3-2 MSW Program | Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis
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3-2 MSW Program

Designed specifically for Washington University undergraduate students, this program allows you to earn both your undergraduate degree and a Master of Social Work in a total of five years.

The 3-2 MSW program is available to students pursuing any major in Washington University’s College of Arts & Sciences. We encourage interested students to take courses relevant to preparation for graduate studies in social work. Examples of disciplines related to social work include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • African and African-American Studies
  • American Cultural Studies
  • Anthropology
  • Children’s Studies
  • Cultural Studies
  • Economics
  • Education
  • International and Area Studies
  • Legal Studies
  • Political Science
  • Psychological & Brain Sciences
  • Sociology
  • Urban Studies
  • Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply to the 3-2 program, you must complete all of your distribution and major requirements by the end of your junior year, with elective credits available to be applied toward MSW course credit during your senior year (first year of the MSW program).

Applicants to the 3-2 program must also adhere to the following requirements:

  • Complete the Certification for 3-2 Program Eligibility form with signatures from the undergraduate advisor(s) and Jennifer Romney, Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences, to be submitted with the application to the MSW program.
  • Review Application Information, 3-2 Application Instructions and submit all required materials
  • Apply early in the spring of junior year so that fall coursework can be considered. Unofficial transcripts must include completed fall semester coursework. Applications should be submitted by March 1 of junior year.

While all admission requirements for the Master of Social Work program apply to 3-2 applicants, special consideration will be given for the level of field experience, given the undergraduate status of the applicant. We strongly encourage applicants to highlight all leadership and service experiences such as internships, volunteer work, work with social service organizations, study-abroad, service learning courses, etc., to demonstrate a commitment to social work and the mission of the Brown School.

3-2 Program Enrollment and Financial Aid

Students accepted into the 3-2 MSW program will remain coded prime to their undergraduate division in University systems (i.e., WebSTAC) for their fourth year of study, even though the student will be completing graduate-level coursework at the Brown School. The student will be coded prime to the Brown School MSW program in their fifth year of study.

3-2 MSW students will continue to be charged the standard full-time undergraduate tuition rate for the fourth year of study, and as such will receive financial aid for the fourth year based upon their eligibility for undergraduate financial aid awards, including Pell grants.

In the fifth year, 3-2 students will be charged at the MSW tuition rate applicable to that academic year. If a Brown School scholarship was awarded at the time of admission to the 3-2 program, the scholarship will apply in that fifth year only.

Brown School staff and faculty are available to support 3-2 students in interpreting these policies and identifying any special needs associated with their 3-2 program status.