University clears path for students to enter CMHC master’s program

By Chuck Gordon

Wingate is making it easier for psychology majors to earn a seat in the University's clinical mental health counseling (CMHC) master's program.

Wingate has begun taking applications for the Psychology/Clinical Mental Health Counseling Advantage pathway, which provides qualified psychology students with guaranteed entry into the CMHC program, Wingate's newest health-related master's program, which kicked off in August 2025. Incoming freshmen and transfers who meet the initial requirements, and then maintain a 3.0 grade-point average and continue meeting a few other criteria during their Wingate undergraduate days, will be guaranteed a seat in the program.

"These days, you really do have to start thinking earlier: If this is what I want to do, what's the trajectory?" says Dr. Jennifer Jordan, director of Wingate's clinical mental health counseling program. "You don't want to figure this out your senior year of college. The earlier you can start planning for it the better."

High school students who want to enter the program must meet the following criteria:

• Be admitted to Wingate University as a psychology major.
• Enroll as a traditional on-campus undergraduate student.
• Satisfy at least two of the following criteria:
  • 3.4 unweighted high school GPA.
  • 3.6 weighted high school GPA.
  • SAT score of 1100 or ACT composite score of 22.

Transfer students entering the program must be admitted as a psychology major and have a minimum 3.0 college GPA. In addition to guaranteed admission into the master's program, students enrolled in the Psychology/Clinical Mental Health Counseling Advantage pathway receive a $5,000 Graduate Advantage scholarship that goes toward their master's tuition.

Dr. Jennifer Jordan

Jordan says that some of the biggest benefits of the pathway for students are their early engagement with faculty and graduate students and precounseling experiences and professional-development and leadership opportunities the program offers.

"They can be part of some of the outreach we do in the community," she says. "They can get to know the faculty, get to know the students along the way to make sure that it is what they want and that they're a good fit for the program."

Jordan is especially excited about giving Wingate students another incentive to enroll in the CMHC master's program. About a third of the initial cohort in the program, which kicked off in the fall of 2025, earned their bachelor's degree from Wingate, and about a fourth of fall 2026 cohort are Wingate graduates.

"We know we're filling them with good people who have a good background and a good education," Jordan says. "I know these students are going to know how to write a paper. I know they're going to be exposed to APA (American Psychology Association) style. I know they're going to be exposed to research and statistics. Not all psychology programs are the same, and ours is really, really strong. They're doing a great job of training the students, so the more of them we can keep the better."

The Psychology/Clinical Mental Health Counseling Advantage pathway is the seventh of its kind in Wingate's Levine College of Health Sciences, joining Advantage programs for nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, pharmacy, physician assistant studies and public health.

Find out more about Wingate's Psychology/Clinical Mental Health Counseling Advantage pathway and the rest of Wingate's Advantage programs.

April 3, 2026