Incoming/New Students

Dr. Yodit Betru with student

Announcements and Key Dates

Field Education and Registration Information

Field Placement and Registration Information for Incoming MSW Students

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.

Exemption Exam Dates for 2023: May 12 and 13; June 9 and 10; and July 21 and 22

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