Social Work

The primary mission of social work is to enhance human well-being and to help meet the basic humanneeds of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. Professional social workers are employed in schools, hospitals, mental health clinics, senior centers, elected office, private practice, prisons, corporations, and in many public and private agencies that serve individuals and families in need.

Students leave our program as competent and creative social workers ready for advanced practice. The MSW program at Georgia is fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education and our school is ranked in the top 25 percent of social work graduate programs nationwide.

We invite motivated and dedicated students who want to work for positive social change to apply to our program. If you are accepted into the MSW program at UGA, you’ll choose from two concentration areas:

• Family Centered Social Work Practice—your courses will have a clinical focus and will prepare you to work directly with clients.
• Community Empowerment and Program Development—your courses will have a broad focus and prepare you to work with community programs and in community advocacy and administrative positions.

The MSW program also offers courses that lead to certificates in:

• Marriage and Family Therapy
• Gerontology
• Nonprofit Management

And we offer three ways to earn your MSW. Full time program—four-semester program starts each fall. Advanced standing program—three-semester program for recent BSWs starts in the fall. Part time program—afternoon and evening classes for eight semesters, including summers, starts in the fall.

MSW Concentration Areas

The two concentration areas--clinical practice and community empowerment & program development--are not mutually exclusive. Leadership in the social work profession is a function of both concentrations. Clinical practice specialists frequently get involved in social advocacy and in administering or supervising programs while attending to the individual and family needs of their clients. Likewise, community and program management practitioners often work with individuals, families, and groups in the course of developing programs and organizing or facilitating empowerment activities. Your first year of study, the foundation year, will prepare you in the areas of practice, theory, and professional identity development that will serve as the basis for your concentration area in your second year.

Clinical Practice

Clinical Practice addresses individuals within a relational context that includes family, culture, and community. This concentration area prepares students for advanced assessment and intervention practice. People are viewed holistically in order to identify and enhance the strengths they bring to the process of change. Couples, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, and extended family relationships may be the focus of clinical practice. Social work roles include counseling and therapy, resource development and facilitation, education, advocacy, group work, and case management, among others.

Core courses for the Clinical Practice concentration include:

• SOWK 7203: Advanced Social Work Practice with Individuals
• SOWK 7232: Advanced Social Work Practice with Families
• SOWK 7222: Assessment & Pschopathology
• SOWK 7206: Evaluation of Clinical Social Work Interventions
• SOWK 7223: Advanced Social Work Practice with Groups

Community Empowerment and Program Development

The Community Empowerment and Program Development concentration area entails a dual focus on empowering community groups and designing and developing programs. Often called macro-practice, the idea is to address social problems by initiating action within the community or through legislation. Social workers with this concentration assist people in communities to identify and document social problems, design services, develop resources, advocate, broker, and negotiate for resources and policies, recruit participants and personnel, and administer the delivery of services.

Core courses for the Community Empowerment and Program Development concentration include:

• SOWK 7153: Community Assessment and Empowerment Practices
• SOWK 7411: Advanced Policy Analysis
• SOWK 7106: Evaluation of Community and Institutional Practice
• SOWK 7123: Program Design and Development

Required Foundation Courses

• SOWK 6011 - Social Welfare Policy and the Social Work Profession
• SOWK 6022 - Human Behavior in the Social Environment: Theoretical Perspectives
• SOWK 6033 - Direct Practice Methods
• SOWK 6044 - Theory and Practice with Families
• SOWK 6055 - Foundation Practicum and Seminar
• SOWK 6066 - Foundation Research Methods
• SOWK 6074 - Theory and Practice in Organizations
• SOWK 6082 - Cultural Diversity

Required Concentration Courses

Clinical Practice

• SOWK 7203 - Advanced Social Work Practice with Individuals
• SOWK 7206 - Evaluation of Clinical Social Work Interventions
• SOWK 7222 - Assessment and Psychopathology
• SOWK 7223 - Advanced Social Work Practice with Groups
• SOWK 7232 - Advanced Social Work Practice with Families
• SOWK 7055 - Concentration Practicum

Community Empowerment & Program Development

• SOWK 7106 - Evaluation of Community and Institutional Practices
• SOWK 7123 - Program Design and Development
• SOWK 7153 - Community Assessment and Empowerment Practices
• SOWK 7055 - Concentration Practicum
• SOWK 7411 - Advanced Policy Analysis

Electives

The School of Social Work offers a variety of electives focused both on clinical and CEPD topics. In addition, advanced courses outside of Social Work sometimes fit students' educational goals. In order to have an out-of-department course counted as an elective, a form (see FORMS below) must be completed and approved by the student's academic advisor, and filed in the MSW Program office. No more than two electives may be taken outside of the SSW. Please note that elective offerings vary from year to year.

• SOWK 7010 - Issues in Marriage and Family Therapy
• SOWK 7127 - Social Work with Women
• SOWK 7152 - Immigration and Social Work
• SOWK 7122 - Grief and Loss: Social Work Perspectives
• SOWK 7132 - Social Work with Abusing and Neglecting Families
• SOWK 7143 - Organizing Community Groups
• SOWK 7233 - Cognitive Behavioral Methods in Social Work Practice
• SOWK 7253 - Crisis Intervention
• SOWK 7263 - Social Work in Health Care Settings
• SOWK 7273 - Clinical Practice with Addictive Disorders
• SOWK 7327 - Topics in Aging
• SOWK 7337 - Topics in Community Practice
• SOWK 7347 - Topics in Family and Child Welfare
• SOWK 7377 - Topics in Program Development
• SOWK 7387 - Topics in Social Problem Intervention
• SOWK 7397 - Topics in Social Justice
• SOWK 6908/7908 - Independent Social Work Research
• SOWK 7353 - Study Abroad in Social Work

• MSW Application Form
• Narrative Statement—directions are found on page 4 of the application form found in the Application for Admissions booklet
• Your resume—including details of your work experience in human service and other settings
• Three letters of recommendation
• Certification of finances forms (international applicants)
• Minimum TOEFL score requirement: overall score of 80 with at least 20 on speaking and writing
• Minimum IELTS score requirement: overall band-width of 6.5, with no single band (score) below 6.0.

Want to improve your English level for admission?

Prepare for the program requirements with English Online by the British Council.

• ✔️ Flexible study schedule
• ✔️ Experienced teachers
• ✔️ Certificate upon completion

📘 Recommended for students with an IELTS level of 6.0 or below.

Enroll in the course

Scholarships

• Scholarship for Disadvantaged Students 
• UGA School of Social Work scholarships
• Assistantships