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Faculty of Health

Counselling psychology prerequisites

This page outlines the prerequisite courses for the Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology program. Visit our admissions page for more information, including application deadlines.

Note: As of May 1, 2025, the counselling psychology program is administered through the Faculty of Health. Counselling course codes have been migrated from "ED-D" to "CNPY" for prerequisite courses, e.g., CNPY 417, 418, 414.

As part of your online application, you must complete and submit a list of counselling prerequisite courses using our fillable prerequisites form.

Your form must include the following courses or approved equivalents:

When to complete your prerequisites

All 3 CNPY prerequisites must have been completed within 7 years before the application deadline.

CNPY 417 and 418 must be completed by the end of the calendar year before the entry point year you are applying to (e.g., by Dec. 31, 2025, for programs starting in September 2026). If you have not completed CNPY 417 or CNPY 418 by Dec. 31, or if you get a B or lower in any of these 3 courses, your application will not be processed.

You can apply having not completed CNPY 414 and it won't make your application any less competitive. If you are offered a spot in the program, then you will be required to take the course at UVic in the summer term before the program starts.

Completing the other prerequisite courses by the time you apply is strongly recommended, as it will make your application more competitive. But it is possible to apply while they are still in progress or while registered for the spring term.

Applications are reviewed in the following order:

  1. completed applications
  2. applications missing one non-counselling prerequisite course that is currently in progress
  3. applications missing no more than 2 non-counselling prerequisite courses that are currently in progress

Please note that the 7-year CNPY course requirement cannot be waived even if you are working in the counselling field during that time.

If prerequisites are in progress when you apply

If you are taking prerequisite courses in the fall term, you can apply by the Dec. 1 application deadline with your transcript that shows the courses as in progress. Once you receive your final grades in late December or early January, please log back in to your online application and upload an updated transcript showing the final grades.

CNPY course equivalencies

If you have taken courses at another university that cover similar material to the CNPY prerequisites, you can request an equivalency for accepted courses. You may request equivalency for a course before or after you take the course.

To request equivalency to an CNPY course, or for examples of accepted courses, please see the prerequisite equivalency request guide. You must submit a request for every course that you are using as equivalent to an CNPY prerequisite, whether it is listed in the guide. The syllabus can change from year to year, so even if a course is listed, it may not always be accepted.

Because work experience is one of our main criteria for adjudication, we do not accept work experience or practica to substitute for prerequisite courses or any other requirement.

For students who live outside Victoria

If you do not live in Victoria and need to complete the CNPY prerequisites, you can take CNPY 418 online each term. For the other prerequisites, there may be equal courses at other universities.

To take these courses at UVic, you must first apply to become a non-degree student and go through the regular undergraduate admissions process (not in continuing studies).

As part of the online application, you will indicate that "I already have a degree and want to take additional courses (but not another undergraduate degree)." Please select "Social Sciences - non-degree" as your program.

Usually, the 3 required CNPY courses are offered each term (September, January and May terms). These courses all fill up quickly, so we recommend applying early if you need to.

Please note: ED-D 414, 417 and 418 are considered equivalent to CNPY 414, 417 and 418 and do not require an equivalency request.