The UW School of Social Work seeks to enroll well-qualified students of varying backgrounds and a commitment to working with diverse populations. The BASW program is capacity constrained, admitting about 52 students each Fall, and is based on academic performance and potential, clarity and appropriateness of career objectives, understanding of social issues, and knowledge of diverse populations. Our commitment to diversity is elaborated in our Essential Skills, Values and Standards of Professional Conduct page. All applicants should carefully review these essential abilities before completing the BASW application. 

*Please note: this is not the correct application if you’re applying for the UW Tacoma BASW program.

 

Prerequisites & Applicant Responsibilities

The Admissions Committee strives to give all applications the most prompt and thoughtful consideration possible. The following steps help to make this possible:

  • Prerequisites: Ensure you will satisfy all BASW prerequisites before beginning the program in Fall. BASW prerequisites include: 
    • Completion of one introductory course in Psychology and one introductory course in Sociology. Any 100 or 200-level course can satisfy this requirement, and a 2.0 minimum grade ("C" grade) must be earned in each course to satisfy this requirement. Note that transfer courses listed as 1XX or 2XX do not necessarily satisfy the BASW prerequisites, though they are accepted as general transfer credit. If you have questions about how credits will transfer from a four-year or out-of-state college or university, contact admissions.

    • A 2.0 cumulative minimum GPA or higher.

    • A minimum of 65 college level credits by start of program. Note that the University of Washington does not accept any kind of Human Service credits (SHS, HS, etc.) as transferable credits. Any credits earned in these courses will not count towards the minimum 65 transferable credits required to transfer into the program. 

  • Statistics: Though not a requirement for BASW admission, an approved introductory Statistics class is a required prerequisite of senior year BASW courses and is recommended prior to admission. Approved UW courses include STAT 220/221, STAT 311, and EDPSY 490. If you are considering taking any other statistics courses, please contact admissions. 

  • Foreign Language Requirement: Though not a requirement for BASW admission, BASW students must fulfill the Foreign Language Graduation Requirement (third year of high school foreign language or third college quarter of a foreign language, or equivalent) in order to graduate. This graduation requirement is different from the UW foreign language admission requirement. It is helpful but not required to complete your language requirement before starting the BASW program.

Required Application Materials

The application for Fall 2024 admission will be published in January 2024 and due April 15th, 2024.

*Please note: application materials are subject to change each year. Please wait to begin working on your application until January of the year you intend to apply.

Accessing the Application:

  • The application may be completed in multiple sittings and will save previously entered data so long as you use the same Google account each time to log into and complete your application. We strongly recommend preparing all required materials ahead of time and having a strong and reliable internet connection before starting the application. Once the application is submitted, you cannot make changes to the application. 
  • The forms can be completed, signed (for more detailed information on adding electronic signatures to PDF forms, please visit this site), and saved using Adobe Reader version 8 or later. The latest version of Adobe Reader may be downloaded here for free. If you experience problems, check to make sure you have downloaded the forms and opened the downloaded file in Adobe Reader (not your internet browser). Please name forms using the format "Last Name_First Name_document.pdf." Before proceeding to the next step, make sure to check that all documents uploaded correctly and that forms are not blank, blurry, or incomplete. 
  • The BASW application is hosted on a Google platform which means that a Google account is necessary to complete the application. If you do not already have a Google account, please create one for the purpose of submitting the application. 

If you are applying to our program as a transfer student, you must submit a UW Transfer Application in addition to our departmental application. For Fall 2024 admission, the UW Transfer Application opens December 15th, 2023 and closes February 15th, 2024.

If you would like to apply for admission but have missed the UW Transfer Application deadline, please contact admissions about the feasibility of submitting a late application.

*Please do NOT edit this PDF form directly in your web browser. This has been known to cause problems.

Download the Application Signature & Social Service Experience Form by clicking here.
Download the form and fill out all fields. Check the necessary boxes and include a signature and date at the bottom of the first page. Fill out the Social Service Experience Form (page 2) with your paid and unpaid social service or human service experience.  Save the form and upload it in the designated space in the dropbox. Consider “social service experience” to mean experiences where you helped other humans in ways that align with the School of Social Work mission statement. Feel free to use this guide to assist you in identifying relevant experience.

  • Include the number of hours you worked each week and the total number of hours worked in each position.
  • Identify if it was a paid or volunteer position.
  • Calculate and report your total reported hours at the bottom of this form.

Make extra copies of the second page if you need to list additional experiences.

Answer the following short-answer questions to help the admissions committee contextualize your strengths and personal history. Your responses may be no more than 1500 characters each (including spaces):

  1.  Please share a situation in which you have experienced or engaged with social injustice either in your personal experience or as an advocate. How did you handle the situation?  What did you learn from the situation that is relevant to social work? 

  2. *Optional: Our goal is to admit students who are prepared to be successful academically, and we understand that people's journeys are complicated. If you have classes on your transcript in which you earned lower than a 2.0 or did not successfully complete (earning grades such as 0.0, NS, NC, W), you are invited to give any information that might help us understand better how your situation or skills have changed since that time.​

Submit an up-to-date résumé no longer than two (2) pages in length, by uploading it to the designated space in the application in PDF format. There is no required résumé format or order. As the résumé is a critical element in the review of your qualifications, it is very important that you carefully follow these instructions – in your résumé, include (if applicable):

  • Educational background
  • Paid work experience: dates, number of hours per month, employer name and address, job title, brief overview of job responsibilities
  • Volunteer and community service experience (dates, number of hours per month, organization name, duties/roles)
  • Student leadership experience (dates, number of hours per month, organization name, your title, duties/roles)
  • Awards, honors, and special achievements you have earned (academic, work, volunteer)
  • Special skills (e.g. bilingual skills, artistic talent, research skills)
  • International experience (length of time, brief description of your activities)

Submit an essay, following the guidelines below, by uploading it to the designated space in the application in PDF format. The admissions essay is a critical element in the review of your qualifications. Carefully follow the instructions we provide as thoroughly as possible and stay within the essay length limits set.

The essay should be two (2) pages maximum, machine-generated, double-spaced with a font size of 12pt and one-inch margins. Save the document as one single PDF file.

Prompt: The UW School of Social Work seeks to promote social and economic justice in underrepresented and underserved communities. Write a statement discussing how your personal, academic, volunteer and/or work experiences have led you to the Social Welfare major. How do your experiences and goals fit with our mission, inspire you to serve others, and inform your career aspirations?

 

You must submit a transcript(s) from EVERY college you’ve attended, by uploading the transcript(s) to the designated space(s) in the application in PDF format. Students who are currently attending the University of Washington are not exempt from this requirement, and must upload a UW transcript.

  • Unofficial transcripts (e.g. a scanned copy of an official transcript) are acceptable, but must be legible and complete.  Blurry or incomplete documents will not be accepted. Transcripts must clearly show the name of your university/college, all course and grade information, cumulative GPA, etc.

Official transcripts are not required at time of application, however if you are offered admission as a transfer student to the UW, you will be required to submit official/final transcripts at that time to the UW Office of Undergraduate Admissions. If offered admission to our BASW program, you will be required to submit a final updated unofficial transcript to us via email that includes your final quarter grades at your current institutions, all prerequisite courses, credits and/or degrees earned. 

*Please note: the University of Washington as an institution does not accept any kind of Human Service credits (SHS, HS, etc.) as transferable credits and any credits earned in these courses will not count towards the minimum 65 transferable credits required to transfer into the program. 

Please review your materials for completeness and accuracy before submitting. We recommend keeping copies for your records. Once you submit your application, a message will display confirming that the application (and uploaded documents) has been successfully submitted. Next steps after submitting your application include:

  • Monitor your email for notifications of any missing or incomplete information in your application. 
  • Decisions will be sent between the end of May and mid-June. In some cases, typically pertaining to incoming transfer students, decisions may not be released until later. If you do not hear from our department regarding your decision by mid-June, please contact our admissions team.
  • Notify us promptly via e-mail of any change of address or to withdraw your application from consideration.