California Institute of Integral Studies

Best school I’ve ever attended, hands down. Rigorous scholarship and quality professors meet open-​mindedness and personal growth. I recommend it whole heartedly!

I did a Masters in the Philosophy Cosmology and Consciousness program in 2014. I’m very glad I did the program and it expanded my thinking and broadened my horizons. The collection and range of interests at this school is truly amazing, you’ll find Holotropic breathwork happening one day and a non-​duality and psychotherapy conference the next. The Asian and Comparative Studies department is very good too.
Where CIIS needs to improve is its administration. From my time in the school, I’ve heard the words ‘spiritual bypass’ in association with the administration more than once. When it comes to any disagreement with students, the school takes an extremely defensive stance — the onus is placed on him/​herself to write letters of appeals, applications, and often makes the student go through the bureaucratic game. Once I asked the interim Director of Student Affairs for the Ombudsman and was directed to their lawyer! I didn’t find the President very receptive to feedback either.
Be aware of dubious advertising with regards to all this spiritual talk, the wonderful Sri Yantra and ‘beloved community’: the faculty is world-​class, but unfortunately the experience is marred by the decidedly disintegral admin. As an international student, I get no federal aid and am paying $ 1000 a credit. It takes 36 credits to graduate. It is expensive!
On May 7, I went to collect my graduation regalia for the commencement ceremony in mid may, but was told by registrar that I could not ‘walk’ even though I was graduating in August, because I had 3 credit left. This was in contrast to other advice I had been given by my faculty. But registrar is not charge of commencement, so I had to speak to the student affairs office, whose in charge is swamped and hard to reach by email. Lack of communication between departments, left hand right hand doesn’t know what it is doing.
«The Institute recognizes the importance of a mode of governance that would eliminate, or at least reduce, the polarities and fragmentation that typically plague institutions. As with other ideals, integral governance is difficult both to formulate and to practice. This ideal stands among the seven as a constant challenge and encouragement to try new forms, procedures, criteria, and language as aids to a more shared and collaborative decision-​making process.» — 7^th CIIS Ideal,
I went to the library, since it indicated that my library card would expire since the system recorded I was going to walk in Spring and not August. I could not indicate this on the online graduation form I had to fill in (ie that I was actually graduating in Spring). Anyway, library said the issue is with registrar. Registrar said issue is with library. Senior librarian is not around. Junior librarian sent email to everyone, cc’ed me. I am still waiting.
«Promoting a dialogue of difference, the curriculum reflects a commitment to the diversity of the world’s cultures and spiritual traditions while seeking their holistic integration.» — 3^rd CIIS Ideal
It was my 2^nd semester (I am Singaporean and first time in the American collegiate system) and had registered online for 12 credits but only wanted to take 9 (I was choosing between 2 courses). I forgot to drop one course. I was late by a week. It’s $ 1000 a credit, and 3 credits is $ 3000. Too late, I can only cancel and have $ 1500 back now. I was told to appeal for the remaining $ 1500. I hand wrote the letter (in retrospect, a bad idea) and sent it in. I was rejected by email, no explanation. Told no appeals possible. I still appealed, to ‘more senior’ people. Wrote another letter. Appointments. Rejected again. Was told that everybody else seemed to be doing fine with the system and it was ‘just me’.
A month later, the online registrar system adds an additional prompt warning that registering online is a serious financial thing. I wonder why?
I did a video project for them for $ 3000 and was paid $ 1500. Another long story. Sigh.
It’s a great school. The stuff is world class. I hope they will do a Theory U process faculty-​student wide. Ken

I am a doctoral student at CIIS and have been a student worker as well, so I have years of experience on both the academic and the administrative side. I will discuss the academics first. A lot of these depts at this institute are vastly different from one another, as is the case in virtually all schools. However, one could definitely walk away with the impression that there is a «new age» vibe here in general (after all, integral in this context is referring to integral theory which emerged from new age thought). Sure it’s a little strange to people who are unfamiliar with this way of thinking but honestly it’s no more ridiculous than any religion program that exists at the vast majority of universities in this country. In fact, I would argue it is less ridiculous (though I am certainly not a believer myself). That being said, there are departmental options at this institute that explicitly do NOT engage in new age inspired philosophies. The anthropology and social change department is most likely the most glaring example of this. While it is a new department that has certainly had to work out kinks over its initial three years, it is beginning to find stability and has some very interesting and cutting edge academic material being presented, discussed, and analyzed. However, professors are typically underpaid and many times are half time employees and therefore have other commitments. This can lead to faculty members not being able to sufficiently address student needs. I view this as an administrative failure, in that they cut faculty members down to half time to avoid benefits and high salaries (classic neoliberal business practices). They also have no tenure, which leads to anyone who questions the incompetence that runs rampant in the administrative end of this institute to be summarily forced out. This leads me to my second point, the administrative end of this school. I am using administrative as a blanket term to include all employees at the institute that are not faculty, student workers, or program coordinators. While there are a handful of excellent employees on the administrative end, the remainder are incredibly inefficient. Registrar is constantly making financial errors on student accounts (it has happened to me on multiple occassions). I find the admissions practices to be quite unethical at times, particularly when they admit people to advanced graduate school programs that have no business being there. This leads to students taking years and years and years to finish, if at all. It is unethical to admit students that are clearly incapable of handling such a workload (for whatever reasons they may be) as well as providing them with staff that are often forced to take second jobs as CIIS refuses to hire them full time which makes them unable to provide the assistance truly needed. A private school charging a private school tuition has no excuse for this shortcoming. I blame an overpaid, overstaffed, and generally incompetent administrative apparatus for this. People who work in an administrative capacity generally make as much as faculty and the administrative management makes much more than both (generally six figures!). However, this is not solely a CIIS problem, it is a problem that is apparent throughout the university systems in this country. However (again), because CIIS is a small institute with limited resources, it is paramount that it does NOT continue to pay bloated salaries to administrators who do very little and have proven incapable of managing the administrative staff (just read the reviews on here, even positive one’s criticize the administration). This being said, it is honestly comparably incompetent to every institution I have attended and therefore I consider this to be a contemporary university problem and not one exclusive to CIIS. Overall, I would say that this is an academic experience that requires you to be self motivated and conscious of potential administrative errors. These administrative errors have been common at the 3 universities I have attended and therefore I would recommend paying attention to your financial matters regardless of where you attend. Being self motivated is something unique to CIIS to some degree, it is not a school that will micro manage your academic progress. If you do not keep up yourself, you will NOT complete a degree. Therefore, I would only recommend attending this institution if you feel you are ready to take this on. Some of the programs offered here are quite impressive. Their counseling programs produce award winning clinics, the BA & Anthro depts have some excellent faculty, and the Anthropology and MFA programs have great activist academic opportunities and teach from a social change/​justice perspective that is rare at the graduate school level. Admin 2/​5, MFA/​ANTH/​BA/​Counseling 5/​5, others ²⁄₅ (not well rounded, too much focus on spirituality). Rating above is for MFA, BA, & Anthro ONLY

This school is incredibly disorganized. A third of the cohort I was in ended up quitting within the first year. A lot of the ideals they profess are not aligned with their actions. The way they dealt with my decision to leave was also very unprofessional. I would seriously advise to talk to other students before enrolling in a program at this school.

Fabulous school and college. Extremely progressive and leading edge, yet also well grounded in academic research and diligence.

I am at a complete loss as to where all these negative reviews are coming from. The only thing I can gather is that CIIS has a reputation as a «crunchy granola» school, which I believe people equate with easy, and folks then attend thinking its going to be a breeze only to find there’s a sh@tload more work involved than legend accounted for. And they then get angry, especially considering the cost (hey, so would I if Idda been set up for an easy ride that didn’t pan out as such).
Let me start by dispelling the myth: CIIS takes a LOT of work. Although it depends on the program I suppose, a typical courseload consists of abt 20 – 30 hr weekend on campus courses, around 150 pages of reading per week at home, tons of critical essays and other projects, online check-​ins and summaries of readings, and much more. Its also pretty strict — I believe the attendance policy is miss one day you go on academic probation; miss 2 = expulsion, no matter what the excuse. Basically if you miss 1 day be prepared to catch up by off campus meetings and write and turn in a 6 pg + paper on all you missed. I don’t believe there are any exceptions to this policy.
Its def not an easy ride but the amazing professors and stimulating readings and assignment certainly help push a student along and encourage them to be the best they can be. For all of those out there who want to talk badly about this school and all they offer, let me just add my 2 cents on that right quick:
1. CIIS graduates hold the highest EPPP scores of all EB private Grad schools.
2. CIIS clinics are constantly/​consistently awarded «best of the bay» awards.
3. I don’t know any other practicum progs in which allow for students to take clients with them into private practice as CIIS does.
4. I know plenty of alums in private practice doing incredibly well for themselves.
To me, all above says an awful lot…
The cons:
1. YES, this place is $$$$$. Private colleges tend to be but yeah this CIIS is ridiculously expensive. So expensive in fact I am pretty sure I will be worm food before I ever chip away even a mini-​dent in my loans here (Critical Psy/​Integral Counseling MA/​Human Sexuality PhD). 2. I agree w other Unilocalers that the financial aid process here is chaotic, sometimes I feel like ripping my hair out every time I am hit with an issue, problem, mistake or new charge. But what I can say is that they are quick to evaluate a student’s fin status and offer scholarships — some I didn’t even apply for yet was awarded. Counselors really work empathetically for students and that is a benefit of attending a small private college. 3) New Agy-​ness: Meh, I dunno. It def exists here, I just roll my eyes and ignore it. It is what it is.
If you are a free thinker who for whatever reason cannot or does not want to join the stepford learners brigade of traditional education, I encourage you to meet with staff and students at CIIS and see if its a good fit.

So not worth all this money !!!
There is a high turn over of ppl that drop out of this school for a reason.
The only reason I have not is because I have all this debt!!! You cannot transfer either!
In MCP-​Community Mental Health program !!!
Brand new program and they are still working out the kinks.

I love this school! The only downside is the expense. I went through the Integral Counseling Psychology program and learned a TON. The experiential classes prepared me to be a therapist in ways that no academic study of theory ever could have. Highly recommend this program to anyone wanting to become an MFT in California.

I graduated in May of 2010 with a Master of Arts in Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness. Every dept. at CIIS is unique so this review will address solely the PCC program.
I was allured to the program by Brian Swimme, a mathematical cosmologist, after reading his brilliant book, The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos. I found the prospect of studying philosophy, cosmology and consciousness in an integral way exhilirating so I enrolled.
As with any graduate program, you should become acquainted with the work of key faculty before committing to become their pupil. Many of the PCC faculty are world famous scholars, each offering their own epistemological bent to the PCC pedagogy. These important books were written by PCC faculty:
1) Rick Tarnas, The Passion of the Western Mind
2) Sean M. Kelly, Coming Home
3) Brian Swimme, The Universe Story
4) Joanna Macy, Coming Back to Life
5) Stan Grof, Psychology of the Future
6) Susan Griffin, Inner Life of Democracy
Here is a link to an interview of three PCC professors, Sean Kelly, Jake Sherman, and Elizabeth Allison, as to the way philosophy is taught at CIIS:
Before you commit to this program, I urge you to sit in on a class to gauge resonance with the professor’s teaching style. Ask the PCC Program Coordinator (as of 9÷17÷12 is still Aaron Weiss) to watch MA Integrative Seminar DVD’s and to read exemplary portfolios (kept in the PCC office). Read dissertations by Phd students (kept in the library). This will give you an immediate sense of the type of work you will be undertaking should you decide to go the PCC route. Furthermore, ask to speak with current and former PCC students about their experience in the program.
From the CIIS/​PCC web page: «The PCC graduate program is dedicated to re-​imagining the human species as a mutually enhancing member of the Earth community.» Does this resonate? If so, you will find like minded souls.
PCC attracts activists, spiritual leaders, mainstream university rebels, artists, dancers, musicians, scientists and other varieties of curious, wisdom seeking individuals. PCC students are altruistic conscious beings with a burning desire to make the world a better place. The student body tends to be in their twenties and thirties and predominately Caucasian. The few students of color with whom I spoke understandably wished for greater diversity. The emphasis on white male philosophers (Whitehead, Steiner, Gebser, Jung, Hillman, Morin, Hegel, Tielhard) might be a detracting factor.
The PCC pedagogy is rooted in the Greek philosophical tradition with heavy leaning into deconstructive postmodernism. Predominately philosophers with grand metanarratives are taught, omitting indigenous and women philosophers. Metanarratives purport to have a neutral objective perspective yet evince an undisclosed Eurocentric male elite bias. Which brings me to my cheif criticism of the PCC program: it lacks a multicultural feminist perspective.
Female or multicultural philosophers were rarely, if ever discussed in PCC courses. I had the good fortune to take a PCC course from Susan Griffin who introduced the class to Hannah Arrendt and Mary Daly. There were no core female or multicultural faculty members employed in the PCC dept. while I was in attendence. (I am am happy to report that Elizabeth Allison who was an adjunct faculty hire in my last semester, is now a core faculty member, albeit the only woman.)
I found the PCC department to be unreflexive of its own racist and sexist biases. Although women make up 51% of the population, their voices are not proportionately represented in this department, or most mainstream philosophy departments. Female students were reticent to participate in class discussions that were dominated by male teachers and students. If women don’t see themselves in the curriculum, or represented by faculty, it’s easy to understand why they are mute.
Be forewarned, however it can be damning to bring this up individually as I recall from my own experience where you can be ostracized as a disgruntled trouble maker. Rather than be the squeaky wheel, I urge concerned students to form a coalition to advance the curriculum. Then approach the issue as a group. The dearth of female philosophers propelled me to pursue a Phd in Women’s Spirituality in order to balance the PCC yang with WSE yin.
Hopefully you will have a passion for the PCC curricula as it is an expensive and arduous journey without a secured way to repay the enormous student loans amassed at the end. To walk this path you dance to the beat of a different drummer, and will likely forge your own success based on how the degree will fit into your life path. Get a mentor to help guide you along the way. To leverage your education into a teaching position, become an exemplary student, assist favorite professors, publish and deliver journal articles at conferences, and be mindful of university politics.

If you go to
, and you like what you see, go for it. I read through the reviews here and smiled. Some have obviously had an uncomfortable experience with the institute. This is unfortunate, but every institution has flaws. The question is… What knowledge are you gaining (paying for)?
State schools will teach you what the masses and those in power have approved. If all you want is a license to practice therapy, go to a state school. It’ll be cheaper and straight to the point. CIIS is not based on popular opinion, and the knowledge gained is not easily communicated to the masses. However, the City of San Francisco has shown strong support for the institution. Do some research you wanna-​be scholars!
That said, the ICP program and Psy. D program do prepare one for a license. The philosophy programs are amazingly inspirational and stimulating. I graduated from the East-​West Psychology MA program. The only complaint I have is that there is little emphasis on turning one’s knowledge into a career. They have little workshops to address this issue, but it is very difficult to coordinate these workshops into an already busy graduate student schedule. If there was some way of improving accessibility to this information, it would help.
For most people, going to this school has been a positive experience that has helped them grow personally and professionaly. I became more confident in my own shoes, more comfortable in this chaotic world, and I found my voice, becoming a better thinker, writer, and guitar player than I ever imagined by applying the knowledge gained here to my everyday life.
The faculty is a mixed bag, as it is in any institution. Some of them will blow your mind… if you pay attention. There are some crazy new agers, but this is San Francisco… would a wise person expect anything else?

I attended CIIS for their undergrad degree completion program AND am currently in my last semester in one of the counseling psychology master’s programs.
I have to say that there are not enought stars to rate my experience as an undergrad. I had amazing teachers, a fantastic cohort and an incredible education that changed my life forever. It was due to that education that I decided to further my education.
As it turns out, the undergrad program exists in a bit of a bubble. While many of my professors and classes were okay there were other aspects of the school that would cause me to give it only one star. First, the registrar’s office is the least helpful place on earth. If you have a problem, be prepared to physically go to the office and stand there and complain until someone actually does their job. They do not answer e-​mail with any reliability and rarely seem to answer the phone. While other administration offices operate with some reliability and responsiveness, the registrar’s office is reliable only in it’s dedication to incompetence.
Also, be prepared for a certain amount of hyocracy among the student body. Yes, the school portrays itself as «open to difference» but it is only a very select sort of difference. If you are attuned to the PC cause of the moment and will fight to the death for that cause, then you will fit right in. If, however, your idea of justice goes beyond gender-​neutral bathrooms then you will have some problems there.
So, five stars undergrad. Zero stars for registrar’s office, one star for student body.

I graduated from CIIS, and while I do not regret my decision to attend this school, there are certain things I wish I would have known before paying through the nose to attend this institution. Let me drop some knowledge on you folks who are considering getting your degree here; the administration at CIIS plain and simply sucks. In particular, I feel as if dealing with the business office and the registrar’s office was infinitely more difficult and fraught with apathy, and ineptitude from staff who, ostensibly, are being paid to actually help the students they serve. I cannot tell you how much time and effort I have spent untangling the messes administration has made of my transcripts, inaccurate program assignment, tuition balance miscalculations, and the actual receipt of my physical degree. To be honest, i am not actually sure how the receptionist at the registrar’s office still has a job, She has never once been helpful, without attitude or accurate with information she has disseminated in my dealings with her. Sadly, I am not the only alum of CIIS who has experienced these issues; they seem to be the norm rather than the exception among the people to whom I’ve spoken.
Now to the good stuff about my time at CIIS; I love my fellow cohorts and the various faculty I worked with throughout my course of study. I am so grateful to have met such a unique, intelligent, and deeply compassionate group of human beings and truly feel as if I have made life long friends in many of them. In addition, I found that my program staff were really helpful and went out of their way to show me kindness during a major life crisis I experienced while in attendance at CIIS. In terms of academics, I loved the opportunity to do independent research, the exposure to varied modes of engagement with the material studied, and the opportunity to learn through risk-​taking and critical thinking rather than re-​enforcing the status quo of rote learning.
Overall, I would say that if you are considering CIIS as your next educational investment, be prepared to not only advocate for yourself, and take nothing for granted on the administrative side of things, but to keep your own accurate and complete records. A healthy dose of patience would probably not be a bad idea either.

The SCA program is the most amazing academic space! The Anthropology Department is formidable, challenging, and forces those who sit in their classes to be critical of the life we each have. I have learned more at this institution in the last 3 months than I have my entire academic career, K-​masters degree. I am now attending this school to complete a PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology with an emphasis in social justice issues.
However, the administration is clearly unorganized, lacks skills to run a higher educational institute, and treats students unprofessionally. If I knew that they were going to ruin my educational experience, I would have never signed up for this school. I’ve spent thousands of dollars to deal with completely unethical administrative policies and practices. While I appreciate the education that my professors in the Anthropology Department have provided me, I wish everyday that it was in a different space where I am confident that my money is going to support a school I believe in.

I’m shocked to see some of the ½ star reviews on here. My CIIS experience has been the antithesis (IE unsupportive, full of phonies etc) of some of the other reviews on Unilocal.I suppose the program you are enrolled in makes a huge difference in regards to your personal experience of the institute. I’ve had an incredibly rich 2 years here. I’ve been in the process of getting an M.A. in counseling and have found my cohort to be supportive and loving. The course material has more than prepared me to assist others in the psycho-​therapeutic arena. –1 star for a disorganized administration.

Supremely inferior «institute» filled with phonies, «New Age» con-​artists, incompetent professors with degrees from mediocre schools, and a very disfunctional administration. Many of the «professors» and administrators of CIIS have MAJOR unresolved psychological issues, in my not-​so-​humble opinion, and there is much cut-​throat competitiveness here, under the guise of «compassionate» learning. I say: SAVE YOUR MONEY, go to a state school if possible, or at least a more established institution.

The horrors of the administration, unsupportive program staff and general lack of organization is pathetic enough to outweigh any amount of unique education I’ve received from this very expensive «school».
A more detailed description of their incompetency will be completed if they ever make it possible for me to graduate. Stay tuned. In the meantime, get as many first hand honest accounts from current students as possible.

I have been in the Integral Counseling program for about a year now and I am looking into transferring out to another school. The program is not known for its academic challenging environment, I knew that going in. In other words, if you want academic training, go somewhere else.
Here is my real problem though: I love the experiential program philosophy, but in order for that to work, experiential classes need to be lead by professors/​teachers who have the proper professional and academic training, and who are not «swimming in countertransference».
I have had teachers that haven’t practiced in a while (are truly out of touch with counseling matters), and others that just recently graduated from a masters degree program and are not even licensed therapists. Bottom line, CIIS is not cheap, and I have been very disappointed in the quality of the education they provide.
My suggestion: go to a program that will provide you with the theory and invest your money in individual therapy, group therapy and other trainings provided by other organizations. This way you will get the theory and the personal growth.

I am attending the Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness program at CIIS. This is not a MA in Psychology program, but a very unique program exploring the depth and breadth of human consciousness. You can not find this kind of education anywhere else and for any amount of money. The professors are top notch and the inquiry into the human mind and soul extrodinary. Everyone in the program expresses a sincere desire and hope the the human will achieve even greater levels of understanding in both science and philosophy.
I personally do not find $ 28,000 for a 2 yr grad program to be really expensive. I would suggest, though if the cost is above your means that you consider if the program meets your career goals. I do find that there are students who just don’t know where they are going with the education and I believe the faculty and administration have a duty to help students move into career positions as a result of this education. The risk of this program is that you get a graduate degree with no means to make a living… big problem. Be aware of that.
The curriculum can be a tad «New Age», but hey, if you are looking for a striaght philosophy program… they are readily available.

If you want to pay out enough money to bail out the auto industry in exchange for the profound academic reward of sitting in a drumcircle while listening to new age platitudes… If you are willing to carefully sift through academic material that ranges from the well founded and intriguing all the way down to proudly presented complete nonsense…
If you want to be so impressed with how compassionate, humble and spiritual you’ve become that you don’t actually notice anyone not in your cool-​to-​be-​me club*…
then sign up and pay up. become institutionalized here.
While I like pretty much all of my classmates one-​on-​one, something about the over-​all school atmosphere brings out the new-​agey worst in folks as a group in the classroom. I like new ideas and experiential learning as much as the next pseudo-​hippie, but the good buzz is just missing for me here.
ugh. Half the time I feel like I’m chewing glass as I try to keep silent while listening to and witnessing scenes that could be taped for a MadTV parody. No edits necessary.
One star for having a handful of amazing professors who manage to successfully integrate creative, experiential learning techniques with academic rigor.
One star for squeaking (squinking?) by because of the above professors and some of my squinkety classmates as still the best place for my education.
UPDATE 2012: Reduced to one star after witnessing the full implications of the syndrome below by faculty and students. Yechblech. After writing the review above and completing my MA, decided to use advanced standing at the school to complete a PhD. Almost finito. Thank you, satan for seeing me through this «godly» place.
*

This center is somatic based so when you talk to your therapist, s/​he will watch your body language as well as listen to your words. That’s the part that helps me the most.
Philip Racies is the best therapist I’ve ever had. I’m thirty now and have been in and out of psychotherapy since age 9 — voluntarily most of the time — and he really shines above and beyond the rest. I can never tell when he’s using some «specific technique» that I can get around because I want to avoid going too deep. He brings me to a deeper place gently and with so much care and safety that I always make it to my appointments on time and without dred (which, I’ve had many times in the past with other therapists).
If you’re a conscious person who’s trying to figure out how to navigate this difficult thing called being human, try somatic therapy, it’s the best thing you can do for yourself. Ask for Philip because he’s really, really great.
And, for those concerned about finances, they do have a sliding scale for pricing. I think the center’s scale is $ 75-​$ 25 but it’s up to the individual therapist to choose where their scale lies.
update ⁶⁄₀₈: Oops, this review is actually for the center and not the university but I think that it’s one in the same since the center is a place for the students who go to this school to practice what they’re learning… Also, Philip is a graduate now! :)