Why We Built This Site
Becoming a social worker runs through two systems that don’t always line up. Education is set nationally: the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accredits baccalaureate and master’s social work programs, along with some practice doctorates. Licensure is set state by state, and the license titles, exams, and supervised-hour requirements differ from one board to the next. A degree that qualifies you for an LMSW in one state may not map neatly onto the license tiers in another.
We launched SocialWorkDegrees.org in 2015 to put both halves in one place: a directory of CSWE-accredited programs alongside plain-language guides to licensure, specializations, and careers. Since then the site has grown to include program guides at every degree level, licensure guides, a podcast, and a Social Work Month series, and, more importantly, a network of social work educators and practitioners who have shared what they know with our readers.
Faculty Who Lead Social Work Programs
Questions about choosing an MSW, completing field placements, and preparing for licensure are best answered by the people who run the programs. Faculty from five universities have shared their perspective with us in interviews and Q&As.
Dean, College of Education and Social Work, Aurora University
Dr. Barnwell is dean of Aurora University’s College of Education and Social Work. She came to social work after starting her career as a truancy officer, when she realized she needed a deeper understanding of what was happening in the lives of the people she worked with. She and Aurora faculty members Alison Arendt and Joseph Oleck spoke with us for our guides to online MSW programs and MSW specialization tracks, where Dr. Barnwell explained how flexible start dates and course scheduling help working students stay on track.
The Voices of Social Work
Our podcast is hosted by a practicing social worker, and our guests bring the field as it actually looks today: hospitals and libraries, research firms and professional associations, private practice and the immigration courts.
Host, The Voices of Social Work
When she joined us, Anna was working in mental health with incarcerated adolescents. She was also the first social media ambassador for our @socialworkdegrees community on Instagram. She hosts The Voices of Social Work, our podcast of in-depth conversations with social workers about how they built their careers. She earned her BSW and went straight into her MSW, the same path many of our readers are weighing.
Career Guidance From a Social Work Career Coach
Finding the right job after graduation takes its own set of skills. A social work career coach who has helped many new social workers land their first roles has written several of our career guides.
Founder, yourEVOLVEDmind
Harleny is a licensed master social worker and the founder of yourEVOLVEDmind, where she coaches social work students and early-career professionals through career transitions. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Hunter College and her MSW at Fordham University, then spent more than a decade in social services, much of it providing trauma-informed care. She has spoken to students at more than 15 social work schools, and she wrote our guides to landing a social work job, what you can do with an MSW, and why hands-on field experience matters in every concentration.
In Their Own Words: Our Social Work Month Series
For Social Work Month, we asked social workers, educators, and students to tell our readers what drew them to the field and what they want people to understand about their work. Their answers appear in our Social Work Month feature as they gave them. A few of the practitioners who have taken part:
Writers Who Have Contributed
Over the years, these writers helped build SocialWorkDegrees.org, turning accreditation standards, licensure rules, and expert interviews into guides prospective students could act on. Today our content is produced and updated by our editorial staff, following our editorial standards.
Rebecca Turley
Rebecca is a full-time writer and editor with a BA in Journalism and Communications. She has ghostwritten several published books, edited for a national book publisher, and writes for education, healthcare, and social sciences sites.
Scott Wilson
Scott is an author and IT consultant based in the Pacific Northwest. He holds a BA in English from the University of Washington and has spent more than 20 years in information technology, experience that gives him a sharp eye for clear, precise explanations.
Jack Levinson
Jack is a writer born and raised in Los Angeles. He holds a BA from Vassar College and writes about education, business, and career topics.
Sam Medley
Sam is a freelance writer and content consultant with a math degree from Sam Houston State University. He has worked in finance, technology, and education, and writes about education and career topics.
What You’ll Find Here
Our Editorial Standards
We check program accreditation against the Council on Social Work Education directory, and licensure requirements against each state’s social work board and the Association of Social Work Boards, rather than secondary summaries. Salary and job-outlook figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Licensing rules change, so where a requirement is in flux we say so and link to the board.
When we want perspectives beyond published sources, we go to the people doing the work: faculty who run social work programs and practitioners in the field. Their interviews and profiles appear as they gave them, and where we know a contributor’s role has changed since they spoke with us, we note both.
Some schools pay to appear in featured program listings, and those placements are labeled as sponsored. Being listed in our program directories doesn’t by itself mean a school advertises with us, and payment doesn’t determine what our guides say about programs, accreditation, licensure, or careers.
Everything we publish follows our editorial standards: where our facts come from, how we use AI, and how each article is fact-checked by a person before it’s published.
Spot something outdated or a program listing that needs correcting? Email us at [email protected].
