We offer two Master of Social Work Programs: a traditional full-time MSW program and a Saturday part-time MSW Program. For general information about each, visit the Full-Time MSW Program Information page or Part-Time Program Information page. Acceptance into the MSW Programs is based on quality of applications, community needs, and availability of field placements.
We highly recommend you submit your application early so that any issues can be identified and addressed prior to the deadline. After the deadline has passed, applications with identified issues will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed.
Students newly admitted to the School of Social Work will need to complete a background check with Castlebranch, Inc. prior to starting a field placement. Graduates of UW-Madison’s BSW program who completed a background check with Castlebranch, Inc. within the past two years will not be required to complete another background check if there has been no change to their criminal history.
Please contact Cindy Waldeck (waldeck2@wisc.edu) for questions about Full-Time MSW program info sessions, and Latoya Kirton (lkirton@wisc.edu) for questions about Part-Time MSW Program info sessions.
Participants will be emailed WebEx connection info prior to the start of online sessions.
Session Date | Time | Program | Location |
---|---|---|---|
Thursday, July 2, 2020 | 12:00-1:00pm | Full-Time MSW | Online (WebEx) |
Wednesday, July 8, 2020 | 3:00-4:00pm | Full-Time MSW | Online (Webex) |
Tuesday, July 14, 2020 | 12:00-1:00pm | Full-Time & Part-Time MSW Programs | Online (WebEx) |
Monday, July 20, 2020 | 4:00-5:00pm | Full-Time MSW | Online (WebEx) |
Wednesday, July 29, 2020 | 6:00-7:00pm | Part-Time MSW | Online (WebEx) |
Friday, July 31, 2020 | 3:00-4:00pm | Full-Time MSW | Online (WebEx) |
Thursday, August 13, 2020 | 3:00-4:00pm | Full-Time and Part-Time MSW Programs | Online (WebEx) |
Wednesday, August,19, 2020 | 12:00-1:00pm | Full-Time MSW | Online (WebEx) |
Friday, August 28, 2020 | 3:00-4:00pm | Full-Time MSW | Online (WebEx) |
Saturday, August,29, 2020 | 12:00-1:00pm | Part-Time MSW | Online (WebEx) |
There are four prerequisites for the MSW Programs that are based on the School of Social Work’s admission policies and the minimum Graduate School’s Requirements for Admission. Applicants must:
- Have completed thirty (30) semester credits of social science coursework before they apply;
- Have completed an approved statistics course before they start the MSW Program;
- Have earned a minimum undergraduate grade-point average (GPA) of 3.00 on a 4.00 scale for their last 60 semester credits before they apply;
- Hold a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or a comparable degree from an international institution before they start the MSW Program.
SOCIAL SCIENCE CREDITS
To qualify for application review, applicants must have completed a minimum of 30 semester credits of social science course work. For guidelines on determining whether you have the necessary credits, visit the Social Science Credits Guidelines tab.
Applicants who have not completed 30 social science credits at the time of application cannot be considered for admission.
STATISTICS
All applicants should complete an approved statistics course with a grade of “C” or better before starting the MSW Program.
In very rare circumstances and with advisor approval, students entering the Full-Time MSW Program who have not completed an approved statistics course will be expected to complete statistics in their second semester in the Program. Please note that this circumstance could delay your anticipated graduation date. To avoid this problem, we strongly recommend students complete statistics locally or at UW-Madison before starting Fall classes.
In the Part-Time MSW Program, statistics must be taken no later than the summer prior to starting year three of the program if entering the program as a Generalist (non-BSW). BSWs entering the Program with Advanced Standing should plan to take statistics in the summer before taking advanced courses in the Fall.
Contact an advisor early to develop a plan for completing the statistics requirement while in the program.
- Course topics that must be covered include: distributions, measures of central tendency, dispersion and shape, the normal distribution, experiments to compare means, standard errors, confidence intervals, effects of departure from assumptions, method of least squares, regression, correlation assumptions and limitations, basic ideas of experimental design.
- A grade of C or better in a statistics course is required (no C- or CD).
GRADE-POINT AVERAGE (GPA)
Applicants are expected to have earned a minimum undergraduate grade-point average (GPA) of 3.00 on a 4.00 scale for their last 60 semester credits or earned a master’s degree with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00. Grades for social work courses are not considered separately. Post-undergraduate coursework does not count toward the last 60 credits; however, those grades will still be considered as part of your overall academic record.
If your last 60 credit GPA is below the 3.00 minimum, consider the following non-required options to enhance your academic record:
- Take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). The minimum score for Quantitative Reasoning is 150 and for Verbal Reasoning is 153.
- Take 6 to 9 credits of post-undergraduate coursework that result in grades of ‘A’ or ‘AB’.
BACHELOR’S DEGREE
Applicants are required to have earned a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution prior to their admission term. International applicants must have a degree comparable to a regionally accredited U.S. bachelor’s degree. For specific information about comparable degrees in your country, and which academic documents are required, refer to the Graduate School’s Requirements for Admission.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS
International applicants have additional admission requirements that include taking an English proficiency test. For more information, go to the School of Social Work’s page on International Applicant Requirements.
After you have submitted your online application, continue to monitor the status of your application. Watch for email communications from the UW-Madison Graduate School explaining how to do this. For more information, review the FAQs and other materials at Graduate School Admissions.
APPLICATION ISSUES
It is your responsibility to ensure you submit all of your application materials correctly. Due to the increase in volume of submitted applications near the deadline, it can take up to four weeks for our admissions staff to check off receipt of your materials and identify any application issues. We highly recommend you submit your application early so that any issues can be identified and addressed prior to the deadline. After the deadline has passed, applications with identified issues will be considered incomplete and not be reviewed.
ADMISSION DECISIONS
Applicants to the Full-Time MSW Program will be notified in early March.
Applications to the Part-Time MSW Program will begin to be reviewed in December. Applicants will be notified approximately 8 weeks after submitting their complete application.
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK NOTIFICATION
You will receive an email with a letter attached from the School of Social Work informing you of the MSW Admissions Committee’s decision regarding your application. If the Committee recommends you be accepted, the letter will also include notification that we have submitted your name to the Graduate School for final approval for admission.
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL NOTIFICATION
When the Graduate School approves the School of Social Work’s recommendation of acceptance, they will also notify you via email in addition to updating your online application status check page. The email will contain your 10 digit Campus ID number, which you originally received in an email from the Graduate School upon submitting your application. This ID number is required for future correspondence with the School of Social Work and University.
It is critical that you carefully read and follow all instructions from these correspondences. Please retain these communications for future reference.
To qualify for application review, all MSW applicants must have completed a minimum of 30 semester credits of social science course work. Applicants who do not have 30 social science credits completed at the time of application cannot be considered for admission.
Social science is a group of academic disciplines focused on the study of humans and their interactions with each other and within society. Social science disciplines include, but are not limited to: anthropology, communication arts, journalism, criminal justice, economics, history, legal studies, philosophy, psychology, political science, sociology, social work, and social welfare.
To determine whether your coursework qualifies as social science credits, applicants are expected to assess their own social science credits.