There are two levels of entry to the social work major. The first level is declaring social work as your major. If you are interested in becoming a social work major you can do so by declaring social work when you enter ETSU or by filling out a Change of Major form, if transferring from another department. Call 439-6009 to set up an appointment with the BSW Program Director to complete a Change of Major form and open a student file in the Department of Social Work, or visit the department’s offices at Hillrise House, near the tennis courts.

The second level of entry is formal admission to the major and the upper division Social Work Practice classes. Students typically apply to the major when they have completed all admission criteria and are enrolled in their two human behavior classes (SOWK 3000 and 3010), using the program’s application packet. At the time of application, ALL criteria must be completed. All of the requirements for admission to the program are outlined in the application packet.

HUMAN SERVICE ACTIVITY REQUIREMENT

One of the requirements for admission to the program is completion and documentation of 60 hours of human service activity, paid or volunteer. This requirement provides experience in helping that allows you to determine if you and a career in social work are a good “fit.” In addition, it allows you to gain some insight into and experience with working as a helper. To meet this requirement we want you to have some type of post-high school, face-to-face helping experience . Therefore, agency training activities, life guarding, running agency errands, teaching Sunday school, babysitting, or doing secretarial work for an agency are among the kinds of activities that are viewed as inappropriate in fulfilling the human service requirement, although they might be otherwise valuable personal experiences. Instead, we want students to enter the social welfare arena and to engage in helping activities that are outside of the normal spheres of student experience that is campus related and church related, although occasionally the BSW Program Director may grant partial credit in advance for such activities if they are in keeping with the spirit and intent of the human service requirement. More appropriate activities would include, for example, working as a camp counselor, being a Big Brother or Big Sister, interacting with nursing home patients or hospital patients, working in a shelter, determining need and distributing food and clothing to needy families, and so on.

Students may work in more than one setting but will need to have the form to document their volunteer hours filled out for each different setting in which they work.

If you have questions about whether or not a volunteer experience will count toward the 60 hours, see the BSW Program Director who will render a decision and record it in your student file. Pre-approval of your activity is always a good idea to ensure that you meet the program requirements.

ADMISSION PROCESS

  Students in the human behavior classes (HBSE, SOWK 3000 and 3010) apply as a cohort, assuming that they have completed all of the requirements for admission by the time of application. An exception granted to transfer students allows enrollment in the introductory social work courses (SOWK 1010, 1020, or 1030) at the time of application for admission. If you are taking HBSE in the fall, the application deadline is October 1. If you are taking HBSE in the spring, the application deadline is March 1. If these dates fall on a weekend, applications are due the next working day. After applications are received, they are distributed among BSW faculty for review and evaluation, using a rating sheet developed by the program, which attaches a point value to overall GPA, social work GPA, and references from the human service activity. Point values also are awarded to the essay and self-assessment forms to rate the level of student writing skills, motivation for a career in social work, appropriateness of career goals, and self-awareness. Admission decisions include acceptance, accept as low priority, reject, or conduct an interview before rendering a decision. Interviews with students are used to clarify information in the application or to discuss issues that are raised by review of the application or by faculty who have had experience with the student. Serious questions about student suitability for entry into the social work profession will trigger an Academic Performance Review to enable the faculty to meet with the student and explore suitability issues further.