Sofia University

This is an updated review from 2012. This review is for the school as a whole, and not representative of the PsyD program. I am just about to graduate and complete the program. The two stars I offer here is for the excellent program faculty and support staff. I hope the new administration squares away this school, but for me, in my fifth year, it is too late. If you want smooth sailing working with administrative departments, don’t come here. If you want a financial aid department that advocates and helps students realistically, don’t bother. You will spend as much time trying to figure out your paperwork and pay your bills as you will writing your dissertation. Go to an APA accredited program that charges lower tuition, and has administrative management and staff that care about their jobs and are minimally responsive to student needs. I was not going to write this review, but the nightmare of the school’s disconnected financial aid department was the last straw. Do yourself a favor and go somewhere else.

As a student (MA and PhD 2008 – 2014) of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (ITP) and an advocate of transpersonal psychology, this is my experience of ITP/​Sofia, be it favorable or unfavorable for you.
First, ITP is gone, GONE. Do not be mistaken, this great school, its mission, the community, the faculty, professors, and staff that made this Institute so good, are all GONE. Don’t be misled by the misguiding information on the Sofia Uni website. They are now are «for-​profit» business; therefore they have an agenda — to make money.
Non-​profit ITP, a school of transpersonal psychology, was rebranded into Sofia University, taken over by a Chinese conglomerate, and converted into a for-​profit IT/​engineering school. A very smart business move when you consider the location, the heart of Silicon Valley. That alone raises red flags for many reasons. Yet, the school retains its WASC accreditation. Here lies the probable reason why they attempt to retain some aspects of psychology in the curriculum.
About three years before the individuals, who instigated the rebranding process from ITP to Sofia, emerged onto the scene, I had a discussion with one of the founders concerning tuition and accreditation. (As a side-​note, I love all the founders, they are magnificent people, and initially there were more than the two that currently receive the bulk of the recognition). I was informed that it takes about 12 years of graduating students within a given program before the program can receive WASC accreditation. Unfortunately, prospective students generally do not want to attend schools/​programs that are not accredited. Therefore, tuition for non-​accredited programs is generally significantly lower than tuition for accredited programs. From a business sense (profit), it is an unattractive situation. Therefore, from a for-​profit business perspective, it makes perfect sense to acquire/​take-​over/​merge a/​with a facility that is already WASC accredited. This is possibly why, as I have been informed, Sofia continues to maintain some aspect of psychology within curriculum; it appears it must do so in order to maintain its WASC accreditation.
As a corporate business move, the process was very dishonest, immoral, and unethical, albeit necessary for the goals of individuals involved. However, it literally destroyed the lives of many people including, students, faculty, staff, associated business people and families. This though, was not the concern of the individuals involved.
Now, this is not to say you should not attend this school, rather, it is solely to provide more «grist for the mill», things to consider when deliberating attending this school.
Concerning engineering programs, I would not attend. The school cannot be assessed upon its reputation, as it is too new. Therefore, it can’t effectively be compared to other schools. Tuition prices are not low, or lower than other comparable schools. Thus, there are no «attractive» tuition rates to compensate for the lack of historical standing. Also, Sofia Uni has a tarnished reputation due to the conduct of the management involved in rebranding the school to Sofia Uni and the handling of the acquisition/​take-​over/​merger (?) of the current for-​profit owners. Lastly, the owners of Sofia Uni are said to be affiliated (same owners?) with a uni in San Jose that has been investigated for being a «visa mill».
As for the psychology programs, sadly I would definitely not attend. Grad school is a significant investment of one’s time, money, and mental and physical health. Again, for the reasons stated above, I would not attend this Sofia Uni. When I first considered ITP, the faculty list was incredible. The range of people and the depth of their experience was mind-​blowing. That alone was enough for me to choose ITP. However, they are ALL GONE, with one exceptions, Dr. Olga Louchakova. Dr. Louchakova is phenomenal. Alas, she is only one person.
When I began my program, there were over 30 students in my cohort alone. The school was full of people. Now, when I visit, the classrooms, hallways, offices and cubicles are empty; literally EMPTY. On one regular class day I counted 7 students. The majority of students have transferred out to other schools of transpersonal psychology. At the end of the day, it is your choice as to what school you attend. However, you would clearly need your own psychological state-​of-​being assessed should you choose to enroll in a psychology program at Sofia University in it’s current state.
I would love to see this engineering school flourish, however not through dishonesty and deception. As for the school of transpersonal psychology, as I said earlier, it is GONE! It’s is only a matter of time (and possible legalities) before they probably completely do away with any aspect of psychology in favor of the money-​churning IT/​engineering programs that attract the unsuspecting foreign students through the seduction of Silicon Valley.

Considered a program here but the focus of the school is moving away from the transpersonal and toward computer science (!).
On a recent tour, the place was desolate.
A look at their website shows job listings that reveal key academic and administrative positions are unfilled. That’s worrying. It’s a small school. Why all the vacant positions?
I stopped in a few times to get a feel for the place and it felt very «trade school.»
I cant afford to gamble with my education and am choosing a different institution instead.

This review is for the online masters program. I know I really struggled with making the decision to attend Sofia so I wanted to write a review to help others who are making that same choice.
Basically, I have mixed feelings about this school.
Attending Sofia was one of the most healing and transformational experiences of my life. Yeah, I know you don’t usually go to graduate school for growth and transformation, and that certainly was not my intention either. However, the intentional environment created by the faculty combined with the experiential assignments resulted in some unexpected and powerful personal and spiritual growth. In addition, a lot of wonderful people attended this school and some of the relationships I formed was worth the tuition alone. My life changed in many ways that would not have been possible if it weren’t for this school. I also really enjoyed the majority of the classes.
Sofia went through a crisis while I attended it, and I have no idea if things are the same as when I graduated. There were a few glaring drawbacks when I attended. First, I felt the tuition was exorbitantly expensive. Yes, I knew what the tuition was going in, but I had high expectations that weren’t completely met. A few of the classes were not very challenging. Especially in the second year, there were a couple of classes that I didn’t get much out of. There were also mistakes on the syllabus for some of the classes – mostly in the form of «required» books that we didn’t end up using, but there were a couple other mix ups as well. It just seemed unprofessional. If it weren’t for these issues, I would probably give Sofia University 5 stars.
I went through the transformational life coaching MATP online program. I enjoyed the program and the instructors, but unfortunately, there was a lot more theory than practical knowledge. It could just be my personal preference, but I was really expecting a lot more education on how to actually coach in this program. I am obtaining my certification with the ICF and I felt much more prepared as a coach after doing 10 hours of mentor coaching than I did with this program. However, like I said, things may have changed since I attended.
The bottom line is this: If you have a passion for transpersonal psychology and your heart is really pulling you toward this school, then go for it. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that everything is top notch and perfect just because of the high tuition. Don’t attend this school simply because you want to be a life coach. (There are less expensive routes for this that will take about half as much time.) And don’t attend the online program thinking that your degree will be marketable in the real world. Unless you can be licensed in your state you will need to learn to market and go into business for yourself somehow… not an easy thing to do! However, if you feel that transpersonal psychology is part of your calling, then this might be the right school for you. It truly is a fascinating field. But do your homework and check all the options first.
On the one hand, had I known what I know now, I probably would have looked for another school. However, despite my complaints, I actually don’t regret making the choice to come here and am glad I did. Good luck. :)

Very supportive faculty and staff. Great programs integrating transpersonal psychology with engineering, management and education. Faculty members are well known in the transpersonal world. The founder has been very innovative and creative, a black-​belt 7 dan Aikido master.

I’m new to Sofia, and can’t help but feel that I’m witnessing the birth, or re-​birth, of a groundbreaking institution. The place is buzzing with new people, ideas, and a merging of academic disciplines that, as far as I know, is totally new. The reason I was so attracted to this new chapter in Sofia/ITP’s history is the merging of 40 years of Transpersonal Psych., with a focus on science and technology that the new president, Liz Li brings to the table. This is all happening in the heart of Silicon Valley, and down the street from Stanford, with access to some of the most brilliant scientific/​technical minds, and the degree of spiritual openness only found in the Bay Area. Its really an academic platform for bringing together science and spirit which have been artificially separated for far too long.

This school has changed for the worse. Terrible new administration and leadership, and complete lack of understanding of what the school was originally founded for. Does not care about current students, and is so focused on BS «future vision» they have lost 80% or more of their faculty and students. Programs have been dismantled and Chairs of programs terminated or replaced because of lack of faith in the new President and her minions who have followed her. This school is a laughing stock to the rest of the Bay Area academic community. Transpersonal psychology is dead at this school.

I love Sofia (ITP) because this school offers the transpersonal psychology that you cannot get anywhere else. I fell in love with Aikido first and came to this school. And, Aikido is one of the required courses for the students. It teaches us how to be grounded. The school went through some crisis but it’s saved by the new leadership. And, we are still getting quality education from good instructors. This is a school to consider if you are interested in transpersonal psychology.

Unfortunately, the school has undergone many changes that are not in keeping with the Transpersonal spirit of it’s founders and certainly not in alignment with the values I hold as a Transpersonal Professional.
The professors that have been most influential in mentoring former students have been let go and the programs are dissolving. I can no longer recommend this school to prospective students. Please seek out other options.

I am a Ph. D student at Sofia in Transpersonal Psychology. I love being at Sofia university. The instructors are amazing and there is such collegiality and comaraderie with everyone. I love this school and would recommend the program to everyone!

Love the global doctorate program in Transpersonal Psychology. I’m impressed with the student mentoring system, easy accessibility of faculty. Work is challenging and rewarding. Looking forward to the journey ahead and getting my Ph.D.

I found ITP through a graduate school fair at my undergraduate college. The school was not APA accredited (still not the case, but getting there) at the time, which was a primary consideration for clinical psychology schools.
Randomly one day I was looking for an Aikikai in the bay area and learned about one of ITP’s founders, Sensei Bob Frager. I drove up for an interview a week after graduation from my B.A. I learned during my interview that ITP is seeking APA accreditation with its newly (in the fall of 2010 this was the case) formed PsyD program.
The stars aligned, I found a sensei and a clinical psychology program that focuses on spirituality, and not necessarily the floaty headed flakey ungrounded spirituality, but the tangible human experience that has emerged as a topic of study in even the most stodgy of places (e.g. Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, etc.).
The road is bumpy and there have been some false starts. The program is far from perfect, and the curriculum is not refined fully yet — being a new-​ish program. Some of the professors are definitely competent and masters in their field, others maybe missed their true callings in life or really badly need a sabbatical. But this type of thing happens in all places in all walks of life. One of the things you learn in a real clinical training is the ability to deal with stuff as it arises, in the moment it arises. And you will always work in an environment where you do not see eye-​to-​eye with some people — everyone has that ONE class or ONE professor that makes them want to gouge their own eyes out with their thumbs.
I will update this review in a couple of years if I survive the program. It is not easy. If anything, the whip is cracked harder here because the school is trying harder than ever to prove itself to outside detractors who for some reason think this is a flakey school — this might have been a reputation that was accurate some years ago prior to WASC accreditation, but I have no idea what that means being here now. Come visit us, and if you like it here, come apply to study with us, and if you can handle the difficulty of doctoral level work, come and research and publish with us, if you get in. And if you want to work with people and our myriad imperfections and aspirations, get a clinical license in our MFT or PsyD program, if you make the cut.
Wish me luck in making the cut

I’m in the process of applying to ITP so I called yesterday and spoke with admissions. We had a good conversation and since the application process at ITP is new to me, I called back twice with additional questions with the span of an hour or so. The first time was fine, but on the second call, when I announced myself, the admissions person paused and said curtly, «yes.»
“Yes”?? No «hi» or other greeting, simply a you-​are-​bothering-​me «yes»? I asked my question and hung up feeling a bit put off. Is this the type of attitude I will encounter at this very small school when I am a student there? Okay, maybe it was a fluke, maybe I caught the admissions person at a bad time, I gave her the benefit of the doubt.
One of the transcripts I was having sent electronically bounced back from the e-​mail the admissions person had given me. This according to the friendly admissions and records person at the very large university I had previously attended. The friendly woman in the large university’s records department called me to get a new e-​mail address for ITP admissions.
So today I called the admissions woman (the first time today) and greeted her, telling her who I was. There was a pause on the other end of the line and curt, «yes.» I took a deep breath, my excitement in the application process seriously waning and asked her if I was bothering her. Short pause.
«No!» she said, suddenly friendly and helpful.
What was that about? I truly have misgivings about ITP if their admissions personnel are so unwelcoming, so put-​out when I call to ask questions. Is this the attitude ITP has toward potential students? After all, isn’t the admissions department the face of the school for new students?
I know we’re all busy, but I was treated with courtesy and friendliness by a woman who works in the records department of the 30,000+ student university I previously attended, why is it that I was treated with annoyance by the admissions department of a small school to which I am applying to spend $ 26K per year in tuition and fees?

This «school» is even worse than the California Institute of Integral Studies, and that’s pretty bad. Half-​baked theories, complete lack of structure or discipline. Very mediocre professors with greatly inflated egos, under the guise of compassionate, enlightened learning. Give me a break. I strongly suggest you «find yourself» somewhere else, and save your hard earned money, which, believe me, is all they really want from you.

You can pick up an advanced degree in psychology while finding yourself. If you want to do a thesis on meditation, UFOs, anything multiculti or mildly out there this is the place. What other grad school has their own gong, garden, and dojo for martial arts training – plus a meditation space. Revolves around a spiritual/​experiential brand of psychology that puts the emphasis on life changing events or happenings. Roots in Wilbur, Jung. Basically this is a sort of hippie place all grown up. They have an unbelievable library to with everything you can’t get together anywhere else. It is a very safe place to explore ideas that are not mainstream and perhaps find a little spiritual transformation. Although I am close to a staffer there and not a student, these are dedicated people doing good things. The only negative is price so be sure you have to do this or if you can make a reasoned decision about borrowing money in the hopes of making a living at psychology.