PROGRESSION TO ADVANCED CURRICULUM
A student must complete the Foundation Curriculum with a 3.0 grade point average (grade of “B”) to enroll in Advanced Field Instruction. Students may take certain advanced methods courses in the semester after completing SOWK 630, Practice I, and SOWK 635 Foundation Field Instruction. Students may take advanced policy and advanced research courses after completing Foundation policy and research. Note that Advanced Year concentrations and specializations require different courses, and early enrollment in advanced courses may necessitate an early decision about curriculum direction. All students are encouraged to meet with their advisor and file an advanced plan of study with the offices of the associate dean for the master’s program and the associate dean for administration before entering the Advanced Year of study. ADVANCED STANDING
Advanced Standing status is available to students who have completed, within five years prior to their enrollment in the School, an undergraduate program in social work accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. These students must have earned a minimum 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale on the last 120 credits that appear on their bachelor’s degree transcript, as well as a 3.0 on the last 60 credits. The applicant must also be recommended for Advanced Standing by their department chair. Full-time Advanced Standing students will typically complete 6 credits in the summer before the start of the Advanced Field Instruction or in the summer following advanced field instruction and complete 30 credits in the fall and spring semesters. Those who qualify may receive up to 24 semester hours of credit toward the MSW degree.
Advanced Standing students must earn the MSW within two years of their initial registration at the School of Social Work. Advanced Standing students may complete the MSW in one year of full-time study or two years of part-time study, provided that the degree is awarded within six years of the baccalaureate graduation. Applicants with a “C” grade in a Practice class are ineligible for Advanced Standing. ADVANCED CURRICULUM [36 CREDITS]
Students must select a concentration and specialization for their Advanced Year of study. Students must take an Advanced policy course, an Advanced research course, and three methods courses in the same concentration. A methods course must be taken each semester a student is in the field. In addition, a course specifically focusing on and requiring a measure of student competence with diversity content is required of every advanced student. The courses that satisfy this requirement will be designated on the class schedules available for each semester. These courses often fulfill other requirements as well.
For example, SOWK 783, Qualitative Cross-Cultural Research, fulfills both the diversity and the research requirement. A student taking this course and using it to fulfill both requirements would gain an elective. Similarly, SWOA 704, Community Organizing, and SWCL 726, Clinical Social Work with the Aging and Their Families, would each fulfill the diversity requirement and a methods requirement in the MACO (SWOA 704) or the clinical concentrations (SWCL 726). ADVANCED CLINICAL STUDENTS & CREDITS SWCL 700—Paradigms of Clinical Social Work Practice (3) SWCL 744—Psychopathology (3) Clinical Advanced Field Instruction (SWCL 794 and SWCL 795) (12) Clinically oriented Advanced Research course (3) Specialization-specific Advanced Policy course (3) Diversity course (See designated Advanced Research, Policy, Clinical, and MACO courses: If this course fulfills other requirements, an elective can be taken.) (3) Three elective courses (one of these must be a clinical course; others may be designated by specialization). (9) ADVANCED MACO STUDENTS & CREDITS SWOA 703—Program Management (3) SWOA 704—Community Organization (3) MACO Advanced Field Instruction (SWOA 794 and SWOA 795) (12) MACO-oriented Advanced Research course (3) Specialization-specific Advanced Policy course (3) Diversity course (See designated Advanced Research, Policy, Clinical, and MACO courses: If this course fulfills other requirements, an elective can be taken.) (3) Three elective courses (two of these must be MACO courses; others may be designated by specialization). (9)
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