Because the Bachelor of Science in social work is a professional degree, students must successfully complete the prescribed application process to advance from Core/Foundation Curriculum to the Professional Curriculum. To complete the Professional Curriculum and attain the B.S.S.W. degree, students must continually meet standards representing professional competence.

1. Students admitted to the Professional Curriculum in social work must earn a C or better in required upper-level classes.
2. Students must maintain a minimum overall grade point average of 2.5 to begin fieldwork and to earn the B.S.S.W. degree.
3. Students must complete all required social work courses (listed below).
4. Students who have not completed a statistics course prior to formal acceptance to the Professional Curriculum must complete SW 321.
5. Transfer students must complete SW 222, 322, and 422 and the practicum at UAB.
6. Students must also complete a 3-hour elective in social work.

Social Work Classification
Students declaring their intention to major in social work are admitted with a social work (SW) classification.
Social work students may formally apply to the Professional Curriculum when they have met all of the following criteria:

• Completion of essential Core and Foundation Curriculum requirements, with a grade of C or better in each course.
• Cumulative undergraduate GPA of 2.0 or higher.
• Completion of SW 100, SW 200, SW 203, and SW 222 with a cumulative average of 2.5 or better.

Acceptance to the Social Work Professional Curriculum

Students must successfully complete a formal application process to enter Professional Curriculum. The application process includes the following:

(1) certification from a School of Social and Behavioral Sciences academic advisor that the criteria to apply have been met,

(2) a written assessment of writing skills and self-awareness; and (3) a recommendation by the social work faculty.

Major Requirements

To complete the Bachelor of science in social work you must complete 77 semester hours of course work, including 46 semester hours of required social work courses, 3 hours of social work electives; and 28 hours of required courses from other school disciplines. Social work students are not required to complete a minor.

Required course work includes acquisition of social work knowledge, values, and skills essential to social work practice, research, and policy. The curriculum culminates with a full-time, one-term field practicum.

No minor is required for social work majors. Instead, selected social and behavioral science courses provide a foundation for the professional courses. These foundation courses (listed below) must be completed with a grade of C or better. Additionally, students must fuifll a biology requirement, also completed with a grade of C or better. This requirement may be taken as part of the Core Curriculum.

Students must complete the following foundation courses:

One of the following courses in minority studies:

SW 207 Racism, Sexism, and other Isms

SOC 220 Women and Men: Changing Gender Roles

SOC 250 Race and Ethnic Relations

WS 100 Introduction to Women's Studies

SOC 490 Independent Study: Sociology

All of the following courses:

ANTH 101 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

BY 101 Topics in Contemporary Biology and

BY 102 Topics in Contemporary Biology Lab OR

BY123 Introductory Biology

CS101 Fluency with Information Technology

EC 110 Economics and Society OR EC 211 Principles of Macroeconomics

HY 121 The United States since 1877

PSC 101 Introduction to American Government OR

PSC 221 American State and Local Government

PY 101 Introduction to Psychology

SOC 100 Introduction to Sociology

Students must also complete the following courses in social work:

SW 100 Introduction to Social Work

SW 200 Professional Writing for Human Services Professionals

SW 203 Social Welfare History

SW 222 Values Lab

SW 302 Social Welfare Policy Analysis

SW 313 Human Behavior and the Social Environment I

SW 314 Human Behavior and the Social Environment II

SW 320 Social Work Research

SW 321 Statistics for Social Work Research

SW 322 Social Work Practice I

SW 422 Social Work Practice II

SW 490 Practicum in Social Work

SW 494 Independent Study I

An additional 3 semester hours of social work as an elective.