University of Missouri Social Work: Online Master’s Degree
Program Options: Part-Time
Tuition: $8,640
Acceptance Rate: 77 percent
GRE Required: No
1-Year/Accelerated Option:
Campus Visits Required: No
Field Hours: 900
CSEW Accredited: Yes (1919)
Application Deadline: April 15
See our ranking of the Top 10 Most Affordable Master of Social Work Online (MSW) Degrees.
Overview
The University of Missouri is both the largest and the oldest university in Missouri. Commonly called Mizzou, it also goes by the name of MU. Mizzou designed an Online MSW program that accepts students who live in nine different states. This program hopes to increase the number of qualified social workers in the Midwest. Students of Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Tennessee can apply to the program. Regular standing and advanced standing students will each take two classes each term. Students will graduate in six to nine semesters based on whether they have a Bachelor of Social Work or a bachelor’s degree in another subject area.
Strengths
Other Online MSW programs feature campus visits and residency components, but the Mizzou program allows students to complete the majority of their work online. They will take 100 percent of their required courses and electives online. The only work they need to offline is their internships. Mizzou offers an advanced standing program for students who have a BSW and a regular or traditional program for those who do not have a social work background. The university only offers the online program in a part-time format, which gives students more time for their other commitments and obligations.
Concentrations
The University of Missouri asks students to pick from two concentrations. It offers a clinical concentration for those who want to work as counselors, community advocates, consultants and in different organizations. Those who complete this concentration can also work as social work educators and train others. The university also offers a concentration in policy, planning, and administration in human services. This option is best for students who want to work as leaders or researchers in human services agencies.
Program Requirements
This Online MSW program includes a set of foundation courses that are worth 21 credits. One of these courses is a field practicum that allows students to gain experience in a social work area. They will also take 30 credits of courses from within their concentrations, including a seminar and a second field practicum. Advanced standing students do not take any foundation courses because the university expects that they took the same or similar classes in a BSW program. Students must also take six to nine credits of electives. They can work with their advisers to select the right electives to take.
Admissions Requirements
MU has an early bird deadline of January 15 and a standard deadline of April 15. Those who apply earlier will find out sooner if they received acceptance. They can also apply for financial aid earlier. The university recommends that students apply as soon as possible because there isn’t a guarantee that it will have any spots remaining in the program by the second deadline. As this is a cohort program, MU will only accept a select number of new students annually.
Students will go online to complete the application and pay the associated fee. They must be a resident of one of the nine states listed above and have an undergrad grade point average of 3.0 or higher in at least the last 60 credits of work completed. The university also requires that students take a statistics class in college. Students will answer questions on the application regarding the concentration they want to study and which program they want to follow.
MU also asks for some documents and information to verify what students stated in their applications. They must supply official transcripts from any of the schools they previously attended and a resume. The university requires three letters of recommendation and a resume too. Students can submit those letters as well as a resume and personal essay statement online. Those applying to the advanced standing program must submit a field evaluation form too.
Faculty
The same professors who teach classes in the university’s traditional MSW program teach the classes that online students take. This allows students to have the same experiences that on-campus students have. Though the program does not require any campus visits, students can still connect with their professors in various ways, including on the discussion boards in their classes and over the phone. Faculty members have decades of experience in social work, and some of those teachers continue working in the field. They can give students more information about working in the Midwest.
Online Courses
Students in this program will take 21 credits of foundation courses that act as the social work core. Those classes include Large Group Theory, Foundations of Human Behavior, Social Work Skills and Social Policy and Service Delivery in Social Work. They will also take a Social Justice Seminar and Research Methods in Social Work to learn how to do their own research on a given topic. In addition to several electives, students must also take 30 credits of classes relating to their concentrations. Depending on the concentrations they choose, they make take classes such as Management of a Social Agency or Fundamentals of Social Work Administration.
Internships
Regular students must complete both a Graduate Field Practicum I and a Graduate Field Practicum II, while advanced standing students will only do the second field practicum. The university requires that students work during standard business hours between eight am and five pm and that they work on a weekday. Though students can do internships through their current employers, the things they do on a daily basis and their supervisors must change. MU encourages students to look for internships at other agencies and organizations though to ensure that they improve their skills and learn more about a different field.
Contact
136 Clark Hall
Columbia, MO 65211
(573) 882-2491
The Midwest has a high need for qualified social workers, which is why this program is so popular. It teaches students more about the specific issues facing social workers in the modern world and how they can help those living in the Midwest. The University of Missouri Online MSW program is one of the best programs of its type in the region.