MSW Admissions

MSW Admission Requirements

• Hold a Bachelor’s degree with a liberal arts foundation from an accredited college or university. Advanced Standing Applicants need to possess an undergraduate degree in Social Work earned within five years of admission.

• Undergraduate GPA of 3.0 in the last 60 units (90 quarter), but not less than a minimum of a 2.85 GPA.

• Submit results of the GRE Examination and TOEFL Examination (if applicable). (MSW/JD applications may substitute the LSAT Exam Score). The GRE, TOEFL and LSAT must be submitted prior to by the deadline in order for your application to be considered.

• Complete SDSU School of Social Work Application form which includes: Supplemental information, Liberal Arts Perspective Form; Personal/Professional Statement; Letters of Recommendation (Advanced Standing Program applicants need a letter from their field instructor and a social work faculty member); Education and Experience; Application Information Certification.

• Verify volunteer, internship, and/or paid human services experience (minimum of 500 hours).

• Complete an undergraduate statistics course.
  • Note: Completion of a statistics course is required with a grade of a C or better.  Examples would include Stats 119, Stats 250, Soc 201, Psy 280. The course may be taken in the summer but must be completed prior to beginning the MSW program.

• All MSW students will be required to pass a background check for program participation.

Fall MSW Application Deadlines

1. Submit the Cal State Apply Online Application (all applicants)

• An application fee applies.
• A SDSU “RED ID” number will be assigned which allows tracking of application status online.

2. Submit the Cal Western School of Law (MSW-JD applicants only) or SOPHAS Application (MSW-MPH applicants only)

• MSW-JD Applicants: Follow this link for the Cal Western School of Law instructions on the Cal Western site.  Applications for the MSW-JD program are reviewed by both the SDSU School of Social Work and the Cal Western School of Law.
• MSW-MPH Applicants: Follow this link to the SOPHAS instructions on the SDSU Graduate School of Public Health page.  Applications for the MSW-MPH program are reviewed by both the SDSU School of Social Work and the SDSU Graduate School of Public Health.

3. Submit the SDSU Decision Desk Online Application (all applicants)

• The application will ask that you upload:
  • statement of purpose
  • employment/internship/volunteer experience
  • the names and email address of references, who will be invited to complete a recommendation for the student electronically
  • application information certification
  • liberal arts perspective form (optional)
  • letter of good standing (for transfer applicants only)

4. Submit Official Test Scores and Official Transcripts to SDSU Graduate Admission (all applicants)

• Have official GRE (and if applicable, TOEFL) test scores sent by ETS directly to SDSU (institution code 4682).
• Mail official transcripts from all colleges attended to SDSU Graduate Admissions (Students who attended SDSU need only submit transcripts for work completed since last attendance):

SDSU Graduate Admissions
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA 92182-7416

• If you have international coursework, you must have your school send SDSU Graduate Admissions one official original-language copy of all records of academic coursework and proof of degree. For each document you must also send a certified literal English translation, which can come directly from the school itself or from a professional, certified translator. The translation must contain all information shown on the original-language documents. (For details on which documents are required, check http://arweb.sdsu.edu/es/admissions/international/grad/apply/step3.html).

Questions?

• Download MSW Frequently Asked Questions (pdf, updated 1/23/2017)

For MSW admissions questions not answered in the FAQ, please contact Cheryl James (mswadmissions@sdsu.edu).