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 or graduate coursework was completed, and it is very important that you successfully complete the coursework entered on your application. 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, we encourage electronic submission at time of application to expedite an admissions decision.

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 document sending service used by your university. If you submit your transcripts by email, as an attachment, 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.

Naropa University requires that application materials and essays be the applicant’s own work, factually true, and honestly presented, and not created with the use of AI.

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 Nature-Based Transpersonal Counseling 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 Nature-Based Transpersonal Counseling.
• Describe your experience with the outdoors, nature, and/or wilderness.
• How are you prepared to participate in this distinctive community and attain your life and educational goals by attending the CMHC: Nature-Based Transpersonal Counseling program?
• Read Oppression and Privilege: Two Sides of the Same Coin and Love and Social Justice, then use the information from those articles to answer the following questions:
  • Why are love and relationships so central to social justice work?
  • What you have learned about power and privilege and how you imagine this will inform your future career as a wilderness therapist.

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

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

Applicants will use Naropa’s application system to send out requests for recommendations. Recommenders will be emailed a request to complete a short form and prompted to either type their recommendation into the form or upload it as a separate document.

Recommendations must come directly from the recommender and cannot be provided by the applicant.

Wilderness Experience

We require that, prior to coming to Naropa, students take part in a weeklong camping trip to demonstrate their ability to care for and provide for themselves in the outdoors for an extended period of time. Applicants will describe this experience or plan for experience in their application, reflecting on their readiness to enter the nature-based concentration. 

Wilderness/Outdoor Skills

During the course of the program, students will spend time outdoors in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming at elevations ranging from 5,000′ to as high as 12-13,000′. Applicants should have average to good fitness levels. Students will encounter uneven terrain while hiking and accessing field instruction sites. Students will learn basic outdoor skills, which may include the following: canoeing, rock climbing, horticulture, and equine-assisted activities (no riding). They may also take part in a rite of passage that involves a supervised solo with an optional fast. Students may be asked to carry a backpack weighing up to 40 pounds for 3-5 miles. 

Students will be asked to camp and attend class in outdoor settings for up to a week at a time. An inability to tolerate adverse weather conditions will not be a justification for missing class. Applicants should possess a general sense of comfort in the outdoors, with an ability to tolerate varied conditions, including wind, cold, precipitation, altitude, and hard or rocky ground. Students must also have some knowledge of leave-no-trace principles and campcraft, including food preparation and water purification. While some group gear is provided, students are required to acquire or borrow their own personal gear for camping and backpacking.

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 the application form.

Applicants will be allowed to interview without having all application requirements (e.g. essay, recommendations, etc.) submitted but applications must be completed no later than three weeks following an interview. 

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. 

If accepted into the program, you will be required to fill out a medical form prior to the first day of classes. This form will be used to verify that you do not have any medical (physical/psychological) issues that might put you at risk in the backcountry. If there is any medical condition that may put you at risk in the backcountry setting, you may be prohibited from starting the program.

View a sample medical form.

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.

In addition to other requirements, international applicants must also submit:

• Proof of English proficiency
• Evaluations of non-U.S. education records
  
  

If accepted to Naropa University, international students are required to submit the following for their student visa application:

• Copy of a valid passport
• Proof of funding for the first year of the program
  
  

Please see the International Students webpage for more information.