Apply to the BSSW Program

Download the BSSW Program Admissions Guide!

You must have the following courses completed or be enrolled to complete them prior to the semester you will be starting the BSSW Program:

SOCIAL WORK COURSES (complete both)

• SWK 1010: Introduction to Social Work (complete with grade C- or higher)
• SWK 1600: Community Engagement and Civic Responsibility (complete with grade C- or higher) (requires ~3 hrs/week of volunteer work, for 45hrs/semester)

GENERAL STUDIES PRE-REQUISITE COURSES

NATURAL SCIENCE (choose one)

• BIO 1000: Human Biology for Non-Majors, or
• BIO 1030: General Biology for Non-Majors, or
• BIO 1080+1090: General Biology I + General Biology I Lab (overlaps with General Studies, Natural Science requirement)

WRITTEN COMMUNICATION GENERAL STUDIES (complete both)

• ENG 1010: Composing Arguments (complete with grade C- or higher)
• ENG 1020: Freshman Composition: Analysis, Research & Documentation (complete with grade C- or higher) (other classes may fulfill Written Communication General Studies requirement. See catalog for details.)

SOCIAL & BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES (complete both)

• PSC 1010: American National Government
• PSY 1001: Introductory Psychology or 6 total credits of PSY coursework (overlaps with General Studies, Social & Behavioral Sciences requirement)

SOCIAL CULTURAL (choose one)

• SOC 1010: People, Power, and Progress, or
• ANT 1310: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, or
• ANT 2330: Cross-Cultural Communication (overlaps with Multicultural requirement)

You have the option to complete the BSSW program fully online, in-person, or a combination of both! When you apply to the BSSW program you’ll need to indicate which way you intend to complete your degree.

Learn more about each of these course modalities:

• Fully Online – if you must complete all of your classes online, you will be considered a “fully online” student which guarantees you a spot in online classes. Please note: at this time, all of the core social work classes require some synchronous meeting times, even for fully online students. Online classes are not self-paced.
• Mixed Traditional – if you plan to take most of your classes on-campus, you’ll be considered a “mixed traditional” student. This means you can take classes online, in-person, or hybrid. We do our best to ensure mixed traditional students have enough on-campus and online class options to balance your academic load.

The social work discipline is collaborative and focused on creating connections with others. Read more about what to expect in online and hybrid courses on our course delivery information page.

Your journey to the finish line is your own and we want you to take the amount of classes that works for you to ensure you are successful, have time to learn, and still have time for all the other important things in your life.

If you need to be full-time, you will take 12 to 15 credits of social work courses each semester (4 to 5 courses). As a part-time student, you will take 6 to 9 credits of social work courses each semester (2 to 3 courses).

We encourage students to have all other degree requirements, including general education requirements, BSSW pre-requisite classes, and general elective credits, completed by the time you start the BSSW program. If you’re able to start the BSSW program with only social work classes remaining to graduate, then you can complete your degree in two years of full-time study or 3 years of part-time study.

You should work together with your advisor to make a plan for graduation that works for you!

You can access the BSSW Application here. 

The first part of the application is information for you to read so that you understand the BSSW program. This information is really important. Please be sure you read it carefully.

The second part of the application is a personal statement. There are four personal statement prompts you’ll need to respond to. Each answer should be 200-250 words maximum. The purpose of personal statements is to assess your dedication and understanding of the social work profession, ethics, and values, and that you can communicate clearly and effectively in writing.

We recommend drafting your responses in Word and then pasting into the text boxes in the application once you’re ready. Sometimes formatting can get off when pasting into the text boxes in the application – if you run into this issue, pasting with Ctrl + Shift + V is one way to paste from Word without formatting, and then you can use the formatting tools in the essay box.

Remember to keep your responses brief but thorough (there are word limits), and don’t hesitate to reach out to the Writing Center if you need any assistance along the way.

• Website: www.msudenver.edu/writectr
• Phone: 303-556-6070

Sometimes the writing center can get busy. Therefore, we also have writing support within the Social Work Department. Reach out to Tisha Townsend ([email protected]) to set up a writing support appointment.

PERSONAL STATEMENT PROMPTS

• Beyond your desire to help others, why have you selected social work as a major and profession over another helping profession or field? Please include any relevant work, volunteer, or life experience that contributes to your choice of social work.
• Social Work is a value-based profession with Social Justice and the Inherent Dignity and Worth of the Person as two of its core values. Illustrate your understanding of social work by sharing how your values and lived experience support the social work values of Social Justice (i.e., equity, liberation, power/privilege, oppression, etc.) and the Inherent Dignity and Worth of the Person.
• Describe a recent occasion when you experienced conflict in your life. This can be a conflict with another person or perhaps when you have had a long-cherished or accepted belief challenged. What do you think you handled well in this situation? What do you wish you had done differently? What did you learn about yourself?
• In the social work program, each three-credit course you take requires at least six hours of out-of-class work per week. Social work classes will examine emotionally challenging topics such as suicide assessment, oppression, child abuse, neglect, and grief & loss. Course content will require ongoing critical self-reflection. Additionally, the BSSW Program requires 400+ hours of agency-based work across the upper division coursework. Please share how you will manage the rigorous demands of the BSSW Program and take care of yourself on this journey.