Program Overview
The Missouri Western State University Master of Social Work program is more than just a graduate degree. In this program you will learn through a trauma-informed, applied-learning framework that ensures all individuals, families and communities can achieve justice and improved well-being. The program is committed to the guiding principles of competency, diversity, equity and inclusion.
Within this program, you will be introduced to the Council on Social Work Education’s grand challenges where you will be taught to practice with a strength-based integrity, competence and client-centered care within a framework of trauma responsiveness.
This program is held in person on Missouri Western’s campus. Classes will meet once per week with an online component. You can apply for the advanced standing plan of study If you already have your Bachelor of Social Work from a CSWE-accredited university with a 2.75 or above GPA, or the traditional plan of study if you have a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited university with a 2.75 or above GPA.
Click here for a list of course requirements for the Master of Social Work program.
If you already have your Bachelor of Social Work from a CSWE-accredited university with a 2.75 or above GPA, then you should apply to the advanced standing plan of study.
Application Requirements
- Statement of Purpose: A one-page narrative which describes your purpose for seeking admission to a graduate program, as well as what you hope to gain from the experience.
- Transcripts of all previously completed university level work – both undergraduate and graduate.
- Criminal background checks will be required. An applicant who has been found guilty of a Class A or B felony will not be admitted.
If your GPA was below a 2.75 you may be conditionally admitted and must earn a 3.0 GPA after the first nine graduate hours for full admission.
Upon admission, all social work students will be provided with and are expected to read the MWSU Student Code of Conduct, the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), and the Substance Use Policy. Students will then be asked to electronically sign an acknowledgment that they: (1) have read these documents, (2) are aware of their contents, and (3) will abide by the standards elaborated in the documents. The form will be kept in students’ files.
If you have a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited university with a 2.75 or above GPA, then you should apply to the traditional Master of Social Work plan of study.
If your undergraduate degree was not a Bachelor of Social Work from a CSWE-accredited university, then it is expected that your undergraduate studies must include the successful completion of an equivalent Biology 101 (principles of biology with a lab) and a class equivalent to statistics.
Application Requirements
- Statement of Purpose: A one-page narrative which describes your purpose for seeking admission to a graduate program, as well as what you hope to gain from the experience.
- Provide transcripts of all previously completed university level work – both Undergraduate and Graduate.
- Criminal background checks will be required. An applicant who has been found guilty of a Class A or B felony will not be admitted.
If your GPA was below a 2.75 or you have not successfully completed either or both required classes – biology 101 and statistics – then you may be considered conditionally admitted, and must complete those classes with a B or higher within one year of conditional admittance before being fully admitted.
Upon admission, all social work students will be provided with and are expected to read the MWSU Student Code of Conduct, the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), and the Substance Use Policy. Students will then be asked to electronically sign an acknowledgment that they: (1) have read these documents, (2) are aware of their contents, and (3) will abide by the standards elaborated in the documents. The form will be kept in students’ files.
The Social Work Program follows Missouri Western’s policies for admission and credit transfer. All potential transfer students must send an official transcript from each college and university attended.
Missouri Western adheres to the guidelines of the Missouri Articulation Agreement. Transfer course work is evaluated and awarded on the same basis as credit awarded at MWSU. Consequently, a criterion used to evaluate currently enrolled Missouri Western students is equally applicable to transfer students. Transfer Guidelines are reviewed annually and updated on a regular basis.
Missouri Western’s social work program will accept social work courses from other CSWE-accredited Master of Social Work programs, only if they are considered equivalent to the Missouri Western social work program’s major requirements.
The student’s social work advisor or the program director will determine whether courses transferred from another university will be considered equivalent to the required classes in the Social Work major. The advisor will consult with faculty members from other departments as necessary to make this decision. Courses accepted for transfer must be similar in content and credit value to those they replace. Missouri Western’s social work program will only accept social work courses transferred from CSWE-accredited social work programs.
All transfer credits must be approved by the graduate program director and the Graduate Dean, and will be counted in the calculation of the graduate GPA.
Exceptions to these rules, including the possibility of allowance of up to nine total transfer credits, or other modifications must receive approval by the graduate program director and Graduate Dean.
Admissions
Using a strengths-based focus, the Social Work Admissions Committee (composed of all full-time program faculty members) reviews the following student information for evaluating admissions into the social work program:
- Completed online application
- Verifying by digitally signing that the student has read and understands:
- Code of Ethics
- Social Work Student Handbook
- Substance Use Policy
- Personal statement
- Updated background check
- Academic and professional performance consideration
- Please provide two professional references.
Each committee member makes one of three possible recommendations:
- Accepted unconditionally into the program
- Conditional acceptance into the program*
- Denied acceptance into the program
*Conditional acceptance: incomplete prerequisites or GPA below 2.75
The Missouri Western State University Master of Social Work program, grounded in applied learning, strives to create change by valuing human dignity and cultural diversity and promoting social, economic, and environmental justice in Northwest Missouri, the nation, and the world. We do so by introducing students to the Council on Social Work Education’s grand challenges and by teaching students to practice with strength-based integrity, competence and client-centered care within a framework of trauma responsiveness.
The Missouri Western State University Master of Social Work program mission emulates the profession’s purpose to prepare its students for ethical and effective generalist social work practice and to promote the well-being of people at the micro, mezzo and macro levels using a person-in-environment framework.
It is expected that the mission of a competent generalist who values human dignity, social and economic justice, and cultural humility, is to work to reduce poverty, oppression and discrimination by making social service and government agencies more just and responsive to social and economic justice, and to the prevention of conditions that limits human rights.
In addition, the mission of the Missouri Western State University Master of Social Work program is reflective of the university’s mission to be an applied learning institution designed to build essential skills, innovative curriculum, belongingness and a sense of community.
The Missouri Western State University Master’s in Social Work program’s mission demonstrates the professions core values of respecting human dignity, the importance of human relationships, and the enhancement of the well-being and quality of life for all persons thought integrity, competency, social justice, and service through linkage to the Grand Challenges.
The MOWSU MSW is currently in Pre-Candidacy for Accreditation by the Council on Social Work Education’s Commission on Accreditation.
Pre-Candidacy for a baccalaureate or master’s social work program by the Council on Social Work Education’s Commission on Accreditation indicates that it has submitted an application to be reviewed for Candidacy and had its Benchmark I approved in draft form to move forward with Candidacy review within one year. A program that has attained Pre-Candidacy has not yet been reviewed by the Commission on Accreditation or been verified to be in compliance with the Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards.
Students who enter programs in Pre-Candidacy that attain Candidacy in the academic year in which they begin their program of study will be retroactively recognized as having graduated from a CSWE-accredited program once the program attains Initial Accreditation. The Candidacy Process is typically a three-year process and there is no guarantee that a program in Pre-Candidacy will eventually attain Candidacy or Initial Accreditation.