Admission Requirements
Admissions Criteria for BSW students and recent BSW graduates who qualify for Advanced Standing:
An applicant who has earned an undergraduate degree in social work from a Council of Social Work Education (CSWE) accredited BSW program within six years of their planned start date of graduate study and whose GPA is 3.0 or greater in the approximately last 60 hours of undergraduate work, will be considered for Advanced Standing into the graduate program. MSW applicants who meet the 3.0 GPA requirement and qualify for Advanced Standing, will only complete the two-step quick admissions process.
Admissions Criteria for Non-BSW students and graduates (not eligible for Advanced Standing):
An applicant who has earned an undergraduate degree in a discipline other than social work from an accredited institution (about 50% of our MSW students) and whose GPA is 3.0 or greater in the approximately last 60 hours of undergraduate work, will be considered for admission into the MSW program as a Traditional student. Non-BSW applicants, who meet the 3.0 GPA requirement, will only complete the two-step step quick admissions process.
General Admissions Criteria:
Applicants with a bachelor's degree from an accredited college, university or equivalent institution with less than 3.0 in the approximately last 60 hours of undergraduate university-level work and do not meet the Advanced Standing and the Non-BSW Traditional categories above, must not only complete the two-step admissions process, but may have to complete the items below. However, please complete the admissions process first and wait for the admissions determination and additional instructions to let you know if the additional documents below will be needed.
a. GRE: The GRE is currently being waived for General Admissions and for all other admissions categories it was never required? However, if you decide to take the GRE test, send an official copy of your score from ETS to UTPB Graduate Admissions Office. If you have already taken the GRE, you can request ETS to send a report by calling ETS at 1-888-GRE-SCORE or go to www.ets.org/gre, for more information. The GRE is never required for applicants who meet our Advanced Standing and Non-BSW Traditional criteria (quick admissions).
For applicants whose native language is not English: Satisfactory scores on the TOEFL or the TSE must be submitted to the UTPB Graduate Admissions Office. Applicants must submit a score of at least 550 on the paper-based TOEFL, a score of at least 213 on the computer-based TOEFL, a minimum score of 6.5 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), or a minimum TOEFL iBT-Internet Based Test 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
UTPB Graduate Admissions office calculates the official GPA, not the School of Social Work. For more information on Graduate Admissions and calculating the GPA go to UTPB Graduate Admissions Page. All applicants must submit their application and complete the two-step admissions process first for proper GPA determination by the UTA Graduate Admissions Office.
In making the decision to admit or deny a student admission to the MSW program, the following criteria is considered: 3.0 GPA or above regular admit, 2.7-2.99 GPA conditional admit, 2.5-2.7 GPA provisional admit. Any student with lower than 2.5 GPA will not be admitted into the program. In some cases, applicants with a 2.75 to 2.99 GPA and/or a master’s degree in another discipline already conferred, will receive a holistic review for probationary admissions consideration by the selection committee.