Admission Requirements

In addition to completing the University’s General Education requirements, social work students complete a series of seven specific liberal arts courses in a variety of related disciplines (listed below as Liberal Arts Requirements) in order to build a foundation for their social work studies. Social work intent students also complete four pre-major social work courses (listed below as Required Courses: Pre-Major) prior to being admitted to the Major.

Admission requirements are as follows:

• Students must complete a Social Work Admissions application. These are distributed in SWRK 251 .
• Students must earn a grade of C or higher in the following pre-major social work classes (again, listed below as Required Courses: Pre-Major):
  • SWRK 120 - Introduction to Social Work Services and Professional Roles  (Ideally, this course should be taken either concurrently with or prior to the other pre-major courses)
  • SWRK 200 - Human Diversity and Social Justice  
  • SWRK 222 - Social Welfare Policies and Services  
  • SWRK 251 - Self-Assessment For the Profession of Social Work  (Ideally, this course should be taken concurrently with or after the other pre-major courses)
• Students must complete a reflective essay in SWRK 251 . The essay is designed to assist students in assessing their own “goodness of fit” with the values and ethics of the School of Social Work and the social work profession.
• Students must earn a cumulative GPA of 2.3 or higher at the time of admission into the BSW program.
• Students must complete 40 hours of volunteer service, internship experience, or employment within a human service setting.

School Information:

School of Social Work - College of Health and Human Services

Advisor Information:

General Education Requirements:

For specific requirements refer to the General Education Program .

Liberal Arts Requirements: 27-30 hours

Major Requirements: 57 hours

Minor Requirement:

This program does not require a minor.

Program Total:

Students must earn a minimum total of 124 credits at the 100-level or above.

Beginning in Fall 2022, all baccalaureate degree programs for all undergraduates (regardless of catalog year) will require a minimum of 120 credit hours for completion.

60 Hour Waiver

Students in this program are granted a waiver of the University requirement that students may not earn “more than 60 credit hours in one subject area (prefix).” Students in this program may earn up to (but not exceed) 60 hours in “SWRK” credit towards graduation. Only “SWRK” courses taken at EMU will count towards the 60 hour requirement.

Critical Graduation Information:

Each undergraduate student will be responsible for the fulfillment of the requirements or their equivalents of the Eastern Michigan University catalog in force at the time of their initial registration at a college or university or a subsequent catalog including the one in effect at the time of their graduation.

In the event an undergraduate student does not complete the degree requirements within seven years of the date of their original registration at a college or university, the student may be required to have their credits re-evaluated by the academic department(s) of their major/minor in keeping with catalog requirements in force during the year of their graduation.

The following are minimum requirements for all bachelor’s degrees awarded by Eastern Michigan University. Some majors and minors require more than the minimum in one or more of the areas below; students are urged to consult the online catalog for the requirements of their particular programs.

• Earn a minimum total of 124 credits at the 100-level and above. Courses with numbers below 100 will not be counted toward this degree requirement. At most 8 credit hours of physical education (PEGN) activity courses will be counted toward this requirement. A Bachelor of Arts degree requires completion of one year of college credit in a world language.
• Meet the requirements of the General Education program (see information below).
• Complete a Writing Intensive (WI)  Course in your major.
• Earn a minimum of 60 credits from a four-year college or university; courses taken at community colleges cannot be used to meet this requirement. (Some formal program-to-program articulation agreements modify this requirement. See specific agreements for details.)
• Earn a minimum of 30 credits from courses taken at EMU.
• Complete 10 of the last 30 hours for the degree from courses taken at EMU.
• Have a minimum of 30 unique credit hours in their major and 20 unique credit hours in their minor for a total of at least 50 unique credit hours between them. Some majors that require 50 or more hours themselves do not require a minor; students should check requirements of the selected major in the undergraduate catalog to see if a minor is required.
• Earn no more than 60 credit hours in one subject area (prefix). Credits in excess of the 60 maximum will not be counted toward the minimum of 124 credits required for a bachelor’s degree.
• Earn the minimum number of credits in 300-level and above courses in each major and minor as specified below - these credits must be earned in distinct courses; that is, no course can be used to fulfill this requirement in more than one major or minor.
  • Earn a minimum of 6 credits in 300-level or higher courses at EMU in each minor
  • Earn a minimum of 9 credits in 300-level or higher courses at EMU in each major that requires a minor.
  • Earn a minimum of 15 credits in 300-level or higher courses at EMU in each major that does not require a minor
• Transfer credit will be awarded for courses taken at colleges and universities that are accredited by one of the recognized regional accrediting bodies only if the courses are college-level (equated to 100-level or above at EMU) and the student earned a “C” (or 2.0 on a 4 point scale) or better. Transfer credit may be awarded on a case-by-case basis for college-level courses in which a “C” (2.0) or better was earned at institutions outside the U.S. or at non-accredited U.S. institutions; the internal review of such courses is conducted by individual departments/schools within EMU, and additional documentation may be required. Please note: EMU awards only credits for transferred courses; grades are not used in the calculation of an EMU GPA.
• Earn a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 in courses taken at EMU in order to graduate. In addition, a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 must be reached in each major and minor. Only courses taken at EMU and those applied to a student’s major or minor, will be used in the calculation of their major and minor cumulative GPAs. (Note: some programs may require a higher GPA - check with your program advisor.)

General Education Requirements:

EMU’s General Education Program requires students to choose from a menu of approved courses in several different areas; do not assume that other courses in the same department or with similar names will fulfill these requirements. Please see General Education  for a detailed description of requirements.

Students who transferred to EMU may have modified general education requirements based on Michigan Transfer Agreement (MTA) or articulation agreements; consult your academic advisor for additional information.