Counselors serve valuable functions in fields of education, health and human services, and business. Their domains of practice include public and private educational institutions, medical facilities and allied health agencies, social service agencies and organizations, state and federal human service agencies and programs, correctional facilities, business and industry, and private practice. The program's philosophy is to introduce students to a variety of approaches to counseling, and to encourage the development of competencies within these approaches.
The program combines theory and practice utilizing on and off campus course work and field work assignments. Required courses are offered predominantly in the evening, but most field assignments require daytime participation during normal business hours defined by the off-campus sites.
Students coming from diverse experiential backgrounds are trained at the graduate level to be able to perform entry level duties expected by the counseling profession and its specialty areas. Students are prepared to assume future leadership positions in their area(s) of expertise after additional work experiences have been acquired in the field following graduation.
Students completing this option are employed in residence halls, financial aid, student activities, adult re-entry, admissions, career centers, academic advising, disabled student services, counseling centers, orientation, TRIO and Educational Opportunity Programs, multicultural affairs, and community outreach in two- and four-year institutions.
The following are required for admission to the program:
Candidates must apply separately to both the university and the program by posted deadlines. Applications should be submitted at the same time. Program Option application deadlines may vary.
The application for Graduate Admission to the University is available online through CSUMentor (www.csumentor.edu). One complete set of official transcripts must be submitted with the university application. This set of transcripts will be used to determine grade point average eligibility. Failure to submit transcripts in a timely manner will result in a delayed review of the application.
A separate application to the selected Counseling program Option must be submitted to the College of Education Graduate Studies Office (ED1-7). You may only apply to one program per year. A program Option application and directions can be downloaded at www.ced.csulb.edu/graduate/application-packets. The program Option application does not require a set of transcripts.
Applicants are not allowed more than 9 semester unit credits applied to curriculum requirements of the option selected prior to admission into the first semester of the program.
Successful applicants are admitted to the program Option with Conditional Admission status.
Students should advance to candidacy as early as possible. For advancement to candidacy (Clear Admission status), students must:
Take all of the following (51 – 57 units):
Take one of the following:
Take one of the following:
