Your GCPE Application was received!

Grady’s Spiritual Care and Education Center ACPE/CPE program has specific admission criteria and protocols in compliance with current ACPE Standards and stipulations in the 2020 ACPE Accreditation Manual. All complete applications will be reviewed by Grady staff in order to conduct an evaluation of the applicant’s qualifications. Only qualified applicants will be invited to complete an admissions interview as part of the application process.

Grady does not discriminate against any qualified individual in an admissions decision for reasons of race, color, national origin, gender, age, physical disability, sexual orientation, or faith group.

Application Deadlines

The Center receives applications at any time. The Center will review an application either within 30 days of file completion or 30 days after the Center’s scheduled review date, which is usually two to three months before an internship begins and six months before a residency begins.

When ACPE units are advertised with start and end dates, the application deadline is three (3) months before the residency begins and forty-five (45) days before an internship unit begins.

Applicants are encouraged to submit their applications as early as possible and not wait for deadlines because the process is competitive and space is limited.

It remains the Center’s right to waive a program deadline if admittance of a qualified student is necessary to satisfy the peer group standard or if there is a need to diversify a CPE education group. Admission decisions are made within 30 days after a complete application is received and after admissions screening interviews have been scheduled and completed. Submission of an application does not guarantee an interview, and no reason will be given in case of the decline of an interview or admission to the program.

Application Decline

Once a decision has been made not to accept an applicant, application materials will be disposed of within thirty (30) days after the decline letter has been mailed in a manner that protects the confidentiality, or declined applicants may request in writing for their application materials to be mailed back to them. The applicants need to understand that neither the submission of an application nor any subsequent invitation for an interview by a representative of GCSCE, constitutes an offer of enrollment in any of the Grady Clinical Pastoral Education Programs. In the event that an applicant in a Pastoral Education Program is denied, GCSCE is not obligated to provide the declined applicant with a reason for its denial. In the event of a student dropping out of the program, the search for a replacement may involve the use of a list of a pool of applicants who applied, were not accepted yet agreed to keep their file active, and be on a waiting list. If no active list is on file, the ACPE center will seek interested and qualified persons.

Application Acceptance

Grady’s Director of Clinical Pastoral Education Program signs all letters of admission. Acceptance letters will be sent out within thirty (30) days after the applicant’s last admission interview.

The accepted student signs all required documents (training agreement, confirmation of policies and procedures, consent forms, Student Information update sheet, CPE education contract, tuition payment plan) during the Center Orientation. No student is allowed to begin orientation and CPE education at any of the programs/sites without completing these required documents.

The tuition fee for an extended or intensive single unit of CPE is $300. The tuition fee for a residency year is $600.

A $100 deposit is due within 10 days of acceptance into the program. The remainder of the tuition is due the day of orientation or may be paid in two installments orientation day and half way through the unit (sixth or eighth week).

If your school is responsible for your tuition payment, we will submit an invoice for payment.

Grady accepts money orders and credit/debit card payments for application fees or tuition. In the event that you are paying by money order, please make payable to: Grady CPE (in the “memo” line please note “Chaplaincy Admin.”). In the event that you are paying by credit/debit card, those payments can only be made online.

The best way to reach us for general or specific admissions questions is to e-mail the CPE administrator at [email protected].

To reach us by phone, use the numbers for our CPE administrators; for mail, send letters to us at 80 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive SE, Atlanta GA 30303. All info below.

Lacairla Turner
CPE Administrator
404-616-4270
[email protected]

Rev. Cora Saunders, J.D., M.Div., ACPE C. Ed.
Director of Chaplaincy Services and GCSCE

Grady’s Center for Spiritual Care and Education
Grady Health System
80 Jesse Hill Jr. Drive SE
Box 26006
Atlanta, GA 30303