Admissions Requirements
Standard and Transfer Admission
Applicants must hold an earned bachelor's degree from a recognized regionally accredited institution or the international equivalent. This includes degrees earned from programs recognized through CSWE's International Social Work Degree Recognition and Evaluation Service (ISWDRES), or those covered under a memorandum of understanding with international social work accreditors.
While no prerequisites are required to apply, it is strongly recommended that applicants have work or volunteer experience in the mental health, behavioral health, social services, or other human services fields. A GPA of 2.75 or higher is recommended.
Advanced Standing Admission
Applicants must hold an earned bachelor's degree from a recognized regionally accredited institution or the international equivalent. Applicants for Advanced Standing must hold a baccalaureate social work degree from a CSWE-accredited program earned within the past 10 years. This includes degrees earned from programs recognized through CSWE's International Social Work Degree Recognition and Evaluation Service (ISWDRES), or those covered under a memorandum of understanding with international social work accreditors.
A minimum grade of B or Pass in each baccalaureate social work course attempted is required to apply. An overall GPA of 2.75 or higher is recommended. While no prerequisites are required to apply, it is strongly recommended that applicants have work or volunteer experience in the mental health, behavioral health, social services, or other human services fields.
BA-to-MSW Pathway Admission
Applicants must hold an earned bachelor's degree from a recognized regionally accredited institution that has a BA-to-MSW pathway agreement with Palo Alto University, which allowed the students to complete 21.5 generalist units of MSW courses (5 generalist core courses and 7 licensing courses) in the final year of their BA (or BS) studies. Applicants may also be BA degree holders from Palo Alto University given the internal pathway agreement between its BA programs and the MSW program.
To be eligible to apply to the MSW program under Pathway Admittance, students must have completed each of the 12 courses with a grade of ‘B’ or better.* BA graduates are not pre-admitted in any way to the MSW program.
While no other prerequisites are required to apply, it is strongly recommended that applicants have work or volunteer experience in the mental health, behavioral health, social services, or other human services fields. A GPA of 2.75 or higher is recommended.
*If a baccalaureate student obtains a grade lower than ‘B’ in the 12-course MSW sequence taken during their baccalaureate program, the student must discontinue the MSW pathway course sequence and is no longer eligible to apply to the MSW program as a Pathway student. PAU’s partnership agreements with baccalaureate programs (in psychology, human services, human development, sociology, and related fields) requires that the baccalaureate students have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.25, at least one year of work or volunteer experience in the human or social services or related fields, and a letter of recommendation for their department chair and a faculty member regarding their readiness for rigorous graduate coursework. Baccalaureate students who drop out of the MSW pathway course sequence may apply for regular admittance to the MSW program and, if admitted, may request the transfer of credits for the MSW courses they successfully completed during their baccalaureate program.