Hi Everyone! Today I’m going to be going over our different MSW program tracks so you
can figure out which one is the best for you. I’ll start by saying that you can view all
the program options and specific curriculum tracks on our website. The curriculum sequences
are quite rigid, so what you see is what you get, you can’t speed up or slow down the
curriculum at all. So, we have two main MSW programs- Traditional and Advanced Standing.
There is some very straightforward criteria to determine which of these programs is for
you, and here it is: Individuals with a bachelor’s degree in any subject can apply for our traditional
programs, but the advanced standing program is ONLY for students who meet the following
criteria: they must have a bachelor’s degree in social work (otherwise known as a BSW degree)
from a CSWE-accredited program and have graduated within the past 6 years, they need to have
an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher, and they must have a B- or better in all of their social
work major courses. This criteria is very strict and there are NO exceptions, so if
you don’t meet ALL of this criteria, then you must apply to the traditional program
instead. It is a very small subset of students that actually meet the advanced standing criteria,
so don’t feel bad if that isn’t you- most of our students are in the traditional program.
So now that you know which of these programs you qualify for, let’s talk about the different
tracks. For both the traditional and advanced standing programs there are three different
program tracks: a full-time on campus track, a part-time on campus track, and a part-time
online track. We DO NOT have a full-time online track for reasons I won’t get into right
now. So let’s compare and contrast these three different tracks a bit more. The full-time
on-campus program is one year for advanced standing students and two years for traditional
students. Full-time students usually take four classes every semester, plus field placement
hours and they are expected to be available for class and field during daytime hours.
Between class, field placements, and assignments, it is about a 50 hour a week time commitment.
So, some full-time students are able to work a little bit while they are in school, but
definitely not full-time. The full-time program is a full-time job in it of itself. Therefore,
if you plan to work full-time while going to school, you should choose a part-time program.
Additionally, if you have a lot of other commitments, like family or community obligations or caretaking
responsibilities, and aren’t able to cut back or get additional support with them,
then part-time may also be the best fit for you as well. Think about what you have going
on in your life and be realistic about what you can make room for in your schedule. The
part-time programs, (both on-campus and online) are one and a half years for the advanced
standing students or three years for traditional students. Part-time students, only take about
two classes at a time, and on-campus part-time student get first choice of the evening class
sections. So a typical schedule for them would be class on campus two nights a week. Part-time
online students may have some synchronous sessions, typically weeknight evenings, where
they have to log on for a live video chat, but some of the courses are completely asynchronous
which means that you need to create time in your own schedule to get the work done. Both
part-time on-campus and part-time online students should plan to spend at least 12-15 hours
a week between class and assignments. Additionally, once part-time students begin their field
placement hours in the second year of the program, they are also expected to be available
during daytime hours to complete their internship. Watch our field placement video for more details
on this so you can plan ahead. I want to make a quick note that our Traditional Part-Time
Online program is our most competitive MSW program- we always have more qualified applicants
than we have seats, which results in a long waitlist each year. We also prioritize seats
in our online program for students who live more than 50 miles from campus. So, if you
are local or willing to relocate, I would highly encourage you to consider an on-campus
program instead. For anyone that does apply, make sure you submit the strongest application
you can. Watch our other videos for tips on applying!