Must I provide a cover letter in my application materials

[tadams25]

These are the application materials:

1. The Graduate School Application, including a brief statement of professional goals and reasons for choosing the field of counseling psychology.

2. Official transcripts of all undergraduate and graduate (if applicable) coursework from each institution attended.

3. Official reports of Graduate Record Examination General Test

4. A vita outlining educational and professional experiences.

5. A minimum of three letters of reference attesting to success in the field and probable academic success at the doctoral level.

It does no list Cover Letter; however, it is just assumed that I will provide one? Thank you!

[sareth]

If a cover letter isn't listed I can't imagine they'd expect you to supply one. In any case, I think the "statement of professional goals and reasons for choosing the field" covers any ground you might include in a cover letter.

[tadams25]

That's what I was thinking,too; however, a friend (that didn't get into the school) sent me her application materials to have an idea of what I should send in, and she had a supplemental CV. After reading through her things, I realized she had a strong sense of entitlement and bragged, in my opinion, too much. The CV was probably just her way of being a step ahead. I don't really want to write one up - especially if it's not needed. Thank you =]

[sareth]

good luck!

[rising_star]

I included a cover letter with all of my applications, even though none of them required them. In the cover letter, I listed the materials enclosed and reiterated my contact information and asked them to let me know if anything was missing or additional documents were needed. This is probably unnecessary in the era of electronic applications but was a good idea when you're mailing everything in.