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Application for the 2025 school year.

Stay tuned for information to come.

The BYU MFT graduate studies will open in September and the deadline each year is December 1st. All materials must be received by that date in order for the application to be considered for admission for the following fall semester.

All of our candidates for admission are reviewed once a year and at the same time.

More application information can be found here or apply now here.

MFT Programs Mission Statement

In your statement of intent, please explain how you would contribute to the BYU MFT mission as described in the paragraph below.

In harmony with our sponsoring organization (i. e., The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and the mission/aims of Brigham Young University, the Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) programs focus on “balanced development” in all student growth areas. This development is carried out in an environment of compassion, inclusion, and diversity in order to prepare students to be a healing influence in a world struggling to create safe and meaningful relationships. Both programs utilize a relational perspective (regarding the practice and science of healing) to improve the well-being of individuals, couples, and families. Finally, we strive to be an international leader in process research in order to understand how change occurs and to extend our healing influence beyond campus borders.

In fulfilling our mission statement, the MFT program is designed to fulfill the mission and aims of BYU, as an educational organization (https://aims.byu.edu/), including the creation of an “Enriched Learning Environment” (https://iss.byu.edu/content/what-we-do). Therefore, our admission decisions will be based largely upon applicants’ capacities to contribute to the program and their ability to grow in the following areas.

• To intellectually enlarge— Applicant capacity to contribute in terms of intellectual enlargement will be assessed largely through GRE scores, GPA, letters of recommendation, and the personal statement description of their educational path.

• To spiritually strengthen—Applicant potential to contribute to the programs’ spiritually-strengthening atmosphere will be assessed through the personal statement, video responses, any personal/professional experience (work/volunteer service presented on the resume), and their ecclesiastical endorsement.

• To build character—Applicant potential to contribute to a character-building environment will be measured largely through the personal statement (in terms of a description of jobs they have had, how they financed their education, personal struggles they are dealing with), letters of recommendations, and the video responses.

• Capacity for lifelong service and learning—This will be measured through the personal statement (description of their achievements in this area to date), letters of recommendation, and any personal/professional experience and service described in the resume.

• Enriched Learning environment—This will be measured largely through the video responses, personal statement, and personal experiences related to gender, ethnic, racial and other forms of diversity (Please discuss your personal experiences with diversity outside of your mission).

Admission Criteria

*As of 2020, GRE scores are no longer required for admittance into the program.

More application information can be found here or apply now here.

In general, successful applicants to our program have the following:
310 combined verbal & quantitative GRE score *not required
4.5+ writing GRE score *not required
3.5+ cumulative GPA (for upper division coursework)
3 Strong Letters of Recommendation from faculty, mentors, and/or work supervisors who know them well and can attest to their ability to be successful. (We recommend at least 2 come from faculty if possible.) *PLEASE NOTE: Applicants do not have the option of selecting "Offline" as an option for their recommender. ALL letters of recommendation must be submitted electronically.
Essay Questions: Each with a limit of 500 characters.

1. Why do you want to be a Marriage and Family Therapist? Why this profession instead of other mental health professions?
2. Tell us about a personality trait you have that will make you a good therapist. Tell us how this same trait could be detrimental to being a therapist.
3. Tell us about a time you worked hard for something, and failed. How did you handle that and what did you learn from that experience?
4. What have you experienced in life that has helped you gain empathy for those that you will be helping?

Some experience within a 1) Human Services and/or Clinical Context OR 2) Research Experience under the direction of any faculty mentor or within the context of a class (Note: Please, do not list church mission experiences here)

Selection Process and Interview

Selection Process:
December 1st at 10:00pm MT Application Deadline
December
MFT Faculty will evaluate how each applicant contributes to the AIMS of a BYU Education and their fit with the program.

• To Intellectually Enlarge— Applicant capacity to contribute in terms of intellectual enlargement will be assessed largely through GRE scores (verbal, quantitative, writing), last 60 hours of upper division GPA, letters of recommendation, and the personal statement description of their educational path.

• To Spiritually Strengthen—Applicant potential to contribute to the programs’ spiritually-strengthening atmosphere will be assessed through the personal statement, video responses, any personal/professional experience (work/volunteer service presented on the resume), and their ecclesiastical endorsement.

• To Build Character—Applicant potential to contribute to a character-building environment will be measured largely through the personal statement (in terms of a description of jobs they have had, how they financed their education, personal struggles they are dealing with), letters of recommendation*, and the video responses.

• Capacity for Lifelong Service and Learning—This will be measured through the personal statement (description of their achievements in this area to date), letters of recommendation, and any personal/professional experience and service described in the resume.

• Enriched Learning Environment—This will be measured largely through the video responses, personal statement, and personal experiences related to gender, ethnic, racial and other forms of diversity (Please discuss your personal experiences with diversity outside of your mission).

Resume/Additional BYU MFT Document: List out 1) Human Experience and/or Clinical Experience and 2) Research Experience
EXAMPLE (Please state when and where if relevant)
Research Experience
Non-Scholarly Papers (e.g. a research paper written for a class)
Scholarly Papers (i.e. submitted to a peer-reviewed journal)
Research Positions (e.g. data entry, 403R, mentored student research)
Research-focused course in which you create/carry out research
Human Services Experience
Clinical Experience (e.g. psych tech, intern in clinical setting)
Teaching Experience (e.g. community group, Teaching Assistant)
Volunteer Experiences (e.g. regularly volunteering in a soup kitchen)

January

Individuals who match our initial criteria will be invited to interview on February 4th (MS).
Individuals who haven't been selected to interview will be notified by the graduate school via email.

February

The interview process is a half-day campus visit (typically 8:00-1:00 or 12:00-5:00). This year MS interviews will be February 16th and PhD interviews will be February 5th. It includes an introduction to our programs, meeting with current students, and interviews with all MFT faculty.

By March 1st

After the interviews, each faculty makes his/her own selection of students with the advice and consent of the other MFT faculty. Faculty decisions are based primarily on the perceived "fit" between a student's interests and the interests of the individual faculty member. Each of the nine faculty members will usually select one or two new students each year depending upon the number of students graduating for a total of 9-12 students admitted each year to the MS program and about 5-7 to the PhD Program. We have developed this selection process as our way of establishing a close working relationship between faculty and students early in the graduate program. This selection process also represents a commitment by the faculty to the progress and success of each student.