Full-Time Program

The Full-Time Program takes four semesters of course and field work beyond the bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. The first practicum starts in the Fall semester of the first year and continues through Spring semester. The second practicum spans the Fall and Spring semesters of the second year.

Extended Study Program

The Extended Study Program takes three years to complete. There is no practicum the first year; the first practicum starts in the Fall of the second year and continues through Spring. The second practicum is completed in the Fall and Spring of the third year.

Advanced Standing Program

The Advanced Standing Program is available for eligible students with a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW), and consists of course and field work, spanning over one calendar year of full-time study.  Admission to the Advanced Standing program assumes the student is competent in knowledge, values, and skills typically learned during the first year of the Full-Time MSW program.  Advanced Standing students begin in the Summer Session with courses that prepare them to enter the second year of the Full-Time MSW program.

Accreditation

The UNC Charlotte MSW degree is fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, the national accrediting organization for social work education programs.

Concentration

The MSW Program at UNC Charlotte offers a curriculum concentration in Advanced Generalist Practice that focuses on individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.  The program embraces the profession’s commitment to social justice as well as the School of Social Work’s special attention to the region’s most vulnerable populations.  Graduates of the program will be advanced practitioners of social work who engage client systems at all levels of practice in a manner consistent with social work values and ethics.  Students specialize by selecting a vulnerable population for intensive study.

Outcomes

The following key themes undergird the advanced knowledge and practice behaviors associated with the successful engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation of client systems:

• Context - Recognizes the inseparability of individual struggles and social issues;
• Multi-Level Practice - Takes action on multiple levels of social work practice;
• Evidence-Based - Engages in research-informed practice and practice-informed research;
• Strengths - Understands and employs the strengths of vulnerable populations but also insures their capacity and power to engage societal opportunities;
• Cultural Sensitivity and Humility - Conducts social work practice with cultural sensitivity and humility;
• Local and Global - Practices social work in communities everywhere; and
• Critically Reflective - Encourages the continuous development of critically reflective practitioners.

Graduates are employed in a range of human service settings, including youth and family agencies, child and adult protective services, schools, area mental health agencies, substance abuse centers, healthcare settings, and neighborhood service centers as therapists, program coordinators, and supervisors.

Additional Admission Requirements

Full-Time and Extended Study students begin in the Fall semester.  Advanced Standing students begin the first Summer Session.  The School of Social Work admits students to the MSW program once per year.  The deadline for all application materials for all programs is February 1.  Admission is selective.  In addition to the general requirements for admission to the Graduate School, applicants for the MSW program are required to meet the following criteria:

1. For Full-Time and Extended Study applicants, a minimum 3.0 GPA overall for undergraduate work.  Advanced Standing applicants must have earned a BSW degree from a Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accredited program within the past five years and have a 3.0 GPA overall for undergraduate coursework.
2. Acceptable scores on the GRE.  For entrance into graduate programs at UNC Charlotte, the University sets a standard of scores in the verbal and quantitative sections of the GRE that are within the top 70th percentile.
3. Liberal Arts foundation.  Students must present evidence of having a liberal arts foundation for MSW study.  Courses in statistics and human biology are recommended.  In addition, transcripts may be evaluated for a liberal arts foundation with courses in the humanities, the social and behavioral sciences, and the physical sciences.
4. Personal Essay.  Social work applicants should complete the Personal Narrative within the electronic application.  The narrative should be 4-5 pages in length and use headings when addressing each of the following items:

1. Please discuss your reasons for wanting to become a master-level social worker.
2. Please discuss your reasons for seeking admission specifically to UNC Charlotte’s MSW Program. 
3. How are your personal career interests congruent with the UNC Charlotte MSW program?
4. The Social Work Program values diversity in its student population.  Diversity may be defined in terms of race, age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, unique skills, or life experiences.  What personal characteristics, unique skills, or life experiences will you bring to the program?
5. Social workers practice with individuals from historically oppressed and diverse groups.  Will people from particular groups be challenging for you to work with, either because of your personal values and/or attitudes?  How will you handle this?
6. Describe a time when you were given critical feedback.  What was your reaction to that experience?  What did you learn about yourself?
7. As a prospective graduate student, what strengths and skills do you bring to the program?  What do you identify as your areas of growth?
8. Describe a time when you offered help to someone else (other than a family member).  Explain your reaction.  What did you learn about yourself?
9. Your signature and date.

5. Resume.  The resume is an addendum to the Personal Essay, and it should outline the applicant’s educational, work, and volunteer experience, and special skills or attributes.  The attachment should be no more than two pages and should be in resume format.  Be sure the resume includes all of the following:

1. Personal data, including name, address, phone number, and email address
2. Educational experience, including institutions, dates attended, and academic degrees awarded
3. Volunteer and/or Paid Work experience, including dates for each position, 2-3 line description of each position, whether the position was full-time (FT) or part-time (PT), and whether a degreed social worker provided supervision
4. Professional affiliations and service groups, including any offices held in these organizations
5. Honors or special awards

6. Letters of Recommendation.  Each applicant must have three recommenders complete the Graduate School recommender form.  Recommenders should be encouraged by the applicant to also upload recommendation letters.  For recent graduates, at least two of the recommenders must be faculty members or supervisors from internships for course credit.  For applicants who have been out of the education system for some time, letters should be from employment or volunteer supervisors.  Ideally, recommendations will be completed by MSW social workers or others who can speak to your suitability for pursuing the MSW.  Recommendation letters should be submitted on business stationery with the writer’s title and educational credentials being identified.  Recommenders should be encouraged to discuss in their letter the applicant’s:

1. Aptitude for graduate education
2. Skills and values relevant to social work practice with diverse populations
3. Enthusiasm for learning
4. Responses to supervision and critical feedback
5. Ability to collaborate with others
6. Overall strengths and challenges relevant to graduate study

7. Interview.  Applicants may be required to participate in an interview process.

Upon acceptance to the program, students are asked to complete an Intent to Enroll Form and a Field Application Form.  Because some field placement agencies serving vulnerable populations exclude personnel with criminal convictions, students entering the program may be subject to a criminal history inquiry.  Many agencies require drug testing as well.

Degree Requirements

Electives

Electives may be from outside the School of Social Work, but must have a social work relevance.  The school offers different elective topics each year, depending on the expertise of the faculty and student interests. As such, the school cannot guarantee which electives will be offered.  Electives must be approved by the student’s MSW faculty advisor prior to registration.

Field Placement

Field placements are assigned from a variety of agencies and practice settings approved by the UNC Charlotte Social Work Field Office.  Field Instructors, approved by the School of Social Work, guide the student through learning experiences, coordinating field experiences with the concurrent classroom coursework.  The first year of field placement for Full-Time and Extended Study students focuses on foundation practice skills.  The second year of placement for these students, in a different setting, focuses on advanced practice skills.  Advanced Standing placements reflect advanced practice goals. 

State Certification

Graduates of the MSW Program are eligible to pursue North Carolina State Licensure/Certification at three levels:  (1) Licensed Clinical Social Worker, (2) Certified Master Social Worker, and (3) Certified Social Work Manager.  Licensure/certification is managed by the North Carolina Certification Board for Social Work.  Additional information on The Board may be found online at ncswboard.org.

Students may also pursue licensure as a School Social Worker.  Those who wish to become licensed as a School Social Workers should make the MSW Program Director and Field Director aware of this as soon as they are accepted into the MSW program.

Financial Assistance

Paid internships and assistantships are limited. Visit socialwork.uncc.edu for more information.