School Information

Social Work 323 Marshall, 734.487.1418 

Ken Saldanha, PhD, Director

Advisor Information

College of Health and Human Services Advising Center | Make an Appointment, 214 Marshall, 734.487.0918 

Student Eligibility

A student’s eligibility to graduate from this major is determined by the following.

• Apply and be granted admission to Eastern Michigan University (emich.edu/admissions).
• Apply and be granted admission to their major (See Program Admission for specific information).
• A completed associate degree, certificate, or adequate coursework. Students eligible to follow an articulation agreement typically transfer 60 credit hours to EMU. Eligible students who transferred in less than 60 credit hours had unique circumstances and were granted permission to follow the articulation agreement, by the Director of Community College Relations (emich.edu/ccr).

Interested students should meet with their community college advisor for information on the articulation agreement before transferring to EMU. After transferring to EMU, a student must consult with the Community College Relations Office to confirm eligibility.

Program Admission

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  (or satisfied by these approved courses) (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.

Program Requirements

Grade Point Requirements

Once admitted into the BSW Program, a BSW major student must maintain a 2.3 overall GPA. If the GPA falls below a 2.3, the student must meet with a BSW Program academic advisor to develop a plan to raise the GPA to the required 2.3 minimum.

A student who fails to achieve the 2.3 minimum by the time he or she is to start field placement will be placed on BSW Program academic probation. Students who are on academic probation cannot start field placement. The student then has two additional semesters to raise the GPA to the 2.3 minimum. Failure to raise the GPA by the end of two semesters will result in dismissal from the BSW Program.

Individual Course Grade Requirements

A BSW major must achieve a minimum grade of “C” in all required social work (SWRK) courses to remain in and graduate from the BSW Program. A student who receives a grade in a required social work course below a “C” can repeat that course one time only. A student can repeat no more than two different courses in which he/she has failed to achieve a “C” grade. A student who receives a grade below a “C” in a social work course he/she is repeating will be dismissed from the BSW Program.

A student who receives a grade below a “C” in a second social work course will be placed on BSW Program academic probation. A student will be dismissed from the BSW Program if she or he receives a grade below a “C” in a third social work course. A student may be dismissed from the BSW Program without having ever been on academic probation. This would be the case if the student earned three grades of C- or lower during the same semester, or if the student received a C- or lower in the same course twice.

These individual course grade requirements apply to SWRK 488L4  and SWRK 489L4  as to all other SWRK courses.

Note | If a student’s grade deficiency stems from extenuating circumstances, the Student Services Coordinator and BSW Program Director may assist the student with a late or retroactive course withdrawal.

General Education Requirements

The MiTransfer Pathways builds on the Michigan Transfer Agreement (MTA). The MTA allows transfer students to select designated courses to complete a minimum of 30 credit hours fulfilling MTA distribution requirements. Students following MiTransfer Pathway agreements should complete the MTA in accordance with the sending institutions’ course designations and consider whether or not any recommended MiTransfer Pathways major-specific courses will “double count” to fulfill MTA distribution requirements in planning their transfer. Be aware that “double count” policies differ from institution to institution. More information about the MTA is available at www.mitransfer.org.

The MTA Mathematics distribution area allows students to complete one of three math pathways. The Social Work MiTransfer Pathways faculty recommended that students complete a course in the Statistics pathways.

Students who do not have “MTA Satisfied” on their community college transcript, will be required to satisfy EMU’s general education requirements as applied to transfer students. For specific General Education requirements, click here  or print a General Education Worksheet .

Liberal Arts Requirements: 24-26 hours

Major Requirements: 57 hours

Minor Requirement:

This major does not require a minor.

Program Total:

Students must earn a minimum total of 120 credits at the 100-level or above. If sufficient credits hours are not transferred in, additional EMU credits must be completed to reach the minimum of 120 credit hours required to graduate.

Critical Graduation Information

Each undergraduate student will be responsible for fulfilling 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.

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 this catalog for the requirements of their particular programs.

• Earn a minimum total of 120 credit hours at the 100-level and above.
  • Courses numbered below 100 are not counted toward this degree requirement.
  • At most, eight credit hours of physical education (PEGN) activity courses are counted toward this requirement.
• Meet the requirements of the General Education program (see information below), including completing a Writing Intensive (GEWI) course in the student’s 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. A double major automatically satisfies the need for a minor unless one of the two majors requires a specific minor. Students should check the 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 over the 60 maximum will not be counted toward the minimum of 120 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; individual departments/schools conduct the internal review of such courses within EMU, and additional documentation may be required. Please note: EMU awards only credit for transferred courses; grades are not used to calculate an EMU GPA.
• Earn a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 in courses taken at EMU to graduate. In addition, a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 must be reached in each major and minor. Only courses a student takes at EMU and those applied to their major or minor are used to calculate 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 similar names will fulfill these requirements. A detailed description of General Education requirements is available in the General Education  section of the catalog.

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.