MSW Application Walkthrough

Three recommendations are required for application to the MSW Program at MSU Denver. Each recommendation is individually evaluated by the Admissions Committee. The committee can only evaluate three recommendations per application. Therefore, if you enter more than three recommenders into the system, it is your responsibility to exclude the recommendations you do not want reviewed by the committee prior to the deadline.

If you need assistance excluding recommendations, please email [email protected]. If you have not excluded any recommendations from review, our office will take the first three recommendations completed for review. You must have three completed recommendations by the application deadline for your application to be considered complete and eligible for review.

Recommenders should be professional and should not be family, friends, and/or personal therapists. Professional recommenders include faculty, employment/volunteer supervisors, and professional colleagues.

It is strongly recommended that at least one recommendation come from a faculty member (when possible – the committee understands that applicants who have been out of school for some time may not have faculty able to provide recommendations) and one letter from a supervisor (employment or volunteer based).

Professional colleagues may serve as adequate recommenders if need be but use caution that the Admissions Committee highly values faculty and supervisor letters.

Recommenders should be able to speak to your academic and/or professional abilities as well as comment on your potential to succeed in graduate school and/or the field of social work. When considering your recommenders, think about who can write a strong recommendation for you.

Advanced Standing Applicants ONLY: you are required to have at least one recommendation from someone associated with your undergraduate social work program. This could include, but is not limited to, a faculty member (i.e. a professor), a faculty advisor, field director, field instructor, field liaison, or program director.

As soon as you enter your recommenders into the system, they will receive an email with a unique link to complete their recommendation. Recommenders can start work on completing the recommendation as soon as they are entered in the system, even prior to you submitting your application!

Recommenders are asked to fill out two sections: a quantitative evaluation of the applicant’s strengths and then written short answer responses for their personal evaluation of the applicant. You can download an example of the recommendation form to share with your recommenders. Recommenders will not upload a written narrative or letter of recommendation.

Request official transcripts be sent electronically to [email protected].

We can only accept electronic transcripts as official when they are sent directly by the college or university. Any electronic transcripts emailed by an applicant are considered unofficial.

Important Note About Ordering Transcripts:

If you are ordering your transcripts and select to send them to a school, you may be forced to choose from a list of schools and will not be able to enter the [email protected] email or mailing address. If this is the situation, do not select MSU Denver as this will have your materials sent to the MSU Denver Office of Admissions and will delay processing. Instead, you should select to send the transcripts to a third party at which point you should be able to directly enter our information. Sending to a third party and directly entering the email or physical address you want them sent to should be an option at all institutions. We have had transcripts from all schools in Colorado and from schools across the U.S. sent to us via the [email protected] account and Office of Graduate Studies mailing address.

Request official transcripts be sent by mail to:

Metropolitan State University of Denver
Office of Graduate Studies
PO Box 173362, Campus Box 48
Denver, CO 80217-3362

Important Note About Ordering Transcripts:

If you are ordering your transcripts and select to send them to a school, you may be forced to choose from a list of schools and will not be able to enter the [email protected] email or mailing address. If this is the situation, do not select MSU Denver as this will have your materials sent to the MSU Denver Office of Admissions and will delay processing. Instead, you should select to send the transcripts to a third party at which point you should be able to directly enter our information. Sending to a third party and directly entering the email or physical address you want them sent to should be an option at all institutions. We have had transcripts from all schools in Colorado and from schools across the U.S. sent to us via the [email protected] account and Office of Graduate Studies mailing address.

Download the MSW Application Personal Statement Instructions & Prompts (PDF) or read the information below.

The Personal Statement must be written and saved to the applicant’s computer as a Word or PDF file prior to being uploaded to the application checklist.

The submission requirement is a series of short answers in a single document (Word or PDF) which helps the admissions committee to evaluate your readiness for graduate education and potential to succeed in advanced social work practice. We have provided a template you may use for crafting your submission that uses APA 7th edition formatting. When citing sources, please use APA 7th edition citation methods. All personal statement short answers should be contained within one document and should comply with the listed word limits. Your document should be saved as a Word (.doc) or PDF (.pdf) file prior to upload.

Download the personal statement template. Please make sure to save it as a new file with a unique document name and delete the template instructions prior to uploading your response. For more information about formatting in APA 7th edition, visit the Purdue Online Writing Lab and download their APA Sample Student Paper.

The personal statement is a critical part of your admissions application – this is how the admissions committee will get to know you and be able to evaluate your writing skills, your critical thinking, and your capacity for self-awareness, reflection, and growth. We strongly encourage applicants to thoroughly review and edit their statement prior to upload.

Be sure to fully answer each of the required prompts in your submission! While these are being submitted as short answers, we still expect full sentences and paragraphs, please do not use a bulleted list.

While some personal information is required in the essay (e.g. your past experiences), you should be judicious in the use of self-disclosure. You are not expected to disclose intimate details of your life; however, if you choose to do so, you should do so only briefly and make it clear how you are in a place to succeed in the program and the profession.

Personal Statement Prompts:

Please answer the following prompts:

1. Past Experiences and Why Social Work (250 word limit): What professional and personal experiences have inspired you to pursue social work and social justice (versus another helping profession)? Please highlight any skills, professional work, volunteer work, and/or lived experiences that you see adding to the diversity of the MSU Denver MSW Program community and the field of social work. Please also include any experiences in which you’ve exercised leadership and/or responsibility.
2. Values and Alignment (250 word limit): Describe your understanding of the social work profession, its core values, and code of ethics. How do your personal and professional values align with the social work values? Are there any potential value-based or ethical conflicts you might experience? If so, how do you plan to address or reconcile these conflicts?
3. Strengths and Growth (250 word limit): If admitted to the MSW Program at MSU Denver, what would be the greatest strengths you bring with you to graduate study and the field of social work? What would be your greatest areas for growth?
4. ADEI and Anti-Oppressive Practice (750 word limit): The 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), the accrediting body for the MSW Program at MSU Denver, charges programs to “integrate anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI) approaches across the curriculum”. The Master of Social Work Program at MSU Denver is seeking students who are committed to ADEI work in their education and professional practice. To that end, this prompt has three parts that we are asking you to address:
   1. How do you define each of these terms in your own words: anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion? (250 word limit)
   2. How do oppression and other issues related to ADEI impact the communities you intend to serve as a social worker? (250 word limit)
   3. How have you worked to develop awareness of oppression and other issues related to ADEI and what are areas where you’d like to grow in your awareness during your time in the MSW Program if admitted? (250 word limit)

MSW Personal Statement Writing Support:

*NEW* for the 2025 application cycle, MSW Program advisor Tisha Townsend is offering one-on-one support for your personal statement. Spaces are limited to 15 applicants per event to ensure that Tisha can provide individualized support to each applicant. Registration is required, and applicants can sign-up online. We ask that you only sign-up for date since space is limited. More information (including the Zoom link to attend) will be sent to those who register. Writing support events will be held on:

• Thursday, September 12 from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM (Mountain Time)
• Monday, September 30 from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM (Mountain Time)
• Wednesday, October 23 from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM (Mountain Time)
• Tuesday, November 19 from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM (Mountain Time)
• Friday, December 6 from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM (Mountain Time)

Writing Center Support:

The MSU Denver Writing Center also provides support for MSW Program applicants – please visit their website for more information and to schedule an appointment. When looking at available appointments, make sure to limit to “MSW applications” to get paired with a team member who can assist with graduate-level writing. When scheduling, make sure to select the following options:

• What is your standing at MSU Denver? MSW program applicant
• What type of appointment do you want? Writing consultation (if individual) or group writing consultation (if going as a group of 2-4 applicants)
• Course the writing is for (department): Social Work – MSW
• What department is your major? Social Work

Download the 2025 MSW Application Case Study (PDF) for full details, including the case and prompts.

The Case Study should be completed by Advanced Standing applicants and must be written and saved to the applicant’s computer as a Word or PDF file prior to being uploaded to the application checklist.

The case study is an important part of your application because it reflects your ability to think critically about a situation and indicates your level of knowledge about social work. The case study is assessed based upon its level and quality of comprehensiveness, appropriateness, clarity, and academic writing.

This page is currently being updated with details of the Summer/Fall 2025 application in preparation for the application opening on September 3, 2024. Please continue checking back as more information is finalized and added.

NOTE: you cannot start or submit a Summer or Fall 2025 graduate application until the application opens on September 3.

The Petition for Advanced Standing is built into the application checklist and will be completed there if required.

This form is only required for individuals whose bachelors degree in social work is more than 6 years old.

The Advanced Standing Program is reserved for those who have earned a bachelors in social work form a Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accredited program within the last 6 years as of the start of MSW Program courses in June 2025. However, applicants with a degree older than 6 years, but still less than 10 years old as of June 2025, may petition the MSW Program to review their eligibility for Advanced Standing. Eligibility is determined upon the applicant’s extent and level of current professional activity and development in the field of social work. Applicants whose bachelors in social work degree is older than 10 years must apply to the Regular Program.

• If you earned your bachelors in social work between December 2018 and present, you do not need to submit the Petition for Advanced Standing
• If you earned your bachelors in social work between December 2014 and November 2018, you must submit the Petition for Advanced Standing as part of your MSW Program application if you want to be considered for Advanced Standing.
• If you earned your bachelors in social work degree in November 2014 or earlier, you are not eligible for Advanced Standing and may submit the Regular Program application.

Applicants may upload supplemental items to their application checklist. This is not a required step in the application process. There is no guarantee that the Admissions Committee will review any uploaded supplemental materials. As such, if an uploaded document is a critical component, applicants are encouraged to refer to the document in their admissions essay. Items uploaded as supplemental items are not evaluated as part of the formal review, but may serve to answer some questions or paint a more comprehensive picture of the applicant.