Overview

MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK

  • Location: Choose the Nazareth College campus in Rochester, or a satellite site in Auburn or Watertown.
  • Employment and licensing success: Many students accept social work job offers before or soon after graduating and successfully pass the state licensing exams as early as three months after graduation.
  • Interprofessional opportunities: On the Rochester campus, Nazareth College's unique combination of programs enables you to learn to work collaboratively with students pursuing professions including teaching, physical therapy, nursing, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, public health, creative arts therapy, and music therapy. This interprofessional experience prepares you to work with these teams in schools, mental health, veterans' services, substance abuse, rehabilitation, and health care settings.

 

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Day and evening classes; daytime fieldwork

 

Some classes at each site are offered online or hybrid (half online).

 

Complete in as fast as 1-2 years full-time

 

Internships, field experience, study abroad options

Program Options

Traditional M.S.W. (60 credits)
Advanced Standing (36 credits)

Curriculum Examples

  • Cultural Humility and Social Work Practice
  • Social Work Assessment and Brief Interventions
  • Advanced Social Work Practice with Children and Families
  • Social Work Practice in Health Care
  • Electives in Motivational Interviewing, Interventions in Substance Abuse, Self Care, Boundaries and Ethics, Social Work Supervision, Grief and Loss
  • Interprofessional Courses: Interprofessional Team Collaboration; Play Therapy; Trauma; Veterans and their Families
  • Short Term Study Abroad to India, Jamaica, and Finland
Catalog: Program Requirements & Courses »

Value of your Degree

For 20 years, through August 23, 2019, Nazareth's social work faculty were part of the Greater Rochester Collaborative Master of Social Work program of Nazareth College and The College at Brockport, with successful student licensing outcomes. First-time pass rates on social work licensing exams in 2018:

  • 95% (of 20 exam takers) passed the New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) exam, compared to 76% statewide and 73% nationally. Graduates are eligible to take the LCSW three years after receiving their LMSW and after completing 2,000 hours of supervised clinical licensed practice. Our curriculum meets the 12 clinical credit hours required by the LCSW license.
  • Among the top 13 MSW Programs in New York state for pass rates on the Licensed Master of Social Work (LMSW) exam. Graduates are eligible to take the LMSW exam following conferral of the MSW degree.The MSW curriculum meets requirements for the LMSW license in New York State.

Making Grad School Affordable

Grants, scholarships, veterans benefits, loans, and undergraduate loan forgiveness are options for paying for this grad degree.

Affordability

Graduate's Perspective

"What I love about Nazareth is its community focus and emphasis on civic engagement, which makes it the perfect place to develop the skills and further your passion for social work. Its small community atmosphere allows students to be remembered by face and name by faculty and staff, which fosters relationships that can last beyond your time at Nazareth. As an alum, I can personally attest to how pivotal Nazareth was to my social work career. I'm forever grateful."

— Fatima C. Banister '13G, LMSW, MPA, Rochester City School District social worker, Nazareth adjunct Instructor

"The professors at Naz take the time to get to know each individual student, which leads to meaningful professor-student relationships. Five years after graduating with my MSW, I continue to reach out to my professors for guidance and mentorship. The professors at Naz have a tremendous amount of experience in the field of social work. Real-world examples filled the lectures and seminars, which enriched the learning experience and often left me feeling inspired."

— Lindsey Macaluso, '13G, LCSW, program manager at Bivona Child Advocacy Center and a therapist in private practice

What to Expect

  • Field education: Our contracts with over 250 agencies in 25 counties offer depth and breadth of field placements. Nearly all are scheduled during regular business hours. Choose to intern in community-based programs that address issues such as substance abuse, mental health, domestic violence, and at-risk families; or in health care settings as part of interprofessional and behavioral health care teams.
  • International opportunities: Short-term study abroad trips to India, Jamaica, or Finland offer interprofessional, transformational experiences and global perspective.
  • Service-Learning trips and alternative breaks: Graduate students are eligible for U.S. and international solidarity and social justice retreats and alternative break weeks with service learning components, including locations such as Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Germany and Poland, Mexico border, West Virginia, Texas, and the southern U.S.
  • Autism option: Get specialized preparation in working with school-age children with autism through the Interdisciplinary Specialty Program in Autism (I-SPAN) specialization, for which the cost may be covered by a federal grant: I-SPAN Scholars grant.
  • Focus: Become prepared to help individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities achieve their goals and promote social and economic justice and equality.

Choice of Locations

  • Rochester: Day and evening classes are on the Nazareth College campus.
  • Watertown or Auburn: Evening classes for part-time study are offered at two extension sites: Jefferson Higher Education Center in Watertown, N.Y., and Cayuga Community College's campus in Auburn, N.Y.

Admissions Standards

3.0 GPA in bachelor's degree and 3.0 in the major

24 Liberal Arts credits:

  • 12 credits in social/behavioral sciences (psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, economics)
  • 12 credits distributed across the categories of mathematics, physical and natural sciences, and humanities (history, gender studies, philosophy, English, foreign languages, etc.)

2 letters of recommendation for graduate level work and the social work profession

Completion of online application

Accreditation

Nazareth College's MSW program is registered with the New York State Education Department, and is fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) as of February 2020.