Master of Social Work

The mission of the Masters program is: we value scientific inquiry, service, integrity, ethics, competence and the power of justice to educate and co-create a diverse, equitable, and accessible Program focused on human rights and enhanced quality of life for persons and communities, locally and globally.

Our vision is a learner-centered school that develops social work leaders to impact social, economic, environmental, and racial justice through excellence in research and practice.

The goals of the Masters program are to:

provide a professional education that prepares advanced practitioners to enhance, advocate, and support social, economic, and environmental justice and personal well-being for all people.
prepare advanced practitioners who demonstrate the knowledge, skills, values, cognitive and affective processes necessary to work effectively with diverse, vulnerable, and marginalized populations.
prepare advanced practitioners who possess the needed knowledge, embrace social work values, and have the requisite skills needed to formulate and realize a vision of a just society.
prepare ethical, reflective, and competent advanced practitioners in Clinical Social Work to work with individuals, families, and groups, and in Policy, Planning, and Administration to work with organizations, communities, and institutions within a global and changing environment
prepare advanced practitioners to effectively engage, assess, and intervene with individuals, families, groups, organizations, communities, and institutions by utilizing evidence-based knowledge and theories and guided by trauma informed, culturally responsive, and anti-racist models of practice.
prepare advanced practitioners with the knowledge, skills, values, cognitive and affective processes necessary to engage in practice informed research and research informed practice, and the ability to evaluate social work practice at micro, mezzo, and macro system levels.
prepare advanced practitioners who are grounded in a cultural-bio-psycho-social-spiritual framework, understand the historical roots of the social work profession, and can analyze, develop, and utilize social policy to advance justice policy to advance justice.

Standard MSW (60 Credit Hour) requirements:

Undergraduate degree
3.0 cumulative GPA

Liberal Arts required courses.

Advanced Standing

BSW degree from a CSWE accredited program, awarded not more than five years before the date of application to the WMU School of Social Work
3.25 cumulative GPA
No more than one BSW course below a “B;” any BSW course below a “B” will require retaking an equivalent course in the MSW curriculum

Accelerated MSW Program

Current enrollment in undergraduate coursework at WMU
Completed a minimum of 60 credit hours
Successfully completed SWRK 2100, 3200, and 3500
Overall GPA of at least 3.0

Minimum English proficiency test scores:

Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL): 80 iBT

International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic: 6.5

Pearson Test of English, Academic Module (PTE): 54

Michigan English Test (MET): 57

Application deadlines:

Advanced Standing - January 15 - for Summer II

MSW Standard 60 Credit Hour Program Deadline:

February 15 - Full-time MSW program for Fall 2022 start