Professor Interview Questionnaire

Your MSW program is featured in one or both of our 2026 program guides:

Right now those listings are our description of your program. We’d like to add yours.

Prospective students can find a course list anywhere. What they can’t get is a straight answer about how field placement actually works, or what separates a strong applicant from an average one. That has to come from someone teaching in the program, which is why we’re asking you.

Taking part doesn’t change your placement in either guide. We’re asking because the listing is more useful to readers with your voice in it.

What we’re asking for

About 10 to 15 minutes. Three questions are required and the rest are optional, so answer what’s useful to you and skip anything that doesn’t apply to your program. Two to four sentences per question is plenty. We’re after substance, not polish.

Your answers get published on our faculty interview page, in their own section under your name, credentials, and job title, with a link to your faculty profile. You’ll get a direct link to your section that you can share.

Filling out the form

Everything marked required needs an answer, and both consent boxes at the bottom need ticking. The Submit button stays greyed out until they are, so if it looks inactive, scroll down to the consent boxes.

There’s no save-and-resume, so if you’d rather not do it in one sitting, draft your answers somewhere else first and paste them in. The full question list is below.

What happens after you submit

You’ll get an email confirming we received your answers, with a copy of what you submitted for your records.
We’ll add your Q&A to our faculty interview page over the next couple of weeks and send you a direct link once it’s live.
Your answers appear substantially as you’ve written them. If you want to change something, or you’d rather we didn’t publish after all, just reply to your confirmation email. That goes for after publication too.

We may fix the odd typo. We won’t change what you’ve said.

Want to draft your answers first?

The full question list is below if you’d rather write in a document and paste your answers in.

See all questions

About you

Your name, exactly as you’d like it published
Your email
Your credentials
Your job title
University
Link to your faculty profile page (optional)
Headshot (optional)

About your program

MSW tracks or specializations offered
Program formats offered
Whether you offer an advanced standing track

Required questions

What kind of students enroll in your MSW program? We’re curious about the mix of students who come in with a BSW through advanced standing versus those arriving from other fields, and whether you’ve seen more career changers over the last five years.
Field placement is the thing applicants can’t evaluate from a website. Walk us through how it actually works at your program. Who finds the site, and what does support look like for students at a distance?
What’s the most common mistake you see applicants make when they’re choosing between MSW programs?

Optional questions

Where do your graduates land in their first year, and what does the road to LCSW hours look like coming out of your program?
What funding do your students actually use? Title IV-E, assistantships, employer support, something else. What do you wish applicants understood about paying for an MSW?
What separates a strong application from an average one at your program?
What are the biggest challenges new social workers face in their first few years on the job?
How do you see artificial intelligence changing social work practice, and how is your program preparing students for it?
If your program has an online or hybrid option, what does it actually look like week to week? Synchronous, asynchronous, or a mix, and how do students build a connection with their cohort at a distance?
If you enroll online students, do they pay in-state rates? And what costs do applicants routinely forget to budget for?
If you offer an advanced standing track, what does it require beyond a BSW, and how do those students do compared with the traditional track?
Anything else a prospective student should know before they apply?

The questionnaire

Your name, exactly as you'd like it published (required)

Your email (required)

Your credentials (required)

Your job title (required)

University (required)

Link to your faculty profile page (optional)

Headshot (optional)

MSW tracks or specializations offered (required)

Program formats offered (required)

On campusHybridFully online, asynchronousFully online, synchronous

Do you offer an advanced standing track? (required)

The questions

Three questions are required. Everything after that is optional, so answer what's useful and skip anything that doesn't apply to your program. Two to four sentences per answer is plenty.

1. What kind of students enroll in your MSW program? We're curious about the mix of students who come in with a BSW through advanced standing versus those arriving from other fields, and whether you've seen more career changers over the last five years. (required)

2. Field placement is the thing applicants can't evaluate from a website. Walk us through how it actually works at your program. Who finds the site, and what does support look like for students at a distance? (required)

3. What's the most common mistake you see applicants make when they're choosing between MSW programs? (required)

Optional from here

4. Where do your graduates land in their first year, and what does the road to LCSW hours look like coming out of your program?

5. What funding do your students actually use? Title IV-E, assistantships, employer support, something else. What do you wish applicants understood about paying for an MSW?

6. What separates a strong application from an average one at your program?

7. What are the biggest challenges new social workers face in their first few years on the job?

8. How do you see artificial intelligence changing social work practice, and how is your program preparing students for it?

9. If your program has an online or hybrid option, what does it actually look like week to week? Synchronous, asynchronous, or a mix, and how do students build a connection with their cohort at a distance?

10. If you enroll online students, do they pay in-state rates? And what costs do applicants routinely forget to budget for?

11. If you offer an advanced standing track, what does it require beyond a BSW, and how do those students do compared with the traditional track?

12. Anything else a prospective student should know before they apply?

Before you submit

I'm authorized to speak about this program, and I grant SocialWorkDegrees.org permission to publish my answers along with my name, credentials, job title, university, and a link to my faculty profile. If I've uploaded a photo, I confirm I have the right to use it and grant permission to publish it as well. I understand my answers will be published substantially as I've written them, with only minor corrections to spelling and punctuation, and that I can ask for changes or removal at any time.

I grant permission for short excerpts of my answers to be quoted on other pages of SocialWorkDegrees.org, with attribution to me and a link back to my full Q&A.

Tick both boxes above to enable the Submit button.

Questions about any of this?

Email us at [email protected] and we’ll get back to you. You can ask us to update or remove your Q&A at any time after it’s published.