Tulane School of Social Work's Master of Social Work (MSW) program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and can only accept transfer credits from other CSWE-accredited MSW programs. The credit must have been earned within the last five (5) years with a final grade of at least a B. TSSW does not give academic credit for life or work experience.
Eligible Courses
No more than a total of 15 credit hours will be accepted by TSSW. Additionally, a maximum number of credits in the below categories will be accepted:
- 1 semester of fieldwork (a maximum of 4 credit hours of field) will be accepted with receipt of a satisfactory field evaluation.
- A maximum of 3 courses or 9 credit hours (whichever is less) of foundation courses will be accepted. These courses include:
- SOWK 7120 Social Work History and Policy
- SOWK 7211 Human Behavior in the Social Environment I
- SOWK 7221 Human Behavior in the Social Environment II
- SOWK 7310 Introduction to Direct Social Work Practice
- SOWK 7211 Human Behavior in the Social Environment I
- TSSW course SOWK 7130 Diversity and Social Justice may not be substituted.
- A maximum of 9 credit hours of elective courses will be accepted.
Regardless of the above composition, only 15 total transfer credit hours will be accepted.
Transfer credits allow students to obtain credit for specific courses taken at another university. Students will have a decreased number of classes/credit hours per semester, but it is not possible for transfer credit to decrease the number of semesters that a student attends TSSW. For more details, see our MSW curriculum paths.
To know which TSSW course(s) for which a student could be eligible to receive credit, review the core course descriptions available on the Tulane University Catalog to compare the TSSW course(s) for with the completed course(s).
Requesting Transfer Credit
Students who have been admitted and deposited to the MSW program can request transfer credit by providing the following documents.
- Official transcripts from the previous MSW program (this can be pulled from the admission application).
- Official syllabi for all courses requesting transfer credit.
- Send a successful field evaluation, if requesting credit for field practicum hours.
- A request in writing outlining which courses the student previously completed and which TSSW course the student is requesting credit for.
- Example: I am requesting credit for course SW 500 HBSE completed at ABC University in lieu of TSSW course SOWK 7211 Human Behavior in the Social Environment.
TSSW considers each request to transfer credits on an individual application basis. TSSW reserves the right to contact the dean or other authorities of the former school(s) to verify that the applicant left the institution in good academic and professional standing.
