The University of St. Thomas

Admission

Graduate Program Admission

CONTENTS:

Admission Objectives
Admission Materials
Admission Requirements


ADMISSION OBJECTIVES

The School of Social Work is committed to the selection of a student body which is culturally, racially and ethnically diverse as the best teaching and learning mix and the best potential leadership group for social work in the future, both in terms of local, state and regional needs. The MSW Admission Committee will recruit, screen and admit those individuals with the greatest potential for clinical social practice and who represent the diversity of population groups within the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and the region.

Objectives identified to achieve the desired goal are:

  1. Develop a pool of applicants valued because they bring diverse understandings to the program by virtue of cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds and varying levels of skills.

  2. Facilitate the enrollment and retention rates for students described above.

  3. Support achievement of excellence in all applicants admitted to the MSW program and the successful completion of the program by all students.


ADMISSION MATERIALS

The following materials are required for application:

  1. MSW Application Form: MSW forms are available from the Office of Graduate Admission at the College of St. Catherine and from the School of Social Work.

  2. Application Fee: $25 non-refundable. This fee is required of all MSW applicants, including graduates of the colleges. The fee covers evaluation of credentials and is not a prepayment of tuition or any other fee. The check or money order should be made payable to the College of St. Catherine.

  3. Transcripts: One official transcript from each post-secondary institution attended must be sent directly from the school(s) to the Office of Admissions at the College of St. Catherine.


ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Admission to the MSW program will be based on a wide range of information including:

  1. Prior Degree: Students accepted for the MSW program must have completed a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited college or university with a GPA of 3.00 of better (on a 4.00 scale). A limited number of exceptions may be made to this requirement. Those having a scholastic average of less than 3.0 may be admitted on a provisional basis.

  2. Prior Experience: Post undergraduate social work practice experience will be heavily considered for admission.

  3. Prerequisite Content: Students admitted to the program will be expected to have a solid foundation in the liberal arts, including having completed 16 semester credit hours in the social sciences, a basic course in research or statistics, content in human biology and content covering human life cycle development. Student transcript(s) must show that they have acquired a liberal arts base with evidence of work completed in the arts, humanities, behavioral and social sciences.

  4. Recommendations: Three letters of recommendation are required from individuals who can attest to the applicant's ability to go graduate level work and/or their practice competence.

  5. Essay: Submit a personal statement that reflects a commitment to social work principles and values, an interest in clinical social work practice, and specific professional goals and plans for achieving them.

  6. TOEFL: Students whose native language is other than English are required to pass the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) with a score of 600 or better or the MELAB (Michigan English Language Aptitude Battery) with a score of 90 of better.


The deadline for completed applications is January 10 for the following academic year.