MSW Applications are due December 1, 2025.
MSW Information Sessions
If you are considering applying to the MSW Program, you are encouraged to register to participate in a Zoom information session BEFORE submitting your application. In the information sessions, we will discuss the MSW Program and the application process. You will also have the chance to ask questions. You must register to participate in a session. Once you register, the Graduate School will provide access to the appropriate Zoom link for your session
Sessions for Fall 2025:
Each session begins at 6:00 pm (EST) and will run approximately one hour.
| Date | Time | Location | Link |
| Wednesday, September 24, 2025 | 6:00pm-7:00pm | Zoom | Register Here |
| Wednesday, October 8, 2025 | 6:00pm-7:00pm | Zoom | Register Here |
| Wednesday, November 5, 2025 | 6:00pm-7:00pm | Zoom | Register Here |
The Graduate School will waive the application fee during a particular week in October. You may wish to wait to complete your application and submit it until that week. You can begin an application at any time, but it must be completed and submitted during that week to have the application fee waived. Please watch the Graduate School's website for notice of the free admission week dates.
If you have earned a BSW or are completing the BSW degree currently: The MSW Program's Advanced Standing option is only available to applicants who have completed a BSW degree from a Council on Social Work Education-accredited Social Work program within the last 7 years or are currently completing that degree. There are no exceptions for other degrees or work experience. If you have earned a BSW, you can only apply to the Advanced Standing option, unless your BSW was earned more than 7 years ago. An applicant whose BSW degree is older than 7 years can only apply to the "Regular" program. The Advanced Standing option is NOT an "accelerated graduate degree." You will not find it listed with those degrees when you begin the application process. To find the Advanced Standing MSW program, start here. |
If you have earned an undergraduate degree in a field other than Social Work: If you are not a BSW graduate, you are only eligible to apply to the MSW Program's "Regular" program. For full-time students, this is a two-year program. We only offer this program as a campus-based (mostly) in-person program. Except for a few online courses, classes meet in the Leon Levine Hall of Health Sciences in Boone. We do not offer an online program option for this program. To find the Regular MSW program, start here. |
If you are working and plan to continue working while pursuing your degree: You must be available to complete the required courses when they are scheduled for your program option. Please keep in mind that completing the MSW degree requires internships that must be completed in conjunction with courses. Almost all internship hours are earned on weekdays during "regular" business hours. We do not offer paid internships, although some opportunities for completing internship hours at an accepted student's employment may be possible, if that employment is related to Social Work and can meet the required competencies as determined by the Field Director. |
If you have questions about the MSW Program or applying, please contact Dr. Howell. Many questions can be answered by participating in an information session. We appreciate your interest in the MSW program!
Appalachian's Master of Social Work (MSW) program educates social workers who contribute to the well-being of others through skills in advanced clinical practice, leadership and supervision, community development and advocacy, and innovative program planning and administration. Graduates will be qualified to engage in advanced social work practice to individuals, families, organizations, and communities. They are eligible to apply for their clinical social work license and/or social work manager license. The MSW Program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.
Advanced Standing
Option
CSWE
Accredited
Integrated
Field Education
MSW Program Overview
The Department of Social Work is housed within the Beaver College of Health Sciences. Graduates are connected to a network of professionals and are prepared for professional partnerships and collaborations with individuals from nutrition, health care management, nursing, communication sciences and disorders, recreation management, physical education, exercise science, health administration, athletic training, health promotion, and more.
Regular Program
The Regular Program option is awarded to graduates who do not have a degree from a baccalaureate social work program, but who have a last-earned degree from a variety of disciplines.
The regular program has a full-time (2 year) and part-time (4 years) option and is available on-campus only.
Advanced Standing
Advanced Standing is awarded only to graduates holding degrees from baccalaureate social work programs accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), recognized through its International Social Work Degree Recognition and Evaluation Services, or covered under a memorandum of understanding with international social work accreditors.
The Advanced Standing program has a full-time (1 year) and part-time (2 years) option and is available on-campus or online.
Online classes are currently offered on Tuesday and Thursday. Beginning in Fall semester 2024, online classes may also be offered on Wednesday evenings.
Curriculum & Concentrations
The MSW Program offers two concentrations:
- Community and Organizational Practice – Prepares students for advanced practice in the range of settings that focus on social problems and social change at the community, organizational and societal levels. The emphasis is on developing and implementing services, social programs and social policies based within the social work value system while providing leadership within communities and organizations. Coursework in this concentration focuses on community organizing and development, social planning, political and social action, government and nonprofit agency administration, and resource development.
- Individuals and Families – Designed for students who intend to go into advanced direct and clinical practice upon graduation. This concentration prepares students for agency-based practice with diverse children, adolescents, adults and families. Coursework in this concentration integrates social work values and ethics, and focuses on the development of the professional relationship, theoretical perspectives, advanced clinical assessment, evidence-based practice and intervention.
Field Education
The Field Education Program at the Department of Social Work provides an opportunity for students to integrate their curriculum knowledge with real-life experiences in a variety of field practice settings. Students are supervised by experienced social work field instructors at human services agencies where they refine their social work skills and begin their lives as social work professionals.
The field placement is a vital part of the professional development of the student. Through our collaborative efforts the Social Work Department and human service organizations will continue to offer field education of the highest quality to enhance human well-being and meet the basic human needs of all people. Master of Social (MSW) work students complete concurrent field placements two semesters per year.
Graduate Electives
Coursework requires two graduate electives (5000 level courses and above) that can be selected from any department or program.
Crossover Design
The MSW program's two concentrations have a crossover design, in which students specializing in one concentration gain vital exposure to content from the other concentration.
Mission
The MSW Program's mission is to prepare advanced professional social workers who possess a strong generalist foundation. Our students benefit from our unique crossover design that enables them to select one concentration area, Individuals and Families (I&F) or Community and Organizational (C&O) Practice, while integrating courses from the complementary practice area. Our students partner with Appalachian and global communities and engage in interprofessional collaboration to advance the health and well-being of individuals, families, groups, and communities. Our graduates are leaders in addressing the complexities of social problems, challenging systems of oppression and advancing social, economic, and environmental justice.
Program Goals
- Provide graduate students with social work education that is grounded in the profession’s history, purposes, and philosophy, and based on a body of knowledge, values, skills, and cognitive and affective processes.
- Provide graduate students with an integrated professional social work foundation curriculum that is based in the liberal arts, and an advanced curriculum that is built from the professional foundation.
- Prepare graduates who can function with a high degree of autonomy and effectiveness within diverse social work settings.
- Prepare graduates who contribute to the quality of services in their organizations and communities with an emphasis on the service region.
- Prepare graduates to fill leadership roles in the agencies and communities they serve with emphasis on the service region.
- Prepare graduates with the knowledge, values, skills, cognitive and affective processes, and methods of innovative advanced social work practice with individuals and families with an emphasis on the service region.
- Prepare graduates with the knowledge, values, skills, cognitive and affective processes, and methods of innovative advanced social work practice with communities and organizations, with an emphasis on the service region.
Program Schedules
Students will complete a curriculum including foundation and concentration courses, including face-to-face field work. With full-time and part-time options you can find a program scheduleto fit your life.
Please note, the on campus programs will likely include some online or evening courses.
Admissions Information
Application Requirements
If you are planning to seek a professional license or certification outside North Carolina, it is important for you to know the specific requirements of the state in which you intend to apply for licensure or certification. Licensure requirements vary from one profession to another and state-to-state. To obtain more information about licensure in a state other than North Carolina use this link.
- Baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university
- complete application to the Graduate School
- official general GRE exam scores, unless waived
- an undergraduate liberal arts background, including knowledge from a variety of disciplines
- 3.0 GPA in the last earned degree and official scores from the appropriate admission test(s), OR 2.5 GPA in the last earned degree and official scores at the 25th percentile level from the appropriate admission test(s).
Advanced Standing option - Applicants must have a BSW degree from a CSWE-accredited program that has been completed within seven years prior to the first day of classes in the year of entry and have a 3.2 grade point average in their BSW courses may apply for the Advanced Standing program.
Supplemental Information
- Three professional letters of recommendation, college-level or beyond, with at least one academic and one human service experience (paid or volunteer).
- Personal Statement
- Reviewed to evaluate suitability for the MSW Program and the social work profession, writing skills, and English proficiency
- Required format: 12 point font, double-spaced, one inch margins, 3-4 pages maximum
- Required content:
- Discuss the personal and professional experiences that led to the development of your interest in and commitment to a career in social work. Include the particular aspects of social work that you would like to pursue as a professional and why.
- The National Association of Social Worker’s (NASW) Code of Ethics is based on six ethical principles, also referred to as the core values. Please discuss how all of these core values will inform your practice.
- Our MSW Program has two concentrations (Individuals and Families, and Community and Organizational Practice) and a crossover design. Which concentration are you leaning toward, and why? How will the concentration you did not choose inform your social work practice?
- If you are applying to the Advanced Standing program you should indicate this by including a statement of readiness for entry into the advanced standing program within your personal statement. The statement of readiness should include information about how your BSW studies and field experience prepared you for the Advanced Standing Program.
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