Admissions Standards
ICSW welcomes applicants from many backgrounds and with an array of professional ambitions. If you are interested in joining our community, please review the general admissions guidelines below. To discuss exceptions to any of the guidelines, contact Director of Doctoral Programs Dennis Shelby at (312) 935-4232 or rdshelby@icsw.edu.
For students with a psychoanalytical training background, ICSW accepts transfers of credit for similar courses taken at accredited and/or licensed psychoanalytic training institutes as well as for control cases. Individualized courses and a clinical and research learning plan will be constructed that take into account your analytic education.
Please note that as of January 10, 2009, ICSW no longer requires its students to be licensed clinical social workers at the time of admission.
Ph.D. and Advanced Clinical Practice
Minimum requirements for consideration for the Ph.D. and Advanced Clinical Practice programs include:
- A master’s degree from an accredited graduate school of social work, counseling psychology, or a master’s degree in a closely related field
- Demonstration of a superior graduate school record: that is, a grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale
- Mastery of written and spoken English
- Personal therapy experience is not required as a prerequisite for admission, though such experience is favorably considered
Student-at-Large
Minimum requirements for the Student-at-Large Program are the same as the doctoral program.
Please note that as of January 10, 2009, ICSW no longer requires its students to be licensed clinical social workers at the time of admission.
Ph.D. and Advanced Clinical Practice
Minimum requirements for consideration for the Ph.D. and Advanced Clinical Practice programs include:
- A master’s degree from an accredited graduate school of social work, counseling psychology, or a master’s degree in a closely related field
- Demonstration of a superior graduate school record: that is, a grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale
- Mastery of written and spoken English
- Personal therapy experience is not required as a prerequisite for admission, though such experience is favorably considered