Admission

Persons eligible for admission to the UIC CPE program are seminarians, ministers, religious professionals and lay persons who demonstrate the aptitude, ability and potential for ministry in a professional setting.

The UIC program is committed to giving fair and thorough consideration of all qualified applicants.

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This ACPE-accredited program does not discriminate against persons because of race, ethnicity, religious/spiritual tradition, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, etc.

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• A completed CPE Application form. The application form must be downloaded along with the instructions (face sheet with applicant’s information and essay question answers must be included in the submitted application packet) and sent to the following address:
  
  Urban Interfaith Chaplaincy-Clinical Pastoral Education
  St. Camillus Center for Spiritual Care
  1911 Zonal Avenue
  Los Angeles, CA 90033
   
• A non-refundable $50 Application fee must be submitted along with student’s completed application materials. Checks should be made to “St Camillus Center”, memo “CPE {year & season}” e.g. “CPE 2023 Summer”.
• A formal acceptance letter from the Urban Interfaith Chaplaincy inviting prospective to join their program.
• Once accepted into the program, students must submit a non-refundable deposit of $150 with a letter, indicating their commitment to participate, to reserve their place in the unit they enrolled in. This fee will go towards the payment of student’s required tuition fee of $1000. Students will be responsible for paying the remainder of their tuition two (2) weeks prior to the start date of the CPE Unit they enrolled in or negotiate a payment plan with the St. Camillus UIC CPE Program. Checks should be made to “St Camillus Center”, memo “CPE {year & season}” e.g. “CPE 2023 Summer”.
• After reserving their placement in their CPE unit, student is responsible for completing a Hospital health clearance and background investigation prior to first day of the CPE unit by contacting the LA General Medical Center Department director or office manager (tel. 323-409-4715) to schedule an appointment. This protocol is only necessary for students planning to complete their clinical hours in the LA General Medical Center. Those doing clinical hours at other sites will be required to follow that site’s health clearance and background check protocols and should be negotiated with their site mentor.
• A site fee of $3,000 must be paid to the St. Camillus Center: Urban Interfaith Chaplaincy program for the supervision of a student providing ministry at a site other than LA General Medical Center. The Placement Site and St. Camillus Center’s Office Manager, Elisa Larios will negotiate this fee. If a student’s Placement Site is unwilling or able to pay this fee, the student may negotiate a payment plan with St. Camillus Center to pay this fee themselves. Please contact Elisa Larios for further information.[elarios@stcamilluscenter.org – 323-225-4461 x600]Checks should be made to “St Camillus Center”, memo “CPE {year & season}” e.g. “CPE 2023 Summer”.
• Students planning to do clinical ministry at a site other than LA General Medical Center must identify a person at their proposed Placement Site to serve as their Clinical Site Preceptor and point person for interacting with the St. Camillus’ Certified educator.
• Student’s hours of practical ministry must be documented by a third party at student’s clinical site ensuring student has completed their required clinical hours as indicated in the ACPE standards and as approved by the UIC Certified Educator.
• Students interested in participating in UIC’s work-study program and receiving a partial scholarship in exchange for their performance of extra clinical hours in LA General Medical Center’s Emergency Department should express their interest in writing and include this with their application materials.

Once a prospective student’s completed application has been reviewed by our CPE faculty, the applicant may be invited to St. Camillus Center for an admission interview. The purpose of this interview is both to acquaint the applicant with the program and to learn more about the applicant in a personal encounter.

Interviews are typically done through Video Conferencing via Zoom.

• Academic preparation: Bachelor’s degree and theological education, generally at least one year at the graduate level or specialized training in the applicant’s faith tradition.
• Educational readiness: motivation, openness to clinical learning, participation in individual and group supervision, and capacity for self-reflection and critique of one’s ministerial practice.
• Aptitude for interpersonal work: capacity to function professionally in a hospital environment and ability to minister in a multi-cultural, multi-faith setting.
• Writing and word-processing skills sufficient to manage use of the hospital’s computerized information systems and to produce weekly assignments, off-site.
• Practical considerations related to fulfilling requirements of program, including clinical assignments, educational components, and on-call responsibilities.

We do not have application deadlines. Dates of UIC CPE units are posted on the website, www.urbanchaplaincy.org. Applicants are encouraged to apply early.

Within two (2) weeks of receipt, applicants will be informed of available openings and the status of their applications, including when to expect an interview and/or decision. Persons accepted into the program will be informed in writing and allowed 10 days to accept an offer of admission by sending in a $150 non-refundable deposit with a cover letter indicating their intent to participate in the next UIC CPE unit.

Being accepted into one unit of CPE at UIC does not guarantee a student’s placement in consecutive CPE units. Students must re-apply for each CPE unit they wish to be enrolled in. Applicants not accepted into the program will be informed in writing. Any application not accepted for admission will be destroyed unless the applicant requests in writing that it be returned to the applicant, or retained for consideration for future units of CPE.