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How to Apply

Apply for one of our on-campus master's degree programs in Clinical Mental Health Counseling or Counseling Psychology.

Use these application requirements to apply for our programs in:

  • Counseling & Psychology: School Counseling (48 credits)
  • Clinical Mental Health Counseling (60 credits)
    • No specialization
    • Trauma Studies specialization
    • Holistic Studies specialization
    • School & Community Counseling specialization

If you are an international student, you'll have additional application requirements. Get the International Student application guide for this program here.

 

Application Deadlines

Application Deadlines

Fall Start

Priority Deadline: April 1
Standard Deadline: May 1

Spring Start

Priority Deadline: October 1
Standard Deadline: November 1

For priority scholarship consideration, please submit your application by the priority deadline.

If you wish to apply and be considered after the deadline, please contact Graduate Admissions at 617.349.8300 or email luadmissions@lesley.edu to discuss a late application.

Application Form

Application Form

Apply online for your graduate program in Counseling.

Create an account and password before you start your application. You can stop and save your application, and return to complete it later.

Apply Online for 2024

Submit Documents

Submit Documents

You'll need to submit the following supporting materials.

You can send the documents separately, but we won't be able to make an admissions decision until we've received everything.

Official Transcripts

Have each institution where you earned an undergraduate or graduate degree send us your official transcript.

If your transcript is not in English, provide a notarized translation of it.

If you’re enrolled in a degree program when you apply, submit your transcript of the courses you’ve taken to date. Submit your final official transcript once you’ve completed the degree program.

If your degree is from outside of the United States, you will be required to submit a Foreign Academic Credentials Evaluation.

Evaluation Agencies

Contact one of these agencies to get your credentials evaluated:

You’ll need a document-by-document evaluation. Exception: Expressive Therapies master's degree programs require a course-by-course evaluation instead.

If you’re submitting a foreign academic credential evaluation, unofficial transcripts are acceptable for your transcript requirement if official transcripts were provided to the evaluation agency.

Your transcripts need to be:

  • Conferred by regionally accredited colleges or universities
  • Original documents bearing the official institutional stamp
  • Received by Graduate Admissions Services in envelopes sealed by the sending institution, or sent electronically directly from the institution

Send transcripts to:

appstatus@lesley.edu or

Lesley University
Graduate Admissions Services
29 Everett Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

3 Letters of Recommendation

Include 3 recent recommendations from those you’ve worked with closely in an academic or professional setting.

  • At least one of your recommendations should come from a present or former supervisor.
  • If you’re in school, or are a recent graduate, one recommendation should come from a professor.
  • We don’t accept recommendations written by friends or family, or that were written more 2 years before your application date.

Within your online application form, include the names and emails of the people writing your letters of recommendation. They'll receive an email from you with an electronic recommendation form, and they can upload a letter if they choose.

Written Personal Statement

Your written personal statement gives us insight into your motivation, purpose in pursuing a degree program, writing skills, and communication style. It’s an important part of our review process.

The written personal statement is an opportunity for you to communicate your:

  • Level of self-awareness
  • Capacity to be present for another
  • Intellectual ability
  • Understanding of the responsibilities of a professional counselor
  • Understanding the role of power, privilege, and oppression in people’s lives
  • Readiness for the academic demands of graduate work in counseling and psychology

In your 750–1250 word written personal statement, respond to each of these questions:

(Only self-disclose details to the extent that is appropriate for you.)

  1. Address the following:

    1. Discuss your skills as a critical learner, your ability to write research papers, and your ability to participate in experiential learning. Use this as an opportunity to discuss your academic strengths and weaknesses.

    2. Discuss your ability to reflect on your life experience (developmental milestones and challenges, crises, losses, etc.).

  2. In your personal life, when you are in a conflicted situation with another person, how do you manage the competing issues of being respectful of your feelings, thoughts, and interests, and those of the other person involved?

  3. Imagine yourself as a counselor or therapist. What do you believe are the responsibilities you would have for the client's well-being, and how would you hope to meet those responsibilities (given your present understanding of the role and responsibilities of a counselor/therapist)?

  4. We are each affected by the impact of power, privilege, and oppression (either through the having of power and/or privilege due to gender, ethnicity, race, class, sexual orientation, or another form of majority status; or through the experience of being oppressed by others because of ways in which we are marginalized).

    Summarize your exposure to these issues and how your understanding would be a benefit to clients with whom you would work as a counselor. Indicate the areas in which you would need to expand your understanding of these issues in your training as a counselor.

Interview

Interview

Interviews are required.

Contact Admissions

Contact Admissions