Child Life Specialist

Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLS) play a critical role in supporting child health and wellness, leveraging expertise in helping children and their families cope with stressful experiences in a variety of settings. They provide preparation, education, distraction, play, and coping tools, among many other benefits, to children and their families. Child life specialists promote and protect emotional safety in times of duress.

To learn more about a career in child life specialist, check out the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP).

Child Life Specialist Preparation

  • Timeline

  • 1. Obtain a Bachelor’s degree (4+ years) and all pre-child life specialist requirements, including prerequisites and child life specialist internship experiences
    Note: students with a bachelor’s degree will have to complete additional prerequisites (for the Eligibility Assessment) at other institutions as UC Davis does not offer certain courses
    Optional: students may attend a CCLS training program for a Master’s of Science in Child Life to fulfill the Eligibility Assessment prerequisites and clinical experiences. Refer to the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP) for endorsed programs.

    2. Start Eligibility Assessment where students can begin to upload required child life specialist prerequisites including their bachelor’s (and master’s) degree, coursework, and clinical experiences as they complete it 

    3. Finalize Eligibility Assessment once a student has completed all academic and clinical requirements. Students can then submit Eligibility Assessment to be evaluated on whether they are eligible to take national exam to be a Certified Child Life Specialist

    4. Take and pass the Child Life Professional Certification Exam 

    5. Maintain certification

    Upon matriculation into the CCLS program, there are additional steps students must complete in order to obtain licensure or professional certification. These steps vary by field and by program, and may include board examinations, supervised clinical hours, background checks, or other program-specific milestones. If you decide to pursue a Master’s degree, your program advisor will provide guidance on the post-graduation CCLS next steps.

  • Pre-Requisites

  • No matter which major you choose, you will need to fulfill the prerequisites set by Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP). Students are encouraged to check the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP)’s website for more information on their specific guidelines on prerequisites. Always review and cross-check the requirements of your major with the prerequisite coursework for CCLS programs to ensure you are completing both UCD requirements as well as the requirements of your health profession program.

    Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP) Requirements

    Courses to Take at UC Davis

    1 Course in Child Life taught by a Certified Child Life Specialist (with minimum 4000 hours of paid experience or minimum 2 years teaching subject matter)

    Course content must include all of these components: 

    • Official documents of Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP)
    • Scope of practice
    • Impact of illness
    • Family centered care
    • Therapeutic play
    • Preparation

    Course not offered at UC Davis 

    2 Courses in Growth and Development covering ages birth to 18

    HDE 100AB 

    1 Course in Family Systems covering systems approaching to families

    HDE 110

    1 Course in Play covering therapeutic aspects and/or learning 

    Course not offered at UC Davis 

    1 Course in Loss/Bereavement or Death/Dying 

    SOC 165

    1 Course in Research covering basic research methods, statistics, and outcomes that apply to clinical practice and program review 

    PSC 41 OR HDE 120

    3 Courses in any of these fields related to Child Life: 

    Recommended Course Work Options: 

    1. 1. Exploring diversity, equity, and inclusion of children and families
    2. 2. Ethics
    3. 3. Human anatomy and human physiology
    4. 4. Medical terminology 

    Additional Course Work Options Include: 

    1. 5. Child life
    2. 6. Child development
    3. 7. Counseling
    4. 8. Expressive therapies (therapies of play, music, dance, and art)
    5. 9. Family development
    6. 10. Family dynamics
    7. 11. Human development
    8. 12. Psychology
    9. 13. Therapeutic recreation

    1. Course not offered at UC Davis 

    2. PHI 15 OR PHI 24

    3. (EXB 106 & EXB 106L) OR (CHA 101 & CHA 101L)

    4. Course not offered at UC Davis 

    5. Course not offered at UC Davis 

    6. HDE 100AB

    7. Course not offered at UC Davis 

    8. Course not offered at UC Davis 

    9. Course not offered at UC Davis 

    10. HDE 110

    11. Course not offered at UC Davis 

    12. HDE 110 ABC

    13. PSC 1

    14. Course not offered at UC Davis 

    Prerequisite Chart Footnotes: 
    1. Although HDE 100AB and HDE 110 match with additional coursework options, these will not count towards this requirement. HDE 100AB will fulfill the Growth and Development requirement while HDE 110 will fulfill the Family Systems requirement
    2. HDE 100AB counts towards the Growth and Development requirements. However, students are welcome to take HDE 100C for additional coursework

    HPA recommendations for programs in Child Life: Maintain an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher. A competitive GPA will likely be higher for most programs. 

    Students may notice some courses needed for the Eligibility Assessment to become a child life specialist are not offered at UC Davis. In this case, students have the option of completing prerequisite courses through: community college, extension programs, or attending an Association of Child Life Specialist (ACLP) endorsed program. If you decide to pursue an ACLP endorsed program, HPA recommends that you review the prerequisites for the programs that you are interested in applying to. If you have any questions about your major, prerequisite courses, or grade/GPA concerns, you are encouraged to make an appointment with one of HPA Staff Advisors.

  • Exam

  • The Eligibility Assessment does not require any standardized exams however the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) may be required by some ACLP endorsed programs and it is strongly recommended to be taken prior to applying. You can speak with a HPA Staff Advisor about your specific timeline. Check each individual program’s admissions webpage that you are applying to to see if they require it. 

    Please note: The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is not a course-dependent test, meaning there are no specific UCD courses you need to take to prepare. The best way is to give yourself time to study the test by buying test prep books or taking a test prep course.

    To learn more about the standardized exam and preparing for it, please visit HPA’s Application Preparation tab on Standardized Exams and HPA’s Test Prep Events & Resources.

Applying to Child Life Specialist School

  • Choosing Schools

  • There are 13 ACLP endorsed programs in the U.S. Check out the Association of Child Life Professional (ACLP)’s list of accredited U.S. child life specialist programs. 

    There are a variety of factors that go into choosing which child life programs to apply to, including degree awarded, location, environment (i.e. urban), tuition, class size, focus or mission statement, etc. Spend some time researching programs online and create a spreadsheet that tracks the factors most important to you. On average, pre-health profession students apply to 2-3 child life specialist programs. HPA also recommends meeting with an advisor to discuss your program list.

  • Application System

  • Applicants typically apply the year before they matriculate into the child life specialist program. Applicants will complete an application through a child life specialist program’s own internal program application. HPA recommends for applicants to carefully review the application process of each individual program that they are applying to. 

    Deadlines may also vary by programs or some may admit students on a rolling basis; please check your individual programs for specific dates. If that is the case for your program of choice, be sure to submit your application early, but only when you are ready. Come see an advisor at Health Professions Advising to review your application.

    Schools may have specific guidelines about what is considered a completed application. Some examples include but are not limited to submitting the application fee and receiving letters of recommendations and official transcripts. Students are responsible for ensuring their applications are complete, submitted, and verified by the application deadline.

    To learn more about applications and application timeline, please visit HPA’s Application Preparation tab on Applications and Application Timelines.

  • Personal Statement

  • The prompt and/or character or word count may vary per year. HPA recommends applicants  begin drafting their personal statement in advance of the application opening. It is very common for applicants to write multiple drafts before they finalize their personal statement. To learn more about approaching personal statements, please visit HPA’s Application Preparation tab on Personal Statements.

  • Experiences and Activities

  • Experiences and activities help students learn more about their motivations, interests, and goals, and to explore the field of child life specialists. What you do with your time helps define who you are in your application. Whatever you choose to do, be sure you are dedicated, passionate about it, and understand your motivation for pursuing it. It is important that you balance your co-curricular activities with your academics to ensure you are maintaining strong academic performance while still engaging meaningfully outside the classroom. 

    Some child life specialist programs have certain requirements and preferences for students when it comes to volunteering. Some programs may have specific stipulations regarding the setting of where those hours are conducted. Students are encouraged to look at programs they are interested in applying for program’s own specific requirements. Schools may ask or have preferences for students who have certain amounts of hours in volunteering, have backgrounds in working with children, or education adjacent to child development.

    Students who are forgoing a child life specialist program and are independently working towards completing the Eligibility Assessment should carefully review the required components of the assessment, one of which is completion of a clinical internship. All ACLP endorsed programs offer clinical internship opportunities.

    To learn more about experiences and various on- and off-campus opportunities, please visit HPA’s Application Preparation tab on Experiences. UC Davis students are also encouraged to subscribe to HPA Today (HPA’s newsletter). 

  • Letters of Recommendation

  • Letter of recommendation requirements vary by health professional programs. For many health fields, HPA recommends two lecture-based science instructor recommendations (this excludes research PI), one lecture-based non-science instructor, and additional letters from your co-curricular experiences. This can include a research PI, mentor, volunteer coordinator, professional you shadowed, etc. Your specific program list will determine what letters you may actually need.

    To learn more about the etiquettes for letters of recommendation, please visit HPA’s Application Preparation tab on Letters of Recommendations.

  • Supplemental Applications

  • Supplemental applications (or secondaries) may be required for some child life specialists programs and some may not require it. Students should carefully review the application process of the programs they are applying to. Supplemental/secondary applications may include additional fees and/or essays. To learn more about supplemental applications, please visit HPA’s Application Preparation tab on Applications.

  • Interviews

  • Interviews may be required for some child life specialists programs and some may not require it. Students should carefully review the application process of the programs they are applying to. To learn more about preparing for interviews, please visit HPA’s Application Preparation tab on Interviews and HPA’s Interview Week.

More questions? Check out the frequently asked questions or schedule an appointment with an advisor.