University of Utah MSW Distance Program in St. George
Program Options: Part-Time
Tuition: $6,725
Acceptance Rate: 76%
GRE Required: No
1-Year/Accelerated Option: No
Campus Visits Required: No
Field Hours: 1,050
CSWE Accredited: Yes (1940)
Application Deadline: December 15
See our ranking of the Top 10 Affordable Master of Social Work Online (MSW) Degrees.
Overview
Founded in 1850, the University of Utah is a large public university that has its flagship campus in Salt Lake City. With an enrollment of more than 30,000, it ranks as one of the state’s largest schools in terms of student body alone. Both ARWU and Washington Monthly ranked the university within the top 50 of all colleges in America, but the university also appeared on lists of the world’s best schools too. Its School of Social Work offers one of the only online programs in the nation with CSWE accreditation. Also called both Utah and U of U, it offers seven different Master of Social Work programs that include options for DCFS workers and an advanced standing version of the online program.
Strengths
U of U requires that MSW students attend classes on both Wednesday and Thursday nights in their first year and on Thursday and Friday nights in their second year. These courses allow students to interact more with their cohorts and with their professors. As a cohort program, it pairs incoming students with others into small groups. Those groups will work together until they earn their degrees. The university offers both a standard program and an advanced standing program for distance education students. Advanced standing students take two years of classes as opposed to the three years of courses that standard students take.
Concentrations
During their second year in this online program, students must pick a concentration. The university offers a mental health and a health concentration. Those who pick the health concentration will learn how to work with patients who need services such as equipment rentals after getting out of the hospital or home health care. The mental health concentration focuses more on the issues that surround those diagnosed with mental health disorders. No matter which concentration a student picks, he or she will do 450 hours of fieldwork. They can work in any facility that relates to the concentration.
Program Requirements
This U of U program features electives and required classes as well as practicums. In the standard program, students will take required classes in their first years. They will then do practicums and take concentration classes in the second year. The third year of the program asks students to take some electives and do even more fieldwork. Advanced standing students must have a Bachelor of Social Work. They will only take the advanced classes and electives that are available and do practicums in their final year. Standard students will take 60 credits of classes before they can graduate.
Admissions Requirements
The U of U Online MSW program has an application that goes live on August 1 each year. Students can submit their applications by November 1, which is the priority deadline, or by December 1, which is the final deadline. Applying by the priority deadline ensures that the university has time to look at the student’s application while there are more spots remaining in the program. Students must use the ApplyYourself website and create an account with an email address they use regularly. They can submit the application and pay the application fee through this site.
U of U looks at six different factors to determine whether it should accept students into this program. The first of those factors is a professional resume that shows the social work and related experience that the student has. Students will also submit four professional recommendations from those familiar with their past work. They will also submit two essays: one that serves as an autobiography and one that focuses on a social issue affecting the world today. U of U also asks for official transcripts from schools that applicant attended prior to applying.
Faculty
Every professor working for the U of U School of Social Work has experience in the field. The university looks for professionals who worked in the health field as well as the mental health field to ensure that students learn practical information about the fields they want to study. These professors can help students who it comes to preparing and completing their practicums too.
Online Courses
The real-time classes that U of U offer allow students to schedule time for their courses around their own personal or professional schedules. They will typically take 25 credits of classes over three semesters in both the first and second year of the program and 10 credits in the third year. Students can graduate in eight semesters. U of U requires that students take four electives and 14 required courses. All students take classes that include Advanced Mental Health Practice, Social Change Health and Social Justice and Human Rights as well as concentration courses. The University of Utah requires that students attend classes two nights a week during each semester. All classes meet later in the day and in the early evening hours.
Internships
Students will do two practicums in this program that act as internships. They must first work in the field for at least 450 hours. The university allows students to complete this practicum in their second year. They can do their work in the fall or spring semester. The second practicum takes place during the student’s third or final year. Students will spend at least 300 hours working in the field during both the fall and spring semesters to complete a total of 600 hours of work. They can work for any type of agency or organization and gain experience working in the health or mental health field. U of U does not allow students to do their practicums in the same facilities or agencies where they work though.
Contact
395 S. 1500, East #111
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
(801) 581-6192
Lena.Al-Rayess@utah.edu
Online MSW programs make it easy for students to earn their degrees from one city or state while living in a completely different region. The University of Utah offers an Online MSW with two different concentration options and courses that take place in real time.