Incoming/New Students

Dr. Yodit Betru with student

Announcements and Key Dates​

Field Education and Registration Information

Matriculation of all fall 2024 incoming students will begin in early May.

Advanced Standing Student Information
  • Full time Advanced Standing students to Receive Field and Registration information
  • If you have applied to a fellowship, you will be contacted by a field professor as soon as fellowship decisions are made and accepted by the student
  • If you have not applied to a Fellowship—ongoing communication from field professor & academic advisor assigned by MSW Program Director o If you did not apply for a Fellowship and/or did not receive Fellowship position:
    • MSW Program Director will communicate with these students in mid-May with registration information
    • MSW Program Director will communicate advisor assignments later in the summer
  • Field Placement to begin for Advanced Standing Students
    • Beginning end of August of fall 2024 semester 
Non-Advanced Standing Student Information
  • Full time Non-Advanced Standing (Generalist) students to Receive Field and Registration information
    • Please note that your field advisor, and field liaison (non-CWEL students) academic advisor will be the same field faculty member for generalist year
    • Mid-May/early June, then ongoing communication from field professor
  • Field Placement to begin for Non-Advanced Standing Students
    • End of September/1st of October during fall 2024  
Part-Time Student Information
  • Part-time Advanced Standing students to receive registration information:
    • If you’ve applied to a Fellowship, you will hear from field professor at the end of May/mid-June
    • If you have not applied to a Fellowship—ongoing communication from field professor & academic advisor assigned by MSW Program Director
    • If you did not apply for a Fellowship and/or did not receive Fellowship position:
      • MSW Program Director will communicate with these students in mid-May with registration information
      • MSW Program Director will communicate advisor assignments later in the summer
    • Part time advanced standing will receive communication from field professor for placement which will begin in the fall 2024.
  • Part time Non-Advanced Standing (Generalist) students Registration information
    • Communication to begin Mid-May/early June
    • Part-time non advanced standing incoming fall 2024 students to receive Field Information in January 2025
      • Placement to begin in summer 2025 
CWEL Student Information
  • When will CWEL hear from Field Office Regarding Field Placements?
    • Part time Advanced Standing and Non-Advanced Standing: Part-time incoming fall 2024 students to receive Field Information in January 2025 from Professor Robinson and CWEL advisor
    • Full time Advanced Standing: End of May/mid-June
    • Full time Non-Advanced Standing: Mid-May/early June then ongoing communication from Professor Robinson and CWEL advisor
  • When will CWEL hear about Registration Process?
    • Part time Advanced Standing:  You will hear from CWEL Advisor end of May/mid-June
    • Part time Non-Advanced Standing:  Communication to begin Mid-May/early June, then ongoing communication from CWEL Advisor
    • Full time Advanced Standing:  You will hear from CWEL Advisor at the end of May/mid June
    • Full time Non-Advanced Standing: Mid-May/early June, then ongoing communication from CWEL Advisor
  • Advising information
    • CWEL students are assigned to a CWEL faculty member for both field advising and academic advising  

Exemption Exams

Incoming students who have not earned a bachelor’s degree in Social Work are eligible to take exemption exams for Human Behavior and the Social Environment  (HBSE)  and  Generalist Social Work Research course. Additionally, students beginning the MSW Program who have earned their bachelor's in social work and who did not receive advanced standing credit for the mentioned  courses may also wish to take this exam if they believe they have mastered the material. Students who pass these exemption exams will be awarded the credits for these courses (up to six total credits) toward the completion of their MSW degree and be exempt from taking the class(es). 

For the HBSE course, students who have completed undergraduate work in human, family, and community development may know this material and wish to take this exam to determine if they can exempt from this class. The current text book for this class is:   Rogers, A.T. (2019). Human behavior in the social environment (5th ed.). Routledge.

For the Generalist Social Work Research Course, the current text book is:  Engel, R. J., & Schutt, R. K. (2017). Practice of research in social work (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Find Exemption Exam FAQs here.

Incoming Student Academic Resources

International Students

All newly accepted international students please refer to the University of Pittsburgh Office of International Services (OIS) website.

Student Organizations

Writing APA Resources

Living in Pittsburgh

Other Resources