Social Work Admissions Policy
- Students must be admitted to the university and complete 30 hours of liberal arts coursework.
- Students must take SWO 201 Introduction to the Profession of Social Work as the initial social work course. This course is offered in the fall and spring semesters. Students are expected to take the course during the second semester of the sophomore year. Successful completion of the course with a grade of “C” or better is required as part of the admissions requirement to the Social Work Program. Students are allowed to take SWO 201 after completion of 30 hours.
- Students are allowed to take 12 hours prior to admission to the program: SWO 201 Introduction to the Profession of Social Work, SWO 300 Human Diversity, SWO 305 Social Work Skills, and SWO 311 Social Welfare Policy as long as they have a 2.25 GPA.
- Students must complete an application for admission to the social work program. Applications can be picked up in the social work department. The student must submit two letters of reference along with the completed application. In addition, the student must submit an autobiographical statement as part of the application process. The student should also schedule an interview with their social work faculty advisor at this time. This process is completed while students are enrolled in SWO 305 Social Work Skills.
- Students must demonstrate personal responsibility and show commitment to the social work profession as demonstrated in the personal interview with the faculty advisor.
- Even though transfer credit will be given for social work courses taken at other CSWE accredited social work programs, students must complete the social work methods courses, senior field placement experience, and the Integrative Seminar at Delta State in order to receive the BSW degree. Students transferring credit for social work courses from another social work program must present a letter of reference from the social work faculty, as one of his/her letters of reference. In addition, if the courses transferred do not meet our requirements for volunteer experience, the student will be expected to complete the number of required hours before being given credit.
- The social work faculty will meet on the first Monday in December and May, and the Friday prior to fall registration, to review applications for admission to the program. Students can receive one of three statuses as follows: 1) Admitted 2) Admitted on Probation 3) Not admitted.
- Students must have a 2.25 GPA to be fully admitted into the program. Students who do not have a 2.25 GPA, but have at least a 2.00 GPA can be admitted on probation status. Probation status can be maintained for one semester only (a semester is counted as fall, spring, or summer term.) Students with less than a 2.00 GPA will not be admitted.
- Students are given a question to answer in class in SWO 201 to determine if any student has a writing deficiency/concern. The purpose is to identify any writing concerns early in students’ social work entry classes and remediate as soon as possible. Faculty notifies identified student in writing of the writing concern and student is referred to the writing lab and/or academic support lab. Student may be placed on writing concern probation. The student will receive a letter regarding the concern from the department chair. To have the writing concern probation cleared, student’s work must progress to satisfactory and an example of writing reviewed by faculty admissions committee. If there continues to be no progress, the steps in the procedure for counseling out of the program will be followed.
- Following admission to the Social Work Program, in order to progress toward the B.S.W. degree, students must maintain at least a 2.25 overall grade point average with no grade below a “C” in professional courses. Other Social Work classes can be taken unless the “D” or “F” class is a prerequisite to the future class. Additional requirements for admission to Field Instruction are described in the Field Manual.
- The social work department does not give credit for life or previous work experience.
