Transfer Credits

Under certain circumstances, students may receive a maximum of 30 semester hours for work completed not more than five years prior to first registration (at UMB) from a CSWE-accredited graduate school of social work, and for which a grade of at least a “B” was received. The entire MSW program, including transfer credits and UMB coursework, must be completed within six years. Students must complete a minimum of 30 credits at the University of Maryland School of Social Work to be eligible for the master’s degree.

Exemption Exams

Students with strong backgrounds in policy, research, and human behavior, wishing to take more advanced elective credits, are STRONGLY encouraged to take the exemption exam(s). Those who pass the exemption exam(s) must still complete 60 credits to earn the MSW degree. What changes by the successful exemption is the distribution of credits, enabling students to increase the number of elective credits. Students who are exempted from courses should consult the academic advisor for special assistance in program planning.

All entering students are eligible to take exemption examinations for three foundation courses:

  • SOWK 600—Social Welfare and Social Policy [3 credits]
  • SOWK 645—Human Behavior and the Social Environment [3 credits]
  • SOWK 670—Social Work Research [3 credits]

The exemption exams offer the opportunity for enrolling students who believe they have already covered foundation content in these courses to place-out of one or more of them. Students who place out of a course by grade “F” cannot be balanced. A final course grade lower than a “C-” is automatically converted to an “F.”

A grade of Pass (“P”) is awarded to MSW field education courses to denote satisfactory completion of requirements. Courses assigned the grade of “P” will not be computed in the student’s grade point average. No Mark (N/M) indicates that the Instructor has not yet submitted the final grade.

For more information, contact Theresa Washington, twashington@ssw.umaryland.edu 

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