Forms to Complete:

Admission Application

Letter of Reference

Release of Information

Admission to the B.S.W. Program requires the following:

1. Applicants must have earned a minimum of 35 semester hours of credit, and have either completed or be currently enrolled in Biology 115, Psychology 151, Sociology 151, a second Societal Structures in North America course, and Social Work 240 and 250.

2. Applicants must have an overall minimum GPA of 2.5 and a minimum grade of C- in each of the courses specified in item #1 above.

Applicants must submit with the applications a copy of their transcript (does not need to be an official one). Fall semester (2006) grades should be included on this transcript.

3. Applicants must have completed at least 50 hours of social work type volunteer or paid service and submit a Letter of Reference from the person who supervised you during this volunteer or paid service. It is the applicant's responsibility to give the supervisor the Letter of Reference Form. The supervisor completes the Form and returns it directly to the Social Work Program Director.

If you have not completed the 50 hours of service you should still apply to the Program. It then becomes your responsibility to arrange and/or complete such service as well as have an appropriate supervisor submit a Letter of Reference Form to the Director by September 1, 2008.

Two different volunteer or paid service experiences may be combined to satisfy the 50 required hours. In this situation a supervisor from each experience needs to complete the Letter of Reference Form.

4. Applicants must submit a written Personal Statement which includes information about their commitment to social work as a vocation, along with their strengths and areas for development as a potential professional social worker (see specific questions on Application form).

5. Applicants must sign a Release of Information Form.

Completed applications (Application Form, Personal Statement, Transcript, and Release of Information Form) should be submitted to Professor Hugen, Social Work Program Director. The Letter of Reference Form should be given to the person(s) who supervised your volunteer or paid service hours. The supervisor completes the Form and returns it directly to the Social Work Program Director.

Decisions about admission to the program are made by the Social Work Program Committee comprised of social work faculty and two B.S.W. students appointed by the student organization (OSSW) of social work majors. Applicants are informed of the Committee's decision not later than the last week of March.

A student who does not fully meet one or more of the admission criteria may be admitted to the B.S.W. program conditionally provided the student agrees to remove the deficiency by a time specified by the Social Work Program Committee. The forms necessary to make application to the B.S.W. program are available on-line at http://www.calvin.edu/academic/social_work/admission.htm, or may be obtained from the Social Work Program's Administrative Assistant, Ms. Kathy Bardolph, in Room 210, Spoelhof Center.

If you have further questions, please contact Professor Hugen at bhugen@calvin.edu or 526-6716.