Successful performance in graduate social work education requires emotional maturity and stability, interest in working with people, and readiness to assume professional responsibilities. Good undergraduate preparation (3.0 GPA), an earned bachelor’s degree from a college or university accredited by a recognized regional accrediting association, and experience in the profession through volunteer, internship, or paid experience are important elements for a successful application for admission.
If we are considering your application for admission to the MSW program, you are required to participate in a group interview and provide a writing sample. We will give you a short article, and you will write a short reflective response with a pen and paper. An email invitation to interview will be sent to the email address that you registered with in your online application, so please check your spam folders as well.
An applicant who has fulfilled all the requirements for admission is admitted to the graduate program as a matriculated student in social work without regard to citizenship or place of residence. However, tuition and field placement may be affected by your status. Unfortunately, no academic credit can be given for life experience or previous work experience.
I. General Requirements
- Applicants must complete an application online.
- Applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. Undergraduate preparation should demonstrate an intellectual capacity for graduate study.
- Applicants must provide official transcripts from all previously attended colleges.
- Applicants must submit a Statement of Purpose that articulates knowledge of professional social work, discusses the applicant’s experience in a social work setting, and answers the questions on the application.
- Applicants must provide two professional letters of reference. Applicants applying to the OYR and Advanced Standing Programs are required to supply additional letters of reference.
- Applicants must pay a non-refundable $75 application fee. If you are currently a non-matriculated student and plan to apply to the program the following semester, your application fee may be waived.
- GRE test scores are not required for admission into our program.
II. One-Year Residency Applicants
OYR applicants must have a minimum two years full-time successful employment in a social service agency. Admission is available to either a standard OYR Program with admission in the fall (two and one half years in duration) or a 24-month Accelerated Program with admission in the spring.
In addition to the information above (under “General Requirements for Admission”), OYR applicants must also provide the following:
- Completed Agency Executive Agreement (AEA) Form: The agency executive at your social service agency must complete the AEA Form, approving your time away from work to pursue your education.
- Recommendation letter from agency executive (the same person who signed the AEA Form): the agency executive must also attach a letter of recommendation to the AEA Form. In cases where your agency executive cannot evaluate your skills in the field, we will accept a recommendation from the assistant agency executive or current supervisor from the agency.
Note: Once the AEA Form is completed, only one other recommendation letter is required.
III. Advanced Standing Students
In addition to the information above (under “General Requirements for Admission”), Advanced Standing applicants must also provide the following:
- Advanced Standing applicants must have an overall GPA of 3.0 and a GPA of 3.2 in the social work major and must have received the BSW degree from a CSWE-accredited program within the last five years.
- Core Competencies Form completed by faculty advisor.
- Core Competencies Form completed by field instructor.
- Practice example.
Please add the names of the faculty advisor and the field instructor in the recommendations section of the online application. You will need to list all two recommendations on your online application in order for your application to be submitted.
IV. International Applicants
Records of international applicants require special evaluation and should be submitted as early as possible. In most cases, applicants are required to provide transcript evaluation of foreign transcripts and the taking of the TOEFL exam. The exam must be retaken for previous scores over two years old.
- If you have received your Undergraduate education outside of the United States, you will need to have your transcript evaluated for U.S. equivalency. You can use World Education Services for this service by visiting this link: http://www.wes.org/fees/evaltypes.asp (select course by course evaluation)
- U.S. Permanent Resident–Copies of your Green Card (front & back) must be submitted.
- Applicants whose native language is not English and whose post-secondary education (baccalaureate degree) was in a country where English was not the native language are required to take the TOEFL exam. http://www.ets.org/toefl. Our institutional code is 2308. Minimum scores are as follows:
Paper-Based Test: 550
Computer-Administered Test: 213
Internet-Based Test: 80 - Applications for students who are required to submit TOEFL will not be considered without the test scores. WES Transcript Evaluations and TOEFL scores should be mailed to us directly from the institution or by the student (as long as the original envelope was not opened).
Our mailing address is:
Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College
2180 Third Avenue, 7th Floor
New York NY 10035
Attn: Office of Admissions.
Also, you may want to visit our International Students Office. This office provides academic support services to international students and help with immigration regulatory matters. You can visit our link here: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/studentservices/is
Successful performance in graduate social work education requires emotional maturity and stability, interest in working with people, and readiness to assume professional responsibilities. Good undergraduate preparation along with experience in the profession through volunteer, internship, or paid experience are important elements for a successful application for admission. You may be required to participate in group interview as part of the admissions process. Unfortunately, no academic credit can be given for life experience or previous work experience.
General Questions? Call our Welcome Center at (212) 396-7886 or email: grad.socworkadvisor@hunter.cuny.edu
V. Transfer Applicants
Transfer applicants must have completed a minimum of 33 social work credits at another CSWE-accredited MSW program to be considered for admission. Prior to submitting your application, please submit completed transfer of credit forms, course descriptions, and syllabi for all courses. You will also need to provide a letter from your program director or academic advisor regarding your current status in that program.
VI. Transfer of Credits
A maximum of 12 credits of prior graduate course work from an accredited graduate program may be considered for transfer credit, of which only six credits may be from a non-social-work graduate program. Transfer of credits can only be considered for courses in which students received a grade of B or better and which have been taken in the last five years.
Students must complete a Transfer of Credit Form and supply a course description and syllabus for each course for which they are requesting transfer credit. Once all the documentation has been collected, the packet should be sent to the Admissions Office (for new students) or to the Student Affairs Office (for continuing students). The maximum number of transfer credits is waived in the cases of applicants who apply and enter the program as transfer students. Once you are accepted into the program, your transfer credits will be added to your Hunter College transcript for our immediate review.
VII. TOEFL
Applicants whose native language is not English and whose post-secondary education (baccalaureate degree) was in a country where English was not the native language are required to take the TOEFL exam. The minimum acceptable score for TOEFL is 80 on the internet-based TOEFL (IBT), 213 on the computer-based test (CBT), or 550 on the paper-based test. Direct the Educational Testing Service to send your TOEFL score to Hunter College School of Social Work, institution code: 2308. To link to TOEFL, click here.
VIII. Application Fees
When you have completed your application and are ready to submit it, you can pay your application fee of $75 online by credit card, or you can mail a check or money order to the School’s Admissions Office. We encourage you to submit your application fee online; this will move your application forward in the review process more quickly. The application fee is non-refundable, and no application will be processed until the application fee is paid and all supporting documentation is submitted. If you are currently a non-matriculated student and plan to apply to the program the following semester, your application fee will be waived.
Reminder: The application process is self-managed; you should review your online application often for accuracy. Applicants are periodically sent email regarding their applications status, so please check your spam mail often as well.