Social Work, MSW

Admission Requirements

To be considered for admission to the MSW program, applicants must:

• Hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.
  The undergraduate education must reflect a sound liberal arts foundation, including courses in the humanities, as well as in the social, behavioral, and biological sciences. You must submit official academic transcripts showing the date the degree was awarded.
• Have achieved a grade point average of 3.0 or better 
  (4.0 scale) for the last 60 hours of academic course work. We will calculate your GPA based on your transcripts.
• Submit a Graduate Record Exam (GRE) score.
  You must have official test scores sent to the University. Test scores should not be more than five years old. The University of Houston’s institutional code for the GRE is 6870. For information about the GRE, call 1-866-473-4373 or go to their website at www.ets.org. You may apply without scores but must submit them prior to enrollment in the program.  We recommend you submit scores no later than May 1st.
• Recommendations
  Recommendations are required from persons who can address your ability and potential for graduate education and professional social work practice (i.e., former professors, employment supervisors, professional colleagues).
  • If you graduated from college within the last 5 years, one recommendation from a professor or instructor is required.
  • If you are applying for Advanced Standing, one of your three recommendations must be from your faculty advisor or chairperson of your B.S.W. Program.
  • For all applicants: At least two references should be academic or professional. If more than one of the three recommendations is personal, the file will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed.
• Submit a personal narrative statement
  The narrative should describe your interest in social work and your commitment to social and economic justice. Specific instructions for the narrative statement are provided on the MSW Application Checklist page.
• Pay (nonrefundable) application fee
  A nonrefundable application fee must accompany your application. Any application received after the term deadline - March 1st (Fall) or October 1st (Spring) - is a late application; a non-refundable additional late fee will be assessed.
   
• International Applicants
  Persons who hold a non-immigrant type visa have additional application requirements. Please refer to the University of Houston’s information for International Applicants.

Note: Proficiency in English.
Any student, prior to admission or during their course of study, may be required to demonstrate English proficiency through submission of a satisfactory score on a test designated by the associate dean of the college. Students whose written or spoken English skills appear to be marginal (i.e., they may impede academic success and/or reflect communication problems as a social work practitioner) may be required to seek instruction outside the college. 
To see more information on the university’s English language requirement, visit http://www.uh.edu/graduate-school/admissions/international-students/english-proficiency/.

Degree Requirements

Credit hours required for this degree: 63.0

• The MSW program at the University of Houston consists of 63 semester credit hours in either face to face, hybrid, or online enrollment models.
• Our program is unique in that it offers a 15-hour foundation, which serves as the prerequisite for all following coursework.
  • The intensive foundation curriculum is organized around content on the foundation of professional social work, including coursework in practice, policy, research, and human behavior in the social environment.
  • Practice skills lab
  • Foundation field practicum (180 clock hours)
  • Students must satisfactorily complete 15 credit hours of foundation before enrolling in any advanced courses.
• In the GCSW curriculum, our concentrations refer to methods of social work. A social work Method describes the process of how social work services will be delivered.
  • Clinical (program formats: face-to-face, hybrid, and online)
  • Macro Practice (program format: face-to-face)
• Our specializations refer to fields of practice. A social work field of practice is the arena or specialized fields in which social work services are delivered. We offer:
  • Health and Behavioral Health (program formats: face-to-face, hybrid, and online)
  • Political Social Work (program format: face-to-face)
  • Social Work Practice with Latinos (program format: face-to-face)
  • Individualized  (program format: face-to-face)

Academic Policies

• University Academic Policies   
• Academic Policies: Graduate College of Social Work