How to Apply

We encourage you to be actively engaged in the admission process. Once you have submitted your application, log into your application account to check the status of your application and what requirements may still be outstanding.

When all application requirements have been submitted, including all letters of recommendation, you will receive an email notification that your application is complete. 

Naropa University requires transcripts from any and all institutions where undergraduate coursework was completed. Transcripts for coursework beyond the undergraduate level are not required. An official transcript of a conferred bachelor’s degree must be received by the Office of Admissions prior to beginning graduate coursework.

Transcripts that are uploaded as part of your application are not considered official. However, to expedite the admissions process, we encourage you to upload copies of your transcripts when possible.

If mailing, official transcripts should be sent to:

Naropa University
Office of Admissions
2130 Arapahoe Ave
Boulder CO 80302

Electronic transcripts from your university may be emailed to admissions@naropa.edu.

Electronic official transcripts are acceptable if submitted through a secure transcript service used by your university. If you submit your transcripts by email as an attachment or upload them via your application account, they will not be accepted as official.

If you completed any coursework at a foreign college or university (other than a study abroad program), an international education evaluation is required.

Statement of Interest

Please address each of the following prompts in 6 double-spaced pages. Your essay should respond to both the prompts listed for all counseling concentrations, as well as the concentration-specific prompts. Please use the articles as a guide and reference them where appropriate. 

For all Concentrations: 

• What interested you to apply to Naropa University and the specific concentration within the Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) program, to which you are applying? 
• What are your career goals relative to enrolling in this program?  
• What experiences have you had in professional or volunteer capacities, which relate to the counseling field? What specifically did you learn about yourself or about counseling from this experience? 
• Imagine that you witness a microaggression by a peer and toward another one of your peers. How would you respond?

   

Prompts specific to the Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Psychology concentration:

How would your life and educational goals be reached by enrolling in the Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Psychology (CPBP) concentration? Using specific examples from your lived experiences, please describe your inspiration, intention and commitment to studying clinical mental health counseling with a concentration in CPBP. Describe how your vision will allow you to be of service to yourself and the world at large.

Please include:

• Your personal experience with working in service to others, as a professional or volunteer, in a mental health or comparable setting and what you have learned about yourself in the process.
• How you have engaged with your own personal developmental processes and how related experiences have prepared you for completing the program.
• Your personal experience with sitting meditation and/or body/mind awareness disciplines.
• Read Oppression and Privilege: Two Sides of the Same Coin and Love and Social Justice, then comment on your understanding and experience of the ideas presented in the readings and how you would integrate these concepts as an ethical requirement of working with clients.

Your resume/CV should detail all pertinent academic, employment, and volunteer history with exact dates of participation.

Two letters of recommendation are required; a third is optional. Recommendations must be from pertinent academic or professional sources, and may not be from family members, spouses, friends, or current or former therapists or spiritual advisors.

Attending an Interview Day and participating in both group-interview sessions is a requirement to receive an admissions decision. All application requirements need not be submitted in order to interview – an invite to RSVP for an Interview Day will be emailed to all applicants who have submitted an application as well as the Statement of Interest essay.

Although a completed application is not a requirement to interview, programs have limited capacity and it is highly recommended that you complete your application as soon as possible to give yourself the best chance at securing a spot if accepted.

Interview Days are full-day events and consist of two group interview sessions – one in the morning and one in the afternoon – as well as additional programming designed to help inform your decision to enroll at Naropa. Options to interview in person at our campus in Boulder, Colorado, and remotely via Zoom will be offered.

ATTENDANCE POLICY: Any registrant who fails to attend all mandatory portions of their Admissions Interview Day or notify the Admissions Office of their absence in advance, will have their application scored accordingly, resulting in a denial. 

Domestic applicants: Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Learn more about how to apply for financial aid.

International applicants: Complete Naropa’s Financial Aid Application for International Students. Learn more about financial aid for international students.

**Please note: Naropa’s counseling programs are available only to US citizens and permanent residents – international students who would need a student visa to attend a program are not eligible.