuous enrollment is determined by the Graduate School. It is usually three graduate credits each semester, except summer term.
• Comps and Dissertation Defense are not possible to convene during summer term.  Comps and Dissertation Defense meetings must not be scheduled during the last week of the term or during finals week.

EdD Application Requirements

Required Materials

• Current résumé (CV)
• 3 Letters of recommendation
• Official academic transcripts from ALL higher-education institutions of previous study
• OPTIONAL: Official GRE scores
  • Doctoral applicants must have a minimum GRE verbal score of 153 and math score of 146 (500 verbal, 500 math converted score prior to 9/1/2011)
  • In the event of a lower GRE score, on rare occasions a combination of other factors may allow for provisional acceptance
• Personal statement
  
  • Tell us more about you, your motivations for pursuing a doctoral degree in counselor education, the qualities you would bring to the profession, what you hope to do with the degree

Application Information

The application submission deadline for Counselor Education doctoral programs is December 15. A second round of applicant reviews will be conducted January 15, if positions are unfilled.

Graduate student applicants must apply online. Contact the Graduate School (406-243-2572) with further questions regarding the online application process. If admitted, students may begin their graduate program in either Summer Session or Fall Semester. 

English Language Requirements: 
Applicants whose native language is not English must submit TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), IELTS (International English Language Testing System) or MELAB (Michigan English Language Assessment Battery) scores. If the TOEFL score is below 580 (paper-based test), 237 (computer-based test) or 92 (internet-based test), the IELTS score is below 7.0 or the MELAB score is below 82, applicants may be admitted provisionally into a graduate program or as a graduate non-degree student and will be required to complete English as a Second Language (ESL) courses before participating in Counselor Education courses.

Contact Us

Department of Counseling
counselored@mso.umt.edu
406-243-4850