Relative Weighting of Admission Variables in Marriage and Family Therapy Graduate Programs

Graduate admission committees utilize multiple criteria in determining which applicant's to accept into their training programs. The present investigation attempted to determine the relative weighting of nine variables utilized by committees in making admissions decisions. The Directors of Admission Committees in Marriage and Family Therapy Master's programs identified interview performance, grade point average above 3.2, and the personal statement as the most important criteria with research experience and courses taken receiving the lowest weightings. However, within these programs there was significant variability on even the most highly weighted variables. Implications of these findings for applicants to these programs and future research on what constitutes positive interview behavior are discussed.

When this work was completed the first author was affiliated with the Department of Psychology at Kennesaw State University. The authors wish to thank Dr. Randy Smith and the Department of Psychology for the support of our work.