Dates & Deadlines

Admission Requirements

Doctor of Philosophy in Professional Counseling (Ph.D.)

1. Apply online or download graduate application. Submit application.

2. $50.00 Deferred application fee (Assessed during financial check in)

3. Official college transcripts (sealed, unopened copy).

4. Regionally or nationally accredited master’s degree with at minimum a 3.25 GPA. A master’s in a related field is preferred, but not required. A related field would typically be counseling, psychology, human services, nursing (with counseling prerequisites), or seminary (with counseling prerequisites).

5. Miller’s Analogies Test (MAT) score report or the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score report 

6. Two recommendations 

7. 300-word letter of intent 

8. Professional vita 

9. Vignette response

10. Ph.D. graduate status record

11. Prerequisites for the Professional and Pastoral Care and Counseling tracks include:
(should be taken prior to admission; must have at least a 3.25 GPA in all prerequisites for admissions in good standing)

• Counselor Professional Identity, Function, & Ethics
• Human Growth & Development
• Research & Program Evaluation
• Individual Appraisal
• Group Counseling
• Theories of Counseling
• Psychopathology & Counseling
• Counseling Techniques and the Helping Relationship
• Competency in the below areas is required, but the courses can be completed after acceptance
  • Systematic Theology I & II
  • Hermeneutics

12. TOEFL scores for students who speak English as a second language (score of 600 paper-based test; 250 computer-based test; 100 internet-based test)

Preliminary acceptance

If you are sending in a preliminary transcript for acceptance, you must be in your final term and planning to start your doctoral degree after the last day of class for your master’s degree. You must submit a transcript to confirm that you are in your final term. Finally, in order to maintain your acceptance and be permitted to continue in your program, you must send in an additional, final official transcript with a conferral date by the end of your first term of enrollment.

Official college transcript policy

An acceptable official college transcript is one that has been issued directly from the institution, and is in a sealed envelope with a signature across the back. If you have one in your possession, it must still be in its original sealed envelope with a signature across the back.

Contact Information

Call: 800-424-9596 (toll free); 1-434-582-7800 (direct)

Please send all official college transcripts to:

Liberty University Online Processing
1971 University Blvd.
Lynchburg, VA 24502