VCU B.S. in Psychology, Accelerated M.Ed. in Counselor Education Program

This checklist is a resource designed to support your next steps. For additional program, faculty, and program schedule information, please see the M.Ed. Student Handbook on the main page of our website.

Application Deadline: January 15- no extensions

Required Interview: February 20

Eligibility to the Accelerated Program        

• 75 undergraduate credit hours (either prior to application, or to be completed in the semester of your application) and a planned graduation semester of May. December and August graduates should apply directly to the M.Ed. after they complete their undergraduate program.
• Completion of one undergraduate CLED course (e.g. CLED 200, 405, 440, 501) (students can complete this in the spring semester of their junior year as needed)
• Undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or cumulative GPA of 3.0 in most recent 60 credits of coursework
• Successful applicants are able to take accelerated coursework in fall (CLED 601 and 605) and spring (CLED 607 and 612) of their senior year.

Step 1: Online application: Submit this simplified Accelerated B.S. to M.Ed. in Counselor Education application. Note that if accepted and successful in your senior year, graduate level CLED coursework, you will submit an official M.Ed. in Counselor Education application.

Step 2: Statement of Intent: VCU requires that prospective students provide a written statement of purpose for all graduate program applicants. Please see the M.Ed. Counselor Education handbook for the specific prompts as well as the professional standards that you will reference in your statement. 

Step 3: References: There is an area for you to submit the names and emails of three references that will be asked to answer specific prompts on your behalf. Please include at least one current psychology faculty member.

Step 4: Transcripts: You can upload PDF copies of your unofficial transcripts for the review/decision process. Please include all unofficial copies of college/university courses you have attempted or completed.

Step 5: Required Personal Interview: Once all applications are reviewed by the Counselor Education Program faculty, selected applicants may be invited to interview during the Spring semester. The interview will be held in-person on the morning of February 21th.

Step 8: Receiving, accepting and deferring your admissions decision: If accepted after the interview stage, the Department will contact you directly to submit a “Declaration” form with your Psychology advisor. This will allow you access to the graduate courses in your senior year.

VCU B.S. in Psychology, Accelerated M.Ed. in Counselor Education Program

If accepted into the Accelerated M.Ed. in Counselor Education program, there are a few specific next steps and timelines that are helpful to know as you move forward.

How to Learn More Before You Apply

If you would like to learn more about the Accelerated Program before you apply, set up an appointment in Navigate for the “Accelerated Master’s Program Interest” or sign up for one of the information sessions. Please also submit this interest form to stay updated on the upcoming events for the accelerated program.

Fall and Spring CLED Upper Level Course Registration

Since you are a current undergraduate student requesting to register for graduate level courses, there are a few timeline and steps to be aware of. If you are accepted as an accelerated student, you WILL have a seat in the required courses you need. Please do not panic if the process takes a bit, particularly if we are finishing up a semester when we are trying to process graduation and licensure.

Timeline and Course Sequence

Once accepted (late February, early March), you will receive an email outlining your next steps (accept the offer, submit your declaration form, and inform your advisor) by March 15. By submitting the declaration form that is linked in your acceptance email, you will be approved to register for the following courses once you submit the SOE course override form for fall and spring semester:

Fall Accelerated Courses

• CLED 601 - Theories of Counseling
• CLED 605 - Career Information and Exploration

Spring Accelerated Courses

• CLED 607 - Multicultural Counseling in Educational Settings
• CLED 612 - Wellness Counseling

Registration, Advising and Course Selection

For questions regarding registration or advising for your new M.Ed. courses, please contact the program coordinator, Dr. Kaitlin Hinchey (hincheykj@vcu.edu). For questions about completion of your B.S. in Psychology, please contact your advisor listed in Navigate.

Graduation from your Bachelors Process and Applying to M.Ed. Counselor Education

1. Students should meet with the Psychology advisor during add/drop to ensure their schedule of classes includes everything they need to graduate in spring.

2. Students should apply to graduate as soon as possible and if they plan to take a CLEP exam for remaining undergraduate credit, they should do so by mid April to ensure scores come back and post to their undergraduate degree.

3. In fall of your senior year, you will need to submit your full graduate M.Ed. in Counselor Education to begin your graduate program the following summer. See the application checklist here for step-by-step instructions.

NOTE: When you apply to the M.Ed. in Counselor Education, please select “Yes” to the question “Are you a current Accelerated Psychology B.S. to M.Ed. student?” in order for us to manually upload your references from your past application. You will want to review and update your statement of intent to integrate the learning outcomes from your four graduate classes.