Why Earn a PhD in Counseling?
A PhD in Counseling is the highest level of education you can achieve in your counseling career. Earning your counseling degree online will give you the flexibility you need to continue to work full time, take care of family priorities or manage your full time counseling practice. It will allow you to further your counseling studies and become an expert and leader in your field. It will also help you advance in your counseling career.
Whether you want to go into the field of research, clinical studies or academia, earning this degree will help you achieve your career and professional counseling goals. Typically those who go down the path to earn this degree have aspirations of becoming a counseling professor at a university, are looking to develop an expert level understanding of counseling theories and practices or they want to further their research at a scholarly level on an issue or topic they are passionate about pursuing at the academic level.
There are many great PhD programs to choose from so please check out our online school’s page where we list the top online PhD Counseling programs.
Admission Requirements
To qualify for admission into a doctorate program in counseling, most schools will require that you already be a licensed counselor or have graduated from a CACREP accredited counseling program. Most programs require that you have a Masters Degree in Counseling. In addition to the education requirements, PhD in counseling programs may require resumes, letters of recommendation, a personal interview and a personal essay describing your counseling career, accomplishments and/or areas of research that you plan on incorporating into your doctoral studies.
Curriculum/Graduation Requirements
A PhD in Counseling is a rigorous program that may require you to complete minimum credit hours, internships, practicums, a residency and a dissertation. Each school offering an online doctorate in counseling will differ in the graduation/completion requirements so please be sure to check their graduation requirements or discuss them with an enrollment/program advisor. Schools may also impose a maximum time limit for you to complete your counseling doctorate degree. Typically for a doctorate degree, schools limit the time to graduate to 8 years – that is, you must finish your doctorate in counseling degree within 8 years. The reason for this is because schools often change their graduation requirements or counseling licensure requirements may change. Therefore, the previous curriculum and requirements may not be up to industry standards.
CACREP accredited PhD in Counseling Programs
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School Showcase
- Liberty University – PhD in Counseling Education and Supervision
- Oregon State University – PhD in Counseling
- Capella University – PhD in Counseling Education and Supervision
- Walden University – PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision
Program Accreditation
Doctorate in Counseling programs must have a CACREP accreditation. CACREP accreditation ensures that your program meets the industry standards and curriculum requirements set forth in the counseling profession’s accredited body. By enrolling into a CACREP accredited doctorate in counseling program, you may also qualify to receive student research funding up to $500 according to the CACREP website. This student research funding is only available to students in a CACREP accredited program.