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Key Infor­ma­tion:

  • North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty and Wash­ing­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty are two top schools for an online social work bach­e­lor’s degree.
  • Top online bach­e­lor’s pro­grams in Social Work are designed for flex­i­bil­i­ty and acces­si­bil­i­ty, offer­ing cours­es that pre­pare stu­dents for licen­sure and careers in diverse social work settings. 
  • Many pro­grams empha­size prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence through intern­ships and field­work. They often include spe­cial­iza­tions such as child wel­fare, men­tal health, and sub­stance abuse.
  • Accred­i­ta­tion by the Coun­cil on Social Work Edu­ca­tion (CSWE) ensures pro­gram qual­i­ty and recognition. 
  • Pro­grams may also offer accel­er­at­ed options, allow­ing stu­dents to com­plete their degrees more quickly.

Social work is one career where you can see the pos­i­tive impact you have on the peo­ple you work with, and an online social work degree pro­gram can help work­ing adults make a shift to their social work career seam­less­ly. It is an extreme­ly reward­ing career for any­one who wants to be able to make a dif­fer­ence in the lives of those they serve. The career options you have avail­able to you as a social work­er are extreme­ly diverse and offer more flex­i­bil­i­ty than most oth­er types of careers. Social work­ers can choose to work with the elder­ly or they can choose to work with fam­i­lies and chil­dren. The options are extensive.

Advance­ments in tech­nol­o­gy also give you a much bet­ter han­dle on work­ing with your clients. Through the use of tech­nol­o­gy, you can actu­al­ly pro­vide ser­vices to those who may not oth­er­wise be able to receive them. This advanced tech­nol­o­gy also allows stu­dents to con­tin­ue work­ing at their cur­rent job while attend­ing online class­es, giv­ing them the advan­tage of both an online social work degree as well as much-need­ed hands-on expe­ri­ence. Tech­nol­o­gy enhances com­mu­ni­ca­tion and also helps to make it eas­i­er for indi­vid­u­als to reach out to one anoth­er in sit­u­a­tions that will allow them to get the help they need. The same tools that allow the stu­dent to earn their degree online can also enable them to assist others.

Methodology: How We Ranked the Best Online Social Work Degrees

Work­ing adults who want to make a career change need an online degree that will have a real, pos­i­tive impact on their lives. That’s why Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter focus­es on rep­utable, trust­ed insti­tu­tions that have shown their val­ue. The best online social work degree pro­grams are ranked accord­ing to tuition cost, stu­dents sat­is­fac­tion, and alum­ni salary.

1. Northern Arizona University

North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty offers one of the best online social work degrees for stu­dents who want to work with vul­ner­a­ble and dis­en­fran­chised indi­vid­u­als, fam­i­lies, or com­mu­ni­ties. The Bach­e­lor of Social Work pro­gram empha­sizes pro­fes­sion­al knowl­edge and skills to help indi­vid­u­als in com­plex sit­u­a­tions that may relate to sub­stance abuse, phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al abuse, child­hood trau­ma, or relat­ed prob­lems. It also teach­es stu­dents to focus on iden­ti­fy­ing strengths and using those abil­i­ties to help others.

North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty encour­ages stu­dents to eval­u­ate social work through the lens of mak­ing social changes and address­ing injus­tice with­in cer­tain com­mu­ni­ties or groups. It also strives to teach stu­dents the ways to han­dle sit­u­a­tions when work­ing with oth­ers who may hes­i­tate to seek assis­tance or who may have con­cerns about spe­cif­ic chal­lenges they are facing.

High­light: North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty is accred­it­ed by the Coun­cil on Social Work Education.

Degree: Bach­e­lor of Social Work

North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty Bach­e­lor of Social Work

2. Washington State University

When you want to focus on the best online social work degree pro­grams, Wash­ing­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a bach­e­lor of arts in social sci­ences that helps with your goals. The degree pro­gram empha­sizes cul­tur­al aware­ness, effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills, and ana­lyt­i­cal skills as they apply to social work. The pro­gram pro­vides stu­dents with the fun­da­men­tal skills they need to han­dle chal­lenges with­in social work and relat­ed fields.

Wash­ing­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty encour­ages stu­dents to focus on their long-term goals by pro­vid­ing a lev­el of cus­tomiza­tion when it relates to course mate­ri­als. By allow­ing stu­dents to cus­tomize the pro­gram to fit their goals, it pro­vides an oppor­tu­ni­ty to address spe­cif­ic con­cerns and devel­op use­ful skills that allow stu­dents to empha­size their plans.

High­light: Wash­ing­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty offers 12 con­cen­tra­tions under social sci­ence to help stu­dents focus on a spe­cif­ic specialization.

Degree: Social Sci­ences, BA

Wash­ing­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty Social Sci­ences, BA

3. Salisbury University

Sal­is­bury Uni­ver­si­ty offers one of the best online social work bach­e­lors degree pro­grams for stu­dents who want to devel­op gen­er­al­ist skills that apply to social work careers. The degree pro­gram empha­sizes ethics and val­ues that apply to the field of social work and pro­vides stu­dents with the strong foun­da­tion they need to work with indi­vid­u­als from var­i­ous back­grounds and situations.

Sal­is­bury Uni­ver­si­ty stands out by focus­ing on pro­vid­ing stu­dents with eclec­tic skills that apply to their field of study. That empha­sis on gen­er­al­ist skills ensures that stu­dents are able to adapt to mul­ti­ple career paths and can work in many envi­ron­ments. It pro­vides a lev­el of flex­i­bil­i­ty that encour­ages stu­dents to devel­op their abil­i­ties as they begin work­ing in their field.

High­light: Sal­is­bury Uni­ver­si­ty offers schol­ar­ships to stu­dents in the social work pro­gram, includ­ing stu­dents who are tak­ing online courses.

Degree: Social Work, BA

Sal­is­bury Uni­ver­si­ty Social Work, BA

4. Indiana Wesleyan University

Indi­ana Wes­leyan Uni­ver­si­ty offers a bach­e­lor of social work that pre­pares stu­dents for the chal­lenges of help­ing oth­ers in dif­fi­cult or dan­ger­ous sit­u­a­tions. The degree pro­gram empha­sizes gen­er­al­ist skills that apply to mul­ti­ple areas of social work. The pro­gram also rec­og­nizes the way that social work­ers may assist in cor­po­ra­tions, pri­vate orga­ni­za­tions, non-prof­it com­pa­nies, and relat­ed orga­ni­za­tions, so it ensures that stu­dents are able to work in mul­ti­ple envi­ron­ments and roles.

Indi­ana Wes­leyan Uni­ver­si­ty takes a Chris­t­ian approach to the top­ic of social work and the goals of the pro­gram. Since it is a Chris­t­ian uni­ver­si­ty, stu­dents can expect to eval­u­ate course mate­ri­als through the lens of Chris­t­ian val­ues. Stu­dents can expect to devel­op use­ful skills relat­ed to help­ing oth­ers in vul­ner­a­ble or chal­leng­ing posi­tions while also main­tain­ing their strong sense of val­ues and ethics.

High­light: Indi­ana Wes­leyan Uni­ver­si­ty has been accred­it­ed by the CSWE for 25 years and con­tin­ues to main­tain accred­i­ta­tion through high stan­dards of education.

Degree: Bach­e­lor of Social Work

Indi­ana Wes­leyan Uni­ver­si­ty Bach­e­lor of Social Work

5. Mercy College

Mer­cy Col­lege offers one of the best online social work degrees for stu­dents who want to help oth­ers and work with indi­vid­u­als in chal­leng­ing sit­u­a­tions. The pro­gram rec­og­nizes the impor­tance of address­ing needs with­in vul­ner­a­ble com­mu­ni­ties and teach­es stu­dents the skills they need to address spe­cif­ic prob­lems. It helps stu­dents learn the process to find appro­pri­ate resources to assist indi­vid­u­als, as well as the skills to devel­op pro­grams that help in local communities.

Mer­cy Col­lege takes a career-ori­ent­ed approach to social work stud­ies and encour­ages stu­dents to seek out men­tors and advice from fac­ul­ty. It also encour­ages stu­dents to work in the field to gain hands-on expe­ri­ence that allows them to devel­op use­ful skills before start­ing out in a career. The focus on hands-on expe­ri­ence and men­tor­ship helps stu­dents eval­u­ate their goals and devel­op rel­e­vant skills to reach their career objectives.

High­light: Mer­cy Col­lege allows stu­dents to trans­fer up to 90 cred­its from an accred­it­ed university.

Degree: Bach­e­lor of Social Work

Mer­cy Col­lege Bach­e­lor of Social Work

6. Wayne State University

When you want to find the best online social work degree pro­grams, the Bach­e­lor of Social Work from Wayne State Uni­ver­si­ty is a good option for your goals. The degree pro­gram empha­sizes flex­i­bil­i­ty to help stu­dents focus on accom­plish­ing their goals when it fits their sched­ules. It teach­es stu­dents the skills they need to work in vul­ner­a­ble com­mu­ni­ties and to help oth­ers when chal­lenges arise in their lives.

Wayne State Uni­ver­si­ty focus­es on the needs of stu­dents who may have oblig­a­tions to fam­i­ly or a job that lim­its their abil­i­ty to attend tra­di­tion­al cours­es. The online pro­gram encour­ages stu­dents to work at their own pace and gives stu­dents access to use­ful mate­ri­als to keep up with their cours­es. It makes the process of obtain­ing a degree simple.

High­light: Wayne State Uni­ver­si­ty encour­ages stu­dents to get hands-on expe­ri­ence through intern­ships while they work on an under­grad­u­ate degree.

Degree: Bach­e­lor of Social Work

Bach­e­lor of Social Work — Wayne State University

7. Spring Arbor University

Spring Arbor Uni­ver­si­ty is one of the best online social work bach­e­lor’s degree pro­grams for stu­dents who want to help oth­ers. It pre­pares stu­dents to work with indi­vid­u­als, com­mu­ni­ties, groups, or orga­ni­za­tions so that they can han­dle dif­fer­ent work envi­ron­ments and sit­u­a­tions. Since it pro­vides an edu­ca­tion that empha­sizes work­ing with groups and orga­ni­za­tions, it pre­pares stu­dents for the rig­ors of bal­anc­ing dif­fer­ent needs or com­pli­ca­tions that may arise when work­ing with dis­parate individuals.

Spring Arbor Uni­ver­si­ty takes a gen­er­al­ist approach to social work edu­ca­tion and gives stu­dents a strong foun­da­tion in rel­e­vant skills they can apply to mul­ti­ple sit­u­a­tions. It rec­og­nizes that stu­dents may work in dif­fer­ent indus­tries or fields, so it pro­vides an oppor­tu­ni­ty to devel­op skills that apply to a vari­ety of set­tings. That focus on gen­er­al stud­ies ensures that stu­dents are able to adapt to their careers.

High­light: Spring Arbor Uni­ver­si­ty is ranked among the top 25 Chris­t­ian uni­ver­si­ties for its social work program.

Degree: Bach­e­lor of Social Work

Spring Arbor Uni­ver­si­ty Bach­e­lor of Social Work

8. Brandman University

The bach­e­lor’s pro­gram in social work from Brand­man Uni­ver­si­ty is one of the best online pro­grams for stu­dents who want to work with vul­ner­a­ble indi­vid­u­als or com­mu­ni­ties. The pro­gram focus­es on devel­op­ing real-world expe­ri­ence through 400 hours of on-site prac­tice that allows pro­fes­sion­als to pro­vide stu­dents with rel­e­vant skills and train­ing before they start work­ing in a career.

Brand­man Uni­ver­si­ty stands apart by teach­ing stu­dents to rec­og­nize the inter­ac­tions between polit­i­cal poli­cies, social groups, and cul­tures that may cause chal­lenges among dif­fer­ent com­mu­ni­ties. It pro­vides stu­dents with the fun­da­men­tal skills they need to address prob­lems with­in vul­ner­a­ble com­mu­ni­ties in a sen­si­tive and under­stand­ing manner.

High­light: Brand­man Uni­ver­si­ty is a mil­i­tary-friend­ly school that accepts mil­i­tary train­ing and ser­vice as cred­its into the online program.

Degree: Social Work, BA

Brand­man Uni­ver­si­ty Social Work, BA

9. Union Institute & University

The Bach­e­lor of Social Work from Union Insti­tute and Uni­ver­si­ty is one of the best online pro­grams to help stu­dents accom­plish their goals when work­ing with oth­ers. The pro­gram takes a gen­er­al­ist approach to social work edu­ca­tion and empha­sizes ethics as it applies to social work and vul­ner­a­ble com­mu­ni­ties. The empha­sis on strong eth­i­cal stan­dards ensures that stu­dents are aware of the poten­tial con­se­quences of their actions when work­ing with others.

Union Insti­tute and Uni­ver­si­ty stands out by allow­ing stu­dents to trans­fer up to 90 cred­its into the online pro­gram. It gives stu­dents the oppor­tu­ni­ty to reduce the time required to com­plete their degree by allow­ing them to trans­fer a large por­tion of their cred­its. It also rec­og­nizes that stu­dents may need a full-time or part-time sched­ule, so it allows stu­dents to work on course mate­ri­als as it fits their needs and situation.

High­light: Union Insti­tute and Uni­ver­si­ty offer accel­er­at­ed eight-week cours­es through the online social work program.

Degree: Bach­e­lor of Social Work

Bach­e­lor of Social Work — Union Insti­tute and University

10. Bemidji State University

The online social work degree pro­gram from Bemid­ji State Uni­ver­si­ty allows stu­dents to devel­op hands-on skills that pre­pare them to work in a rig­or­ous envi­ron­ment. Stu­dents are able to take the same cours­es through an online for­mat as the on-cam­pus stu­dents and learn from the same qual­i­fied pro­fes­sion­al fac­ul­ty. While the major­i­ty of the cours­es are online, the pro­gram does require stu­dents to attend three to four on-cam­pus class­es through­out the program.

Bemid­ji State Uni­ver­si­ty empha­sizes inno­va­tion in learn­ing through its online pro­gram. It takes an active approach to help with stu­dent edu­ca­tion and encour­ages stu­dents to reach out to fac­ul­ty or staff with ques­tions or con­cerns when work­ing on their degrees. The pro­gram gives stu­dents access to trained pro­fes­sion­als who offer per­son­al feed­back through­out the program.

High­light: Bemid­ji State Uni­ver­si­ty requires stu­dents to com­plete a 480-hour intern­ship through an orga­ni­za­tion that focus­es on social ser­vices to com­plete the degree program.

Degree: Bach­e­lor of Social Work

Bemid­ji State Uni­ver­si­ty Bach­e­lor of Social Work

11. Northwest Mississippi Community College

North­west Mis­sis­sip­pi Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege offers an online bach­e­lor’s degree in social work that pre­pares stu­dents to work in a chal­leng­ing envi­ron­ment. It focus­es on gen­er­al­ist skills and stud­ies to allow stu­dents to work in a vari­ety of indus­tries and adjust to dif­fer­ent career require­ments. By tak­ing a gen­er­al­ist approach to stu­dent edu­ca­tion, it allows stu­dents to choose a career that fits their goals and interests.

North­west Mis­sis­sip­pi Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege stands out by tak­ing a career-ori­ent­ed approach to stu­dent edu­ca­tion. It rec­og­nizes that stu­dents may work in a vari­ety of indus­tries or careers, and it pro­vides the oppor­tu­ni­ty for stu­dents to learn dif­fer­ent ways to han­dle chal­leng­ing sit­u­a­tions. That focus on stu­dent goals ensures that stu­dents are able to focus on their long-term plans while work­ing on a degree.

High­light: North­west Mis­sis­sip­pi Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege offers schol­ar­ships and grants to help stu­dents with the costs of an under­grad­u­ate degree.

Degree: Bach­e­lor of Social Work

North­west Mis­sis­sip­pi Com­mu­ni­ty Col­lege Bach­e­lor of Social Work

12. Malone University

The BA in Social Work from Mal­one Uni­ver­si­ty is one of the best online pro­grams for stu­dents who want to help oth­ers. The pro­gram pro­vides a rig­or­ous edu­ca­tion with a focus on devel­op­ing hands-on expe­ri­ences that pro­vide stu­dents with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to suc­ceed in their careers. Stu­dents are encour­aged to work with fac­ul­ty men­tors to help devel­op their skills and clar­i­fy their long-term goals.

Mal­one Uni­ver­si­ty is a Chris­t­ian school and it takes a Bib­li­cal approach to the top­ic of social work. Stu­dents can expect to view social work stud­ies through the lens of Chris­t­ian val­ues and morals. The pro­gram rec­og­nizes the impor­tance of cul­tur­al sen­si­tiv­i­ty and pre­pares stu­dents to work with oth­ers who may have dif­fer­ent views or per­spec­tives, as well as dif­fer­ent backgrounds.

High­light: Mal­one Uni­ver­si­ty does not have a max­i­mum num­ber for trans­fer cred­its, so stu­dents can trans­fer cred­its from oth­er col­leges or uni­ver­si­ties to accel­er­ate the process of com­plet­ing a degree.

Degree: Social Work, BA

BA in Social Work — Mal­one University

13. Briar Cliff University

The online social work degree from Bri­ar Cliff Uni­ver­si­ty is one of the best pro­grams for stu­dents who need a flex­i­ble sched­ule. The online pro­gram empha­sizes flex­i­bil­i­ty for stu­dent con­ve­nience and encour­ages stu­dents to work on their course mate­ri­als when it fits their sched­ule and their needs. Stu­dents can expect to learn use­ful skills that relate to help­ing oth­ers in chal­leng­ing sit­u­a­tions. It also focus­es on lead­er­ship and com­mit­ment to ensure that stu­dents are able to address prob­lems with­in dif­fer­ent com­mu­ni­ties or families.

Bri­ar Cliff Uni­ver­si­ty sets high stan­dards of edu­ca­tion for stu­dents and has main­tained CSWE accred­i­ta­tion since 1974. Stu­dents can expect to gain gen­er­al skills relat­ed to social work careers and have the abil­i­ty to adapt to dif­fer­ent sit­u­a­tions and envi­ron­ments. The pro­gram empha­sizes the skills stu­dents need to work with indi­vid­u­als or groups who may end up in vul­ner­a­ble or dan­ger­ous situations.

High­light: Bri­ar Cliff Uni­ver­si­ty offers a vari­ety of schol­ar­ships that apply to the online pro­gram when stu­dents qual­i­fy for the scholarship.

Degree: Social Work, BA

Bri­ar Cliff Uni­ver­si­ty Social Work, BA

14. Liberty University

Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty offers a good online social work degree pro­gram for stu­dents who want to help oth­ers in their local or state envi­ron­ment. The pro­gram rec­og­nizes that stu­dents may work with indi­vid­u­als or com­mu­ni­ties with­in their state, so it pro­vides a strong foun­da­tion in rel­e­vant skills that apply to social work on the indi­vid­ual, group, or com­mu­ni­ty lev­el. It gives stu­dents the abil­i­ty to address prob­lems that may arise through crit­i­cal think­ing and analysis.

Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty stands out by tak­ing an inte­grat­ed approach to social work edu­ca­tion. Stu­dents are not only study­ing the skills they need to work with vul­ner­a­ble indi­vid­u­als. They are also learn­ing psy­chol­o­gy and relat­ed top­ics that help them ana­lyze and under­stand a sit­u­a­tion from a dif­fer­ent per­spec­tive. They rec­og­nize the psy­cho­log­i­cal aspects of a prob­lem and are able to iden­ti­fy real­is­tic solu­tions based on their knowl­edge of social work and the community.

High­light: Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty allows stu­dents to trans­fer up to 75 per­cent of their cred­its into the online program.

Degree: Social Work, BS

Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty Social Work, BS

15. University of North Dakota

The Uni­ver­si­ty of North Dako­ta offers an online pro­gram in social work that pro­vides stu­dents with the rel­e­vant skills they need to address prob­lems with­in local com­mu­ni­ties, fam­i­lies, or schools. The pro­gram encour­ages stu­dents to devel­op crit­i­cal think­ing and ana­lyt­i­cal skills, so they are able to work with dif­fer­ent indi­vid­u­als. It also rec­og­nizes the impor­tance of cul­tur­al sen­si­tiv­i­ty and teach­es stu­dents the dif­fer­ent ways to han­dle dis­parate groups or cul­tures with­in a local environment.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of North Dako­ta stands out by encour­ag­ing stu­dents to com­plete a super­vised field intern­ship while work­ing on an under­grad­u­ate degree in social work. The intern­ship gives stu­dents hands-on expe­ri­ence while ensur­ing that they main­tain a high lev­el of eth­i­cal stan­dards and safe­ty. It pro­vides stu­dents with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to start work­ing in social work before fin­ish­ing a degree.

High­light: The Uni­ver­si­ty of North Dako­ta encour­ages stu­dents to work on a minor when obtain­ing a social work degree to fur­ther spe­cial­ize in their field.

Degree: Social Work, BS

Uni­ver­si­ty of North Dako­ta Social Work, BS

What Are Some Jobs in Social Work?

There are sev­er­al dif­fer­ent jobs you can choose from if you decide to look at career options for social work­ers. A med­ical social work­er is some­one who works with patients while they are liv­ing in assist­ed liv­ing or nurs­ing home-type facil­i­ties. A social ser­vices direc­tor works in a more man­age­r­i­al role and over­sees both med­ical social work­ers and licensed clin­i­cal social work­ers who work with clients in sev­er­al dif­fer­ent capac­i­ties. The job oppor­tu­ni­ties for social work­ers will only increase with time. Those who choose to pur­sue social work jobs can expect con­tin­ued growth and advance­ment in their cho­sen field.

Social work­ers can also find employ­ment work­ing with fos­ter care fam­i­lies, schools, human resources, and oth­er posi­tions that deal with the cre­ation of poli­cies that gov­ern what ser­vices peo­ple receive once they enter the social ser­vices sys­tem. They can also act as mar­riage and fam­i­ly coun­selors or as a ther­a­pist who works with chil­dren in dis­tress and their fam­i­lies. Social work­ers can work in both pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tors by assist­ing clients in get­ting the things they need and car­ing for their fam­i­lies the best they can.

Will a Certification Help My Social Work Career?

Social work cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams pro­vide addi­tion­al cre­den­tials that will help them main­tain their cur­rent license and con­tin­ue to work in their cho­sen careers. Most state licens­es, includ­ing those for social work, require that the pro­fes­sion­al take con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion class­es that allow them to stay up to date with new laws and poli­cies that affect their spe­cif­ic job. For social work­ers, this can be changes to fam­i­ly law that gov­ern child cus­tody or it can include changes in fos­ter care guide­lines. Each license requires a spe­cif­ic num­ber of con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion hours each year that must be com­plet­ed in order to main­tain their license.

In addi­tion to the con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion cer­ti­fi­ca­tions that are manda­to­ry to main­tain their licen­sure, there are also sev­er­al social work cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams online that are designed to add addi­tion­al facets to the social work­er’s exist­ing skill sets. Receiv­ing addi­tion­al cer­ti­fi­ca­tions adds depth to the social work­er’s exist­ing knowl­edge, allow­ing them to expand their bound­aries and take on oth­er respon­si­bil­i­ties. Receiv­ing a social work cer­ti­fi­ca­tion online allows the stu­dent to take their class­es when it is most con­ve­nient for them and com­plet­ing the pro­gram in their own time.

In truth, the best thing for your career may be a mas­ter of social work. There are many master’s degrees avail­able today, and an online mas­ter of social work can help you improve your career while still work­ing. An online MSW pro­gram will build on your work expe­ri­ence and field expe­ri­ence to help you fill out pre­req­ui­site cours­es. Finan­cial aid may not be an issue if your employ­er will help with tuition.

If you’re already work­ing in the social work field, you can often do your cred­it hours for practicum, field edu­ca­tion or field place­ments at your cur­rent work­place. Online stu­dents learn the same social work research meth­ods and core com­pe­ten­cies as stu­dents in an in-per­son master’s in social work pro­gram. And social work stu­dents can often spe­cial­ize in areas like advo­ca­cy, geron­tol­ogy, or clin­i­cal social work, choos­ing elec­tives carefully.

An accred­it­ed pro­gram from an online school of social work pre­pares you for social work licen­sure just like a con­ven­tion­al pro­gram. If you have a BSW degree, you can earn advanced stand­ing in a mas­ter of social work pro­gram and fin­ish more quick­ly. For many online pro­grams, you don’t even need to take the GRE. You may be able to enroll based on your expe­ri­ence in social work prac­tice regard­less of your GPA in your BSW program.

Accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics (BLS), an LCSW with an MSW degree makes con­sid­er­ably more than entry-lev­el BSW graduates.

Can I Use a Social Work Degree in Another Field?

There are many oth­er careers for social work­ers out­side of the tra­di­tion­al social ser­vices. If you have your BSW, your course­work actu­al­ly pre­pared you for a num­ber of oppor­tu­ni­ties. Your stud­ies in:

  • child wel­fare
  • human behav­ior
  • human ser­vices
  • social jus­tice
  • social envi­ron­ment
  • social wel­fare policy
  • com­mu­ni­ty organization

and oth­er aspects of the social work field offer ways into oth­er non­prof­it, gov­ern­ment, and pri­vate-sec­tor careers.

While most peo­ple think of social work­ers as those who work with­in the wel­fare depart­ment, many social work­ers find employ­ment in man­age­r­i­al posi­tions in group homes or men­tal health facil­i­ties. In this capac­i­ty, a social work­er may help a per­son with dis­abil­i­ties nav­i­gate their way into the world. They can assist them in find­ing a job and tak­ing care of their own respon­si­bil­i­ties so that one day, they may be able to live inde­pen­dent­ly out­side of the group home or assist­ed liv­ing facility.

Social work­ers can also find job oppor­tu­ni­ties with­in the health care field. Work­ing with the elder­ly, they can help old­er indi­vid­u­als who may not have fam­i­ly mem­bers near­by, make dif­fi­cult deci­sions such as mov­ing into a nurs­ing home or sell­ing their home and mov­ing in with fam­i­ly mem­bers. Social work­ers can assist them in find­ing the answers they need to live a full and healthy life. Most job oppor­tu­ni­ties for social work­ers involve pro­vid­ing assis­tance to indi­vid­u­als who need it the most. The pos­i­tive impact a social work­er has on the clients they serve is life-chang­ing and will pro­vide them with the con­fi­dence they need to move forward.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Social Work

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Social Work

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Social Work

Should I Get a Cer­tifi­cate in Social Work?