Master of Science (MS) — Marriage and Family Therapy

Applying to the Marriage and Family Therapy (MS) Program

To be considered for admission into the Marriage and Family Therapy (MS) program, you must apply online. Find the help you need with the admissions process of the program of your choice through Graduate Admissions. 

If you are an international student, also refer to International Graduate Students information about additional admission requirements. 

Admission process

The Marriage and Family Therapy Graduate Admissions Committee will complete an initial applicant screening process based upon your online application materials only.

• Finalists are invited to meet with members of the committee for an all-day group interview process at the end of March or the beginning of April. It is highly recommended that you participate in the group interview process. Telephone interviews are permissible, but only in exceptional circumstances.
• Admission to the graduate program depends upon recommendation by the MFT faculty and approval from the chair of the Marriage and Family Therapy program. The entire process is usually completed within 12 weeks of the final deadline date for applications.
• All students are admitted on a probational status in order to allow faculty to be certain they are fully prepared for placement in an internship site. Full admission is required for placement in an internship site to occur.

To be considered for full admission, you must complete a minimum of 11 units in the MFT program, with a average GPA of 3.0 or better in all courses, and must be recommended for continuance by MFT faculty.

Admission requirements

• Online application and $50 application fee.
• Bachelor’s degree
  
  • From a regionally accredited institution in any field.
  • A minimum grade-point average of 3.0* in the last 45 quarter credits (30 semester credits) of coursework completed before applying for admission, or in all undergraduate work, whichever is higher.
  • Courses in social and behavioral sciences, 18 semester credits or 24 quarter credits, are preferred but not required.
• Prerequisites
  
  • A course in applied statistics, and a course in individual lifespan development completed at a regionally accredited institution prior to full admission to the program.
  • If you have not already taken sufficient courses in this area, you are encouraged to take courses from the following areas: theories of personality, theories of counseling, abnormal psychology, and developmental psychology or family studies.
  • You may elect to take the psychology subject test of the GRE. Those who earn a score of 500 or higher may waive any unfinished prerequisite coursework, with the exception of the statistics and individual life span development courses.
• Official transcripts
  
  • Official transcript(s) from any college or university that granted you a degree or degrees, and from any institution attended since that time.
• Testing
  
  • Minimum score of 293* (only verbal and quantitative, 950 for the older version of the test) for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), or 388 scaled score (35 raw score) for the Miller Analogies Test (MAT) is preferred.
  • Administered within five years of the deadline date for application to the program.
  • If you previously earned a master’s degree from a regionally accredited institution and submit an official transcript that includes the master’s degree, the GRE/MAT will be waived.
  • We consider graduate admissions holistically. The GRE is currently an optional component of the application. We understand that some individuals may have had barriers to taking the GRE. If you have taken the GRE, please feel free to submit scores to give us another point of data to review. If you have not yet taken the GRE, we will consider the other aspects of your application for a holistic review of your preparation for graduate school.
• Letters of recommendation
  
  • One from a person professionally qualified to recommend for a field of this nature (e.g., mental health counselor, marriage and family therapist, pastoral counselor, psychologist)
  • One from a person qualified to evaluate your academic ability (e.g., educator)
  • A personal recommendation that may include a reference from an employer and/or supervisor from a volunteer experience
  • Recommendation forms are included in the online application.
  • Your recommendations must be submitted on the forms provided and sent to you in sealed and signed envelopes to be included with the application package.
• Personal statement, typed
  
  • Three to four pages, demonstrating your writing and grammatical skills
  • Explain your career objectives
  • Rationale for seeking the degree and choosing to attend Seattle Pacific University
  • Personal interest in marriage and family therapy
  • Professional and personal strengths as they apply to the mental health profession
  • Related volunteer or work experiences
  • The way in which your personal and professional life experiences have converged to motivate application to the MFT program
  • Other insights as deemed appropriate by you

*Candidates with significant qualifications and exceptional recommendations but fail to meet the GPA or GRE/MAT preferred minimum scores may still be considered for admission to the MFT program, as the program admits all students on a probationary status.

Transfer of credit

If you wish to apply master’s degree level coursework completed at a regionally accredited institution prior to application, you must provide applicable transcripts and/or syllabi. Each course must be at least three graduate-quarter credits and be equivalent to courses taught in the MFT program at Seattle Pacific University.

A minimum grade of “B” will be needed for transferred work, and a maximum of nine quarter credits may be transferred.

International students

In addition to the SPU general and the Marriage and Family Therapy program’s additional admission requirements, international students must also submit:

• An official confidential affidavit of financial support covering the first year of intended enrollment. Without this document, SPU cannot issue an I-20 immigration form.
• Students holding undergraduate or graduate degrees from colleges, universities and/or seminaries located outside the U.S. are expected to have their transcripts evaluated by a professional credential agency. Such an evaluation is required before an application for admission to SPFC can be granted and before any graduate credits taken elsewhere can be applied to a SPFC degree.
• If you earned an undergraduate degree in a country other than the United States, or your degree is in progress, an official course-by-course credential evaluation must be submitted from a NACES member-recognized credential service. Acceptable credential services include, but are not limited to, World Education Services (WES) and Foundation for International Services (FIS).
• In addition to the evaluation report, we also require official transcripts and diplomas to be submitted, in English. International applicants are responsible for all costs associated with this service.
•  English language proficiency: If you do not speak English as your first language, you must also submit scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). A minimum score of 600 on the TOEFL paper or 250 on the TOEFL-CBT, or 100 on the TOEFL-iBT is required. ACE scores will not be accepted.