Online Master’s in School Counseling
Overview
Calendar
Spring
Application Deadline:
November 1, 2025
Upcoming Start Date:
January 12, 2026
Summer
Application Deadline:
March 1, 2026
Upcoming Start Date:
May 11, 2026
Why Choose Wake Forest for Your Master’s in School Counseling Online?

Prepare for K-12 schools with our CACREP-accredited online school counseling program.

Our resources include 24/7 technical support and tutoring services.

Learn from nationally renowned counseling thought leaders.

Find and secure an internship with our network of industry partners.

Wake Forest graduates have an average pass rate of over 90% on the National Counselor Exam
Children Need Compassionate Advocates. Start Here.
Program Details
What Can I Learn in the Online School Counseling Master’s Program?
The 60-credit-hour online master’s in school counseling degree offers clinical instruction through practicum and internship experiences, as well as advanced therapeutic techniques across eight areas:
- Human growth and development
- Social and cultural foundations
- Helping relationships
- Group work
- Career and lifestyle development
- Appraisal
- Research and program evaluation
- Professional orientation

Careers
Top 5 Rewarding Jobs for Master’s in School Counseling Graduates
What Does a School Counselor Do?
School counseling is a specialized field within the broader realm of counseling that focuses on the unique needs and challenges students face in educational settings. It encompasses providing academic, career, personal and social support to help students achieve their fullest potential.
School counselors can use their platform and abilities to enlighten, inspire, mentor, guide and empower students to learn life skills that are instrumental to their personal, social, academic and professional success. Counselors provide guidance and support to help foster students’ social and emotional growth and better prepare them for success in the classroom and in other aspects of their lives.
Typical responsibilities of a school counselor can include the following:
- Identifying factors that can affect a student’s academic performance
- Assisting in the psychological, academic, and social growth of students
- Mediating conflicts among all stakeholders in the school community
- Helping students overcome social or behavior challenges
- Collaborating with students, parents, educators and administrators
- Organizing and overseeing various school initiatives
- Administering aptitude tests to help identify students’ abilities and interests
- Reporting cases of possible neglect or abuse and referring students and parents to resources for additional support
Studies indicate that a significant percentage of successful students credit their achievements to the guidance and encouragement received from their school counselors. We dive deeper into the topic in this article, “What Is a School Counselor“.
How Can Wake Forest Prepare You for Your School Counseling Career?
The Wake Forest Master of Arts in Counseling program comprises 60 credit hours and is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP).
Our innovative curriculum offers clinical instruction through practicum and internship experiences that give you the opportunity for hands-on training and exposure to real-world counseling scenarios. We also provide training in eight areas:
- Human growth and development
- Social and cultural foundations
- Helping relationships
- Group work
- Career and lifestyle development
- Appraisal
- Research and program evaluation
- Professional orientation
Our graduates have a 90% pass rate on the National Counselor Examination, so when you earn your Wake Forest degree, you can feel confident that you are ready to take the next step in your career.
School Counselor Job Outlook
The demand for qualified school counselors is rising as awareness grows regarding the importance of mental health and emotional well-being in educational settings. Your online master’s in counseling can prepare you for a rewarding career in a field that’s expected to see significant growth in the coming years.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts 5% growth in the number of school and career counselors and advisors between 2022 and 2032, which is nearly twice than the average growth projected for all occupations. The median career advisor and school counselor salary was $61,710 as of May 2023, though those in the top 10 percent of earners had salaries exceeding $100,000.*
Key factors contributing to the projected growth include rising student enrollment in K-12 schools, as well as greater demand for career counseling at the college level as universities open an increasing number of career centers.
*U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “School and Career Counselors and Advisors”
Career Resources
You Can Make a Difference
Pursuing a master’s in school counseling opens doors to a fulfilling career dedicated to making a difference in students’ lives. With increasing demand, diverse career opportunities and the chance to make a positive impact on future generations, the path to becoming a school counselor can be worthwhile and rewarding on many levels.
According to the American School Counselor Association, a growing body of research indicates comprehensive, data-driven school counseling programs improve a range of student learning and behavioral outcomes. Greater access to school counselors and comprehensive school counseling programs, particularly for schools in lower-income areas, can lead to benefits including the following*:
- Higher likelihood of succeeding academically and behaviorally in school
- Better attendance outcomes
- Stronger sense of connection to school
- Reduced racial disparities in proportions of students taking Advanced Placement courses
- Reduced achievement gap with Latina/Latino students with limited English proficiency
- Critical support and resources for the career development needs of immigrant students
These are just a few ways school counselors can change lives and make a profound impact on the students with whom they work.
Curriculum

Online Master of Counseling
(60 credit hours)
The MAC program provides knowledge in eight areas: human growth and development, social and cultural foundations, helping relationships, group work, career and lifestyle development, appraisal, research and program evaluation, and professional orientation. The program also offers clinical instruction with practicum and internship experiences.
Foundation Courses
12 Credit Hours | 4 Courses
Both Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling students will take these courses.
This course is an introduction to the profession of counseling. It covers the history of counseling, as well as the roles counselors play in today’s society. It examines counseling associations and specialization areas within counseling. Professional issues such as licensure and certification of counselors are explored, too. Public policy, advocacy and other contemporary factors that impact the present and future of counseling are looked at in context and developmentally.
While the focus of the course is on introducing the counseling profession, we know that some of you are planning on the field of human services. The ties to that field will be less explicit, but you will be able to see the progression of helping services that will readily apply to human services.
Core Courses
18 Credit Hours | 6 Courses
Both Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling students will take these courses.
School Counseling Concentration Coursework
School Counseling: Beginning Practice Courses
The Counseling Practicum is a pre-internship experience designed to help students further develop their individual counseling and group work skills under careful supervision. The Practicum includes a minimum of 185 total hours, with at least 150 hours of field experience in a community/mental health or school setting plus at least 35 hours of individual/triadic and group supervision by University faculty. The 185 hours break down as follows:
150 hours of work in a school or community setting over a period of one semester (an average of 12-15 hours per week for 14 weeks). These hours should include the following activities:
- A minimum of 50 hours of direct client contact.
- A minimum of 7 hours of supervision by the site supervisor, conducted weekly, across the semester. (Approximately 30 minutes per week).
35 hours of university supervision, which includes:
- 14 hours of individual or paired supervision by a university supervisor
- 21 hours of group supervision (1 1/2 hours per week) by a university supervisor
School Counseling: Advanced Practice Courses
Internship is a highly individualized learning experience that provides opportunities for growth in skills, knowledge and professional development. In internship, you will have opportunities to practice school counseling. Internship supervision meetings will be related to the needs, abilities and concerns of the group members and supervisor. Activities will be designed to facilitate growth in specific counseling skills, case conceptualization skills, application of school counseling job responsibilities, self-awareness and professional identity development.
You will take two counseling internship courses (CNS 744 and 745) that together total a minimum of 600 hours of experience in a school site and 42 hours of group supervision with your colleagues and a university supervisor. Internships are completed following the successful completion of the Counseling Practicum. Each semester’s experience includes the following:
- 300 hours of work in a school setting over a period of one semester (an average of 21 hours per week for 14 weeks) and should include:
- 120 hours of direct service with clients and
- 14 hours of individual supervision by the site supervisor and
- 21 hours of group supervision (1 ½ hours/week) by program faculty with other students
- 321 hours minimum
Work in schools as an intern counselor and satisfactorily complete the following requirements:
- Complete 300 hours internship per semester (600/year) with 120 direct service clock hours each semester (24/year)
- Participate in all activities as requested by your site supervisor in a timely, complete manner
- Become familiar with and follow all state/county/school policies
- Maintain current professional liability insurance. Have documentation on file with the Wake counseling department.
- Adhere to ethical standards as outlined by the American Counseling Association and the American School Counseling Association. Read with your on-site supervisor and sign the ethical standards guidelines; submit the copy with all signatures to your program faculty.
- Obtain supervision from site supervisor and/or university supervisor immediately if you become aware of any information that would cause you to be concerned for anyone’s safety. Inform both supervisors without delay.
Internship is a highly individualized learning experience that provides opportunities for growth in skills, knowledge and professional development. In internship, you will have opportunities to practice school counseling. Internship supervision meetings will be related to the needs, abilities and concerns of the group members and supervisor. Activities will be designed to facilitate growth in specific counseling skills, case conceptualization skills, application of school counseling job responsibilities, self-awareness and professional identity development.
You will take two counseling internship courses (CNS 744 and 745) that together total a minimum of 600 hours of experience in a school site and 42 hours of group supervision with your colleagues and a university supervisor. Internships are completed following the successful completion of the Counseling Practicum. Each semester’s experience includes the following:
- 300 hours of work in a school setting over a period of one semester (an average of 21 hours per week for 14 weeks) and should include:
- 120 hours of direct service with clients and
- 14 hours of individual supervision by the site supervisor and
- 21 hours of group supervision (1 ½ hours/week) by program faculty with other students
- 321 hours minimum
Work in schools as an intern counselor and satisfactorily complete the following requirements:
- Complete 300 hours internship per semester (600/year) with 120 direct service clock hours each semester (24/year)
- Participate in all activities as requested by your site supervisor in a timely, complete manner
- Become familiar with and follow all state/county/school policies
- Maintain current professional liability insurance. Have documentation on file with the Wake counseling department.
- Adhere to ethical standards as outlined by the American Counseling Association and the American School Counseling Association. Read with your on-site supervisor and sign the ethical standards guidelines; submit the copy with all signatures to your program faculty.
- Obtain supervision from site supervisor and/or university supervisor immediately if you become aware of any information that would cause you to be concerned for anyone’s safety. Inform both supervisors without delay.
This course is designed to allow students to investigate current issues related to the practice of school counseling. The emphasis will be on identifying appropriate prevention responses to these issues.
Upon completion of this course, student will have the knowledge and skills outlined in the CACREP School Counseling standards. The lettering and numbers in the tentative schedule refer to specific guidelines from CACREP.
This course is an entry level introduction to substance abuse counseling, based on theory, research and application. Thus, it is structured to provide the student with a broad array of information drawn from theoretical formulations, research findings and practical/clinical application. The goal for this class is to facilitate your learning by introducing you to such concepts as pharmacological issues and terminology, models of addiction, theories on etiology, diagnosis and assessment, and numerous evidence-based treatment strategies.
The emphasis of the course will also be on clinical application, exploring interventions such as motivational interviewing, relapse prevention, developmental models of addiction, experiential activities, family-based interventions and 12-step self-help groups. Clinical application will be taught via small lecture, case studies, video and role play. Usually, for any given topic, conceptual and theoretical information will be presented first, followed by application via case studies, video and triadic practice. I encourage students to be actively engaged in the learning process, and participation in mutual help groups, triads, abstinence contracts, video analysis, etc. is expected.
This course highlights pertinent topics in the law and ethics related to the practice of counseling. You will be introduced to an overview and relevant guidelines in these areas. Hopefully your study will inspire you to take an active role in developing and monitoring your competence as a counselor, and demystify some of the legal and ethical issues that can feel most intimidating to counselors. The overarching goal is to help you to be a knowledgeable, careful counselor who always protects the clients or students with whom you work. In this course you will continue to build upon and grapple with some of the issues that you have learned about regarding competent, ethical and legal practice in your previous coursework.
You will have the opportunity to examine client rights and responsibilities as well as your role and duties in that area. We will explore a variety of topics including but not limited to: professional boundaries, record-keeping and documentation, confidentiality and its limits, responding to subpoenas, malpractice and negligence, informed consent and counselor competence.

Transfer Credits
Students can transfer up to six credits, subject to approval by department faculty. Evaluations are completed upon acceptance into the program by the Wake Forest University Office of Admissions. Additionally, students must submit a syllabus for the course(s) they want to transfer in. Official transcripts are required prior to registration. Courses can be submitted for transfer credit consideration only if the student received a grade of B or higher.
Please be aware that taking fewer than 4.5 hours in a semester (which is what happens when you receive transfer credit for one of the scheduled courses) may lower your eligibility for financial aid.
Admission Requirements

To qualify for the Master of Arts in Counseling program, applicants must meet the following Wake Forest University graduate admissions qualifications:
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Disability Policy and Procedures
Wake Forest will consider the application of any qualified student regardless of disability on the basis of the selection criteria established by the university, which include personal and academic merit. In addition, the university endeavors to provide facilities which are in compliance with all laws and regulations regarding access for individuals with disabilities.
Accommodations in compliance with all laws and regulations are provided for students with disabilities through the Center for Learning, Access, and Student Success (CLASS).
Additionally, documentation of a disability and a request for accommodations can be sent to:
Learning Assistance Center & Disability Services.
Wake Forest University
P.O. Box 7283
Winston-Salem, NC 27109
Ph. 336-758-5929
Fax. 336-758-1991
Learn from a Nationally Recognized Faculty of Thought Leaders
Tuition and Fees*

For the online graduate counseling programs in the 2024-2025 academic year, the tuition rate will be $1,700 per credit hour, for a total tuition of $102,000 (60 credits x $1,700) for the Master of Arts in Counseling program. Tuition increases are typically between 3% and 6%.
To confirm enrollment to Wake Forest University’s Online Counseling program, admitted students must pay a deposit of $250. All admission deposits are nonrefundable and must be submitted when the student accepts their offer of admission in their admissions portal. The applicable deposit is credited to the student’s charges for the semester for which the student has been accepted.
For more information about how to pay for your degree, please visit here.
*Costs are subject to change.
