Students planning to enter field placement in the Spring, Summer, or following Fall must submit their applications early in the semester in which they are enrolled in SOWK 4320, Social Work Practice II or in the semester prior to the final semester of their senior year. Students are interviewed by the Field Director to explore interests and share information. Placements are finalized by the Field Director during the semester preceding the term that students will be taking field experience.

Students are required to purchase liability insurance through the Department of Social Work. This is a blanket policy which applies to all social work students in their internships.

The field director reviews the application packet for completeness and evaluates the student's qualifications for entering field experience. By approximately midterm of the semester prior to the placement the field director begins the process of arranging the placements. During this process it may become necessary for the field director and the student to meet several times to finalize the placement. It is not always possible nor educationally sound to place students in their choices of agencies; therefore, alternate possibilities are explored carefully with those students affected.

After a particular placement has been agreed upon by the student and the field director, the field director makes the initial contact with the prospective agency. The agency is provided with pertinent information regarding the student, including: academic achievements, work experiences, career plans, autobiographical data submitted with the Application for Field Experience and any other information deemed to be helpful in making the placement decision.

Students are responsible for arranging a replacement interview with the field instructor in the prospective placement agency. In this interview both the student and the agency field instructor discuss the objectives and expectations of a field experience in that particular agency. They also discuss the student's reasons for selecting the agency and his/her knowledge of the agency, it's clientele, and the roles of field students and agency staff. The agency field instructor may explore areas of concern from the student's application packet to determine the student's suitability and "fit" with this particular agency. The student may have concerns regarding career goals and the suitability of the placement in pursuing those goals. In general, the replacement interview should serve to assure an optimum field experience for the student and provide an early educational assessment of the student for the agency field instructor.

In the event that either the student or the agency finds the prospective placement to be unacceptable, efforts will be made to secure another placement that is suitable. Students are to be actively involved in this entire process.