The MSW program seeks applicants who demonstrate strong undergraduate preparation with a broad liberal arts foundation, values and ethics that are essential to human services, paid or voluntary experiences in human services, and significant potential for advanced social work practice. More importantly, applications should demonstrate capacity for self-awareness, maturity, genuine interests in addressing social problems and helping people in need, respect for human dignity, sensitivity and responsiveness in relationships, openness to cultural and ethnic diversity, commitment to promoting social and economic justice and work ethics. The guideline for the personal statement encourages applicants to address their qualifications and preparation for the graduate program and for the profession. Applicants will be evaluated on their entire application packet.
The admission requirements of the CSUMB MSW program are stated below. Applicants from multicultural, multilingual and diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
- A bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university;
- A minimum undergraduate GPA (grade point average) of at least 3.0 (on a 4.0 point scale) in the last 60 semester or 90 quarter units (applicant whose GPA is below 3.0 should refer to the section on Conditional Admission);
- Official transcripts of all previous undergraduate and graduate work;
- *Completion of the liberal arts (General Education) foundation. Applicants with a bachelor’s degree from a California State University or University of California campus meet the requirement. Applicants who finished their college education outside of the California State University or University of California system need to fill out the Liberal Arts Foundation Worksheet (included in the application packet);
- Completion of three pre-requisites (with a C or higher grade): Human Biology, Statistics, and computer literacy (applicant who hasn’t completed the MSW pre-requisites should refer to the section on Conditional Admission);
- Completed MSW program application forms;
- A personal statement describing applicant’s background, interest, goals and suitability for the program and social work practice (refer to the guideline for personal statement in the application packet);
- Resume (no more than 5 pages); and
- Three letters of recommendation (including the completed Request for Reference and Rating of Applicant forms) commenting on applicant’s suitability for the program and social work practice.
*Liberal arts or General Education offers a broad knowledge base of behavioral and social sciences, humanities and biological sciences to prepare students with a sufficient understanding of society, social problems, and human behavior. This understanding is beneficial to make use of the Generalist Practice of the MSW program. Applicants who do not have a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts or social work may have to take liberal arts courses prior to being admitted to the program.