Master of Social Work (MSW) Programs in the Tallahassee Metropolitan Area

There are two Florida universities located in the Tallahassee Metropolitan Area that offer Master of Social Work (MSW) degree programs: Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (Florida A&M), and Florida State University (FSU). Both schools offer traditional MSW program tracks for students who have completed a bachelor’s degree regardless of their undergraduate major. Both of these schools also have advanced standing MSW program tracks designed specifically for students who hold a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree from an undergraduate program that is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Florida A&M offers its MSW program in a fully campus-based format, while FSU’s College of Social Work has an on-campus program and an online MSW program. Florida A&M and FSU offer MSW programs that are fully accredited by the CSWE.

• Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (Accredited)
• Florida State University (Accredited)

This page provides detailed information on the MSW programs offered by the two schools that have campuses in the Tallahassee metropolitan area. Programs are classified based on their admissions requirements, with traditional MSW programs grouped separately from advanced standing MSW programs in the sections below.

• Traditional MSW Programs in the Tallahassee Metropolitan Area
• Advanced Standing MSW Programs in the Tallahassee Metropolitan Area
• Additional MSW Program Options for Florida Residents
• Directory of All MSW Programs in the Tallahassee Metropolitan Area

Traditional MSW Programs in the Tallahassee Metropolitan Area

Traditional MSW programs are master’s programs that provide graduate training in clinical and/or macro practice social work to students who hold a bachelor’s degree and meet other admissions requirements. The majority of traditional MSW programs do not require a bachelor’s degree in social work or any other specific field, although some programs may prefer applicants to have completed an undergraduate program in a related field or have professional experience in social services. Like master’s programs in many other fields, traditional MSW programs typically take two to three years to complete, depending on the structure of the program and the number of credits a student successfully completes each semester or term.

One unique feature of MSW programs is field education, a signature pedagogy of social work education that involves interning at agencies, clinics, and other sites where social work services are provided. Traditional MSW programs require students to engage in a minimum of 900 hours of field education, as required for CSWE accreditation. Both of the Tallahassee schools that offer CSWE-accredited MSW program have traditional MSW program tracks.

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (Florida A&M) has a campus-based traditional MSW program that it offers through its Department of Social Work. The program has a Community-Based Social Service Administration specialization that prepares students for macro practice social work in urban and rural settings. Students are required to complete 67 credits of coursework and 900 hours of field education in order to earn their MSW degree. Applicants to the program are expected to hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher in their last 60 credits coursework. The completion time for Florida A&M’s MSW program is two years for full-time students or up to four years for students who opt for part-time enrollment.

Florida State University (FSU) has an on-site traditional MSW program that it offers at its main campus in Tallahassee, as well as an online MSW program that requires traditional students to attend two weekend-long campus sessions on the Tallahassee campus. The campus-based program allows students the choice of a Clinical Social Work concentration with optional certificates in Child Welfare and Gerontology/Aging Studies, or a Social Leadership macro practice concentration with an optional certificate in Leadership in Executive and Administrative Development. The online program only offers the Clinical Social Work concentration. Students are required to engage in 944 hours of field education while earning their MSW degree. Students in the campus-based program can complete their degree requirements in as few as 20 months of full-time enrollment, or they can opt to earn their degree on a part-time basis provided they graduate within seven years. The online program is designed for part-time enrollment and typically takes three years to complete.

Advanced Standing MSW Programs in the Tallahassee Metropolitan Area

College graduates who hold a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree from a CSWE-accredited undergraduate program may be eligible for an advanced standing MSW program track. Advanced standing status is conferred to BSW graduates on a selective basis, allowing eligible students to earn their MSW degree in roughly half the time it takes to complete a traditional MSW program track. Advanced standing programs credit students with the foundational coursework and field education hours they completed during their BSW degree. This allows advanced standing students to graduate with their MSW degree in two or three semesters of full-time enrollment (i.e., one year). Programs that can be completed on a part-time basis generally take advanced standing students four or more semesters to complete (i.e., typically one and a half to two years).

Both of the schools in the Tallahassee metropolitan area that offer MSW programs have an advanced standing track that is open to qualified to students. Admission requirements for advanced standing students vary by program, but many programs require students to have earned their BSW degree within the last five, six, or seven years and to have attained a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher on a four-point scale.

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (Florida A&M) offers its campus-based MSW program in a 32-credit advanced standing format that can be completed in two semesters of full-time enrollment. In addition to didactic coursework, advanced standing students are required to engage in 450 hours of field education. The program has a macro practice curriculum with a concentration in Community-Based Social Service Administration. To qualify for advance standing status, applicants must hold a BSW degree from a CSWE-accredited undergraduate program and have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher in their most recent 60 credits of college-level coursework.

Florida State University (FSU) has an MSW program with an advanced standing track that is taught on campus in Tallahassee, as well as a fully online. To qualify for either of these advanced standing options, applicants must have earned their undergraduate degree from a CSWE-accredited BSW program. The Tallahassee campus-based program has a Clinical Social Work specialization that offers optional certificates in Child Welfare and Gerontology/Aging Studies, as well as a Social Leadership specialization in which students can earn a certificate in Leadership in Executive and Administrative Development. Only the Clinical Social Work specialization is offered online. Advanced standing students are required to complete 39 credits, including 512 hours of field education. The campus-based program can be completed in one year of full-time enrollment, while the online program is offered in a part-time format that takes two years to complete.

Additional MSW Program Options for Florida Residents

There are a number of accredited colleges and universities outside of the Tallahassee metropolitan area that offer MSW programs with traditional and advanced standing tracks, both within the state of Florida and in other states and regions of the country. There are also a number of schools that have online MSW programs that accept applicants who intend to remain in Florida while earning their degree. Students in an online MSW program typically complete all or most of their didactic coursework via distance learning and thus do not have to attend campus-based classes to earn their degree. (Note: Some online MSW programs require students to attend a limited number of on-campus sessions or residencies each year.) While field education hours must be completed at a suitable agency, clinic, or site where social work services are provided, most online programs allow students to find convenient sites for field placements within their geographic region. Visit our MSW Programs in Florida and Online MSW Programs pages to learn more about in-state and out-of-state schools that offer online MSW programs.