Master of Social Work

Overview

In the Master of Social Work program, students prepare for advanced level and supervisory positions in micro and mezzo clinical practice and macro administrative practice, leadership, and advocacy.

About The Program

• The MSW program is accredited by the Council for Social Work Education (CSWE).
• Students select between clinical practice or macro-level practice.
  • Clinical practice students
    • Learn evidence-based assessment, diagnosis, and intervention with children, youth, adults, and families.
    • Specialize in one of five areas offered: Aging, Health, Mental Health, and Substance Misuse, or Children and Families.
  • Macro-level practice students
    • Learn strategies for community needs assessment, program leadership, and policy advocacy.
    • Concentrate their studies in community and administrative practice.
• The quick admissions process for students with a 3.0 or better in the last approximately 60 undergraduate credit hours of their bachelor’s degree. Students with less than a 3.0 will have to submit additional documentation. No GRE is required.
• The BSW degree is not required to obtain the MSW degree. About half of our MSW students earned a bachelor’s degree in another discipline.

Career Opportunities

• The MSW degree is one of the most versatile degrees leading to numerous career paths and preparing students for advanced-level positions in one of the fastest-growing career fields.
• Graduates work in direct clinical practice in a variety of areas such as mental health, substance misuse, aging/gerontology, health care, schools, public health, suicide prevention, disabilities, intimate partner violence, veteran/military care, LGBTQIA+ communities care, and children and families.
• Graduates become leaders in government agencies, private organizations, corporations, and non-profits.
• They analyze and develop policy and promote social, racial, and economic justice through advocacy, community organizing, and administrative practice.
• Many MSW graduates later establish social work private practices in therapy and counseling or become activists, social entrepreneurs, elected leaders, professors, and lawyers.

Degree Options

• Advanced Standing students (earned a BSW degree and meet quick admissions requirements) must complete 38 credit hours (includes required internship credit hours). Traditional students (no BSW degree) must complete 61 credit hours (includes credit hours for two required internships).
• Fully online options for in-state and out-of-state students.
• Offer part-time and full-time degree plan options.
• We offer classes in the day and evening for your convenience.
• Many of our classes are offered every semester, allowing students to finish faster.

MSW Arlington Campus Option

• Students will complete course requirements in traditional in-person classes on the UTA campus.
• Students attending classes on campus can choose three specialties: Mental Health and Substance Misuse, Health, or Children and Families.
• Advanced Standing full-time students (earned a BSW degree and meet quick admissions requirements) can complete the degree in 12 months and traditional full-time students (no BSW degree) can complete the degree in 24 months.
• Depending on a student’s selected focus, the program can be started in summer, fall, or spring.
• Students will complete a field internship practicum with a local agency or organization.

MSW Fully Asynchronous Online Option

• MSW online students have four choices to specialize in: Mental Health and Substance Misuse, Aging, Children and Families, or Community and Administrative Practice.
• Students living within the U.S. or on military installations can apply and complete the program fully online. Students can start in summer, fall, or spring.
• Students will complete a field internship practicum in their geographical region/location with an agency or organization.

Christin Hume / unsplash

Degree Plan

• 5301 --- Human Behavior
• 5304 --- Generalist Micro Practice
• 5306 --- Generalist Macro Practice
• 5324 --- Social Work Supervision
• 5321 --- Advanced Community Practice
• 5318 --- Death and Dying
• 5334 --- Family Caregiving and Aging
• 5314 --- Intimate Partner Violence
• 5344 --- Health Insurance and Access to Care
• 5356 --- Cognitive Behavioral Intervention
• 5354 --- Treatment of Addictive Behaviors
• 5370 --- Social Work in the Schools
• 5367 --- Treating Parent and Child Relationships

Why Choose Us?

• The UTA MSW program is consistently ranked among the top 20% of MSW CSWE-accredited social work programs and No. 1 in the nation for military veteran friendliness.
• Our MSW online program is ranked in the top 10 for affordability and academic quality in several different rankings.
• Very few MSW programs offer more than three specialty options for students to choose from. We offer five specialties: Aging, Health, Community and Administrative Practice, Mental Health and Substance Misuse, and Children and Families.
• We have 100% online and in-person full-time and part-time options. Depending on a student’s area of focus, the program can be started in summer, fall, or spring.
• A large number of full-time faculty with years of clinical practice, program leadership, policy advocacy, research, and teaching experience.
• SSW offers four graduate certificates (Administrative Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Policy Leadership, and Community Leadership) and almost a dozen dual-degree master’s program options.

Admission Requirements

There are two methods for application to the MSW Program: the Quick Admissions Process, and the Traditional Admissions Process.

Quick Admissions

This process awards the bachelor-level applicant who has earned a 3.0 or better GPA in the last 60 hours of her/his undergraduate degree program a head start by requiring only a two-step process. In step 1, the applicant submits the online Apply Texas Application (applytexas.org). In step 2, the applicant must submit all official transcripts to the Office of Admissions, Records, and Registration. Once all transcripts have been received and evaluated, students whose GPA is 3.0 or better are generally admitted to the Master of Social Work Program.

Advanced Standing students applying for Quick Admission should follow the same process described above and identify themselves as having earned (or will earn by enrollment) the BSW. The BSW degree is verified by the Office of Admissions, Records, and Registration, and included with other application materials. Advanced Standing status is only granted to individuals who have graduated within the past 6 years from a BSW degree program accredited by CSWE with a 3.0 or better GPA in their last 60 hours. The same evaluation criteria are used for applicants seeking admission to the Advanced Standing MSW program.

Traditional Admissions

In the second admission method, applicants deemed ineligible for Quick Admission to the MSW program (based on the 3.0 GPA requirement) will be considered via the Traditional Admission Process for the traditional program only. Traditional Admission includes, but is not limited to the satisfactory presentation of the following six qualifications:

1. Possession of a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited U.S. college or university or its equivalent, with a satisfactory GPA of 2.7 or higher.
2. Submission of three letters of reference indicating professional or academic promise.
3. Submission of narrative essay of three double-spaced pages or less that responds to the following prompt: Social work practice is often classified as either micro or macro. Explain what is meant by micro practice and macro practice, and why addressing both micro and macro issues is essential to effective social work practice. Use three outside sources to support your statement and include complete citations for each.
4. Submission of GRE test scores.
5. For applicants whose native language is not English: Submission of satisfactory scores on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) or the TOEFL examination.*

*Applicants must submit a score of at least 6.5 on the IELTS or a minimum TOEFL iBT total score of 79 with sectional scores that meet or exceed the following:

• 22 for the writing section
• 21 for the speaking section
• 20 for the reading section
• 16 for the listening section