Dear Prospective Applicant:

The Psychology and Sociology Department is offering a Master of Science degree program in psychology. The program is designed to prepare students for licensure in Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT). To be eligible for the licensing exam, you need to fulfill a series of courses set forth by the Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS). The BBS evaluates prospective examinees' graduate coursework to determine eligibility. The BBS has evaluated our program and has determined that our graduates meet the requirements for licensure.

Do I Qualify for the Program?

Before you apply, you should be aware of, and meet, our minimum requirements for all applicants. Your undergraduate G.P.A. and your G.P.A. for your psychology courses must be 3.0 or higher. Some schools (e.g., The Evergreen State College, University of California, Santa Cruz) do not give grades but give evaluations. In these cases, we will estimate grade point average based upon a subjective reading of these evaluations.

Prospective applicants must have a bachelor’s degree in psychology with at least 24 upper division semester units or 36 upper division quarter units in psychology. Consideration will also be given to students from other majors who have completed the same number of units (24 semester or 36 quarter). We look for coverage that is appropriate and rigorous. In either case, prospective applicants should have taken clinically relevant courses, such as Theories of Personality, Abnormal Psychology, Theories of Counseling, and Developmental Psychology.

All applicants for this program will be required to submit three letters of recommendation (at least two of which being from professors who can assess the applicant’s ability to perform successfully in academics in graduate studies) and a biographical statement. The biographical statement should be approximately 2 single-spaced or 3 to 5 double-spaced typewritten pages and should be a personal history and factors that have influenced the applicant to pursue a career in counseling. This should not be confused with the statement of purpose, which is just a small section on the university application where you indicate that you want to receive an M.S. in Psychology.

All other qualifications being comparable, factors such as ethnic background and bilingual skills will be seen as added strengths for a candidate.

How Do I Apply?

1. Get an application off the web at http://www.csumentor.edu

2. After you have determined and fully meet our admission requirements as outlined above, send your completed application to the Admissions Office:

Admissions Office

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

3801 W. Temple Avenue

Pomona CA 91768

3. Have two official copies of all of your undergraduate transcripts sent directly to the Admissions Office, including junior college and graduate transcripts, if applicable. Request these transcripts to be sent directly from your past institution(s) to Cal Poly Pomona. Transcripts sent by you rather than the institution(s) are not considered “official”. Send transcripts early, as our graduate admissions analysis can take up to two months to complete.

4. Send a cover letter with your contact information and the date you submitted your application and biographical statement directly to the Psychology and Sociology Department. Those writing letters of recommendation for you should send them directly to the department as well. Our address is:

Graduate Admissions Committee

Psychology/Sociology Department

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

3801 W. Temple Avenue

Pomona CA 91768

Attn.: Jeffery Mio

5. Applicants who wish to be considered for Fall 2010 should have completed files by April 1, 2010.

6. If you want to check up on the status of your application, go to:

http://www.broncodirect.csupomona.edu

or call the Admissions Office at (909) 869-4555. The website will give you three types of information:

(1) application is incomplete (requiring additional documentation);

(2) complete application and waiting to be reviewed (your application is in queue for consideration);

(3) graduate admissions review completed and forwarded to the department for final decision.

The Psychology and Sociology Department cannot give you any feedback on the status of your application until it receives your evaluation from Graduate Admissions. Please be patient, as this process can take a while.

Should students choose full-time status, entrance in the fall quarter will allow students to complete the entire program in two years. Because of the availability of course offerings, part-time status in any quarter will necessarily mean that students will take longer than two years to complete the program, i.e., students will not be able to make up for a missed course the following term to “catch up” and be on track to graduate in two years. All courses designated as first-year courses must be completed before students may enroll in clinical field placements.