Prospective Students

Interested in learning more about our BSW program and its admission requirements? Keep reading!

Quick links and facts:

The next application deadline is March 1, 2025.

The University Calendar outlines the Admission Requirements for the BSW program.

For students attending Memorial in their first year, the First Year Information (FYI) page for students interested in pursuing social work is a great resource. Check it out!

Social Work 1710, our introductory social work course, is available to Memorial students. This course is typically offered online in the Fall and Winter Semesters and is a great opportunity for students to explore social work.
Transfer students applying to the BSW as a first degree are required to complete the BSW Prerequisite Credit Transfer Form 1st degree (fillable).
Transfer students applying to the BSW as a second degree are required to complete the BSW Prerequisite Credit Transfer Form 2nd degree (fillable).

Read the information below and visit our FAQ page for helpful information for prospective applicants.

What should I know before I prepare to apply for the BSW program?

Most of the frequently asked questions about the BSW program and its application are found in the video at the bottom of this page.

Information about our Educational Equity Initiative (optional):

The School of Social Work strives to enrich its teaching, research and scholarship through the contributions of individuals from diverse backgrounds with different attributes. However, for many applicants, institutional processes and cultural and racial differences exist which have presented barriers to learning. In keeping with the Canadian Association of Social Work Education (CASWE) Standards for Accreditation, the mission of Memorial University, and the mission, vision, and values of the School of Social Work, we have developed our Educational Equity Initiative.

The intent of this initiative is to encourage applicants with diverse identities, experiences, and backgrounds to apply. Further, the Educational Equity Initiative aims to correct conditions of disadvantage in professional education. Therefore, the School offers a minimum of 20% of the total number of seats in the BSW program to eligible applicants who have met the minimum requirements for admission and who identify as one or more of the following groups: First Nations, Inuit, or Métis (minimum of 5% of seats); members of a racialized group (minimum of 5% of seats); disabled people (minimum of 5% of seats); and/or as members of another equity deserving group (minimum of 5% of seats).

In the application, you are invited to self-identify as a member of educational equity deserving group(s).

Please note that declaration of citizenship status is independent of consideration for the Educational Equity Initiative. To be considered for an equity deserving seat, applicants must check the applicable box(es) above to indicate which group you are a member of.

Information about Academic Requirements for Admission to the BSW program:

All of the academic requirements are outlined in the University calendar: https://www.mun.ca/university-calendar/st-johns-campus/school-of-social-work/5/3/.

Memorial students can utilize the Academic Advising Centre for support with preparing their academic requirements: https://www.mun.ca/regoff/academic-advice/academic-advising-centre/.

Which Memorial courses count toward this requirement for the BSW program as a second degree? 3 credit hours in developmental psychology, human development, and/or human behaviour beyond the introductory level:

Psychology 2010, 2020, 2025, 2030, 2100, 2125, 2800, 3050, 3100, 3533, 3640, 4050, 4051
Sociology 3120, 3290

Can you complete the first year of the BSW program online?

There is a year of prerequisite courses (10 courses or 30 credit hours) which must be completed prior to applying for admission to the BSW program. Those courses can be completed remotely, depending on course availability each year. You can check the course offerings on Self Service.

Once students are admitted to the BSW program, there is a residency requirement, meaning there is no online option for study. The first year of prerequisite courses counts as the first year, then three years post-admission (https://www.mun.ca/university-calendar/st-johns-campus/school-of-social-work/5/3/). The BSW program has two 350 hour field practicums. Students can be seek field placement in communities outside of St. John’s.

Information about Supplemental Documents

The required experience and personal statement portion of the application is located under “Supplemental Items and Documents.” Applicants are to upload the required information by March 1, 2024. PDF files are preferred. This portion of the application opens once you've submitted the first part of the application where you enter your personal information.

What is the BSW Prerequisite Transfer Credit Form? What if I am a transfer credit student?

Applicants who completed courses at an institution other than Memorial University or College of the North Atlantic and wish to have specific credits considered for transfer credit evaluation are required to complete BSW Prerequisite Credit Transfer Form 1st degree (fillable) or BSW Prerequisite Credit Transfer Form 2nd degree (fillable).

To determine whether or not any of the credits attained previously from another educational institution can be credited towards your BSW degree, you will need to contact the Registrar's Office and request a transfer credit evaluation. Prior to requesting a transfer credit evaluation, students must first of all apply and be accepted for general admission to Memorial University. Questions regarding the transfer credit evaluation process should be directed to the Evaluations Officer in the Office of the Registrar by e-mail at transfer.credit@mun.ca or by phone at (709) 864-4423.

For BSW program applicants or prospective applicants, the BSW Prerequisite Credit Transfer Form 1st degree (fillable) or BSW Prerequisite Credit Transfer Form 2nd degree (fillable), completed by the applicant, can help the applicant and the Transfer Credit Office determine which courses should be evaluated for each academic requirement.

What should I know about the personal statement?

The personal statement is written by the applicant in one document, in response to the following prompt:

Prepare a statement (maximum of 500 words) indicating why you think you would be a suitable candidate for the BSW program at Memorial University. You may focus on your work experiences, volunteer experiences and/or community involvement; any training relevant to the field of social work, including awards or certificates earned; your personal experiences, motivation, values, skills, interests and critical reflection of social location.

What should I know about the experience document?

All work experience/volunteer experience and/or community involvement in human services must be summarized in one document, completed by the applicant.

The online BSW application includes a field to submit your experience document.

Applicants can use this Experience Document sample template (new for 2025), to help create their document.

We do not recommend specific experiences, but the minimum number of hours for the first degree program is 60 and for second degree it is 300. That being said, the more hours you have, the more competitive your application will be. It is the applicant’s responsibility to describe their experience as relevant to social work and compile the information in a document. Your application is scored according to the number of hours, relevance of the activities, and diversity.

Prospective applicants should think about which areas of social work they may be interested in and if they are a current Memorial student, they can reach out to the Student Volunteer Bureau for assistance connecting to the area or agency: https://www.mun.ca/volunteer/

If prospective applicants would like to look into which areas or populations they may be interested in working with, these are good resources - the provincial (NL) and national associations of social workers: https://nlcsw.ca/social-work-in-nl/practice-areas , https://www.casw-acts.ca/en/what-social-work

In the experience document, you are required to include:

Name of agency/organization/community project
Name and title of supervisor/agency rep/mentor/spiritual leader
E-mail and phone number for supervisor/agency rep/mentor/leader
title/position/activity
Start and end dates
# of hours
Brief description of duties/responsibilities

When are admissions decisions made and how will I be notified?

All applicants will receive an email at their @mun.ca email when a decision regarding their application is made. All applicants will receive notification of a decision, whether they are unsuccessful or offered a seat in the program. Please note that we do a rolling admissions process, so all applicants do not receive their decision at the same time. We hope to have all the decisions made by the end of June and notify applicants as soon as possible.