History and Highlights

The Department of Counseling at Wake Forest University upholds the highest standards of the profession. While it is not eligible for consideration in the national rankings of counseling programs because it has no doctoral level program, it is widely regarded as one of the best master’s degree programs. Evidence to support that claim is multifaceted and includes accreditation decisions, awards received, faculty leadership and service, caliber and community involvement of graduate students, pass rate and scores on national licensing exams, reputation of graduates with employers and doctoral programs, and testimonials from other counselor educators.

Accreditation Decisions

The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) Board of Directors has awarded the WFU School Counseling and Clinical Mental Health Programs reaccreditation for eight years through October 2026. The WFU Program was one of the first to apply for reaccreditation under the new 2009 standards. The Department also successfully passed two strenuous reviews by accreditation entities NCATE, NCDPI and received good reviews from University Internal and External Review Boards.  The External reviewer wrote in his report: “this counseling program is most likely the best master’s degree program in counseling in the United States.”

CACREP awarded the part-time, online delivery of the WFU School Counseling and Clinical Mental Health programs with accreditation through October 2026. The Commission on Colleges (COC) of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) has also approved the part-time, online delivery of the WFU School Counseling and Clinical Mental Health programs.

Pass Rate and Scores on National Counselor Exam

Since 1996 when the WFU Counseling Program became CACREP accredited and eligible to hold campus administrations of the National Counselor Exam, 100% of the graduating students sitting for the exam have passed it. The average composite scores are consistently higher the average composite scores for all CACREP approved programs.