Welcome!
Do you wish to become a scholar and a practitioner who works with individuals, couples, groups, and organizations? Consider our Counseling Psychology (CoPsych) specialization. We offer both a MA program and an APA-accredited doctoral program.
The Masters program in counseling is oriented toward the practice of counseling in community settings. The community counseling specialization provides a combination of clinical and research training, with a focus on preparing students for clinical work in a variety of counseling settings. Our Masters degree training can help students to either become eligible to be licensed as a mental health practitioner or to continue with doctoral training. The Masters degree contains two tracks: community and school counseling. Currently, we are only accepting applications to the community counseling track.
Our doctoral degree is an APA-accredited program that follows a scientist-practitioner training model and focuses on students’ learning through coursework, practica, doctoral research seminars, supervision, and collaboration with other students and faculty. The goal is to train psychologists with specialized expertise in counseling theory, research, and practice. The program provides a balanced emphasis in (a) the scientific study of counseling research and (b) on the practice of counseling and psychotherapy in diverse settings with diverse populations. The counseling psychology program at UNL has a longstanding commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access that promotes the liberation of all people and centers the voices and mental health needs of those often omitted from psychology scholarship. Graduates of our doctoral program enter both academic settings and professional practice arenas. The doctoral program has been fully accredited by the American Psychological Association since 1959 — as such, it is among the five oldest accredited programs in the country! The program most recently received full re-accreditation in 2024, with the next accreditation review scheduled for 2033.
Students can apply to the University of Nebraska’s Ph.D. and M.S. programs in Counseling Psychology through the Office of Graduate Studies. The link to apply to the Ph.D. program is https://graduate.unl.edu/academics/programs/EDPS-PHD and to the M.S. programs is https://graduate.unl.edu/academics/programs/EDPS-MA. We encourage students from a diversity of backgrounds to apply as we fundamentally believe that diverse cohorts enrich our training programs and expand our thinking and discourse.
Through the Counseling and School Psychology Clinic and work with our field placement partners in the community, students will have the opportunity to engage in clinical work with diverse community members with a variety of presenting concerns. The specialization in Counseling Psychology has many unique foci and is able to offer training in a wide range of clinical and research areas depending on students' career goals.
The Co Psych faculty and students are specifically involved in the following areas:
- career development
- counseling process
- couple and family therapy
- gender and multicultural issues
- interpersonal relationship violence
- sexual and reproductive health
- sexual assault
- social justice
Counseling Psychology Program Highlights
The Counseling Psychology program at UNL is an exciting place in terms of its cutting edge opportunities for research and training. Here are a few highlights from faculty and student work in the past several years.
- National Visibility: Our students and faculty remain visible nationally and internationally in their work. Here is a selective list of student and faculty presentations at the recent American Psychological Association convention. Our faculty and students are also involved with APA Divisions 17, 35, 45, 52 as well as such organizations as Psychologists for Social Responsibility, International Association of Applied Psychology, American Women in Psychology, and others.
Questions related to Counseling Psychology's accreditation status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202) 336-5979
apaaccred@apa.org
www.apa.org/ed/accreditation
STUDENT ADMISSIONS, OUTCOMES, AND OTHER DATA
Deadlines
Applications for the Counseling Psychology are considered once a year:
- Ph.D. Application Deadline: December 5 (for starting the following Fall)
- MA Application Deadline: January 15 (for starting the following Fall)
GRE scores are not required for 2024-2025 application
CoPsych Training Director
Dr. Neeta Kantamneni
Educational Psychology
Licensure
Graduate training at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Counseling Psychology is accredited by the American Psychological Association and will prepare students to take the EPPP exam, which is necessary to obtain licensure in all U.S. states. Requirements for taking the EPPP vary by state licensing boards. UNL’s Counseling Psychology Program has reviewed the licensing requirements for all U.S. states to determine eligibility. Based on our review, students graduating with a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology are eligible to sit for the EPPP upon completion of the doctoral program in the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia (DC), Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. There are three states in which graduates may need to complete additional coursework and training post-graduation to be eligible to sit for the EPPP: California, Maine, and New York.
