Arizona State University Reviews of Bachelor's in Social Work

I enjoyed my time at ASU School of Social Work. The campus was a satelite campus so it was a small community of students. The instructors were mostly well educated and supportive. The one main criticism of the program would be some overlap in classes leading to repetition in core classes that was frustrating. The academic advisors at the college itself were terrible, all three that were employed in the 2 years I was there. The advisors at the main campus were great, and the chair of the department... Read More was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful.

I have not yet graduated from my school. I work in the social work field currently and there are a great number of people who are in college, the majority divided between ASU and GCU. What I like about ASU is that it requires in person classes to complete the BSW program. I firmly believe that one gets more out of a classroom setting and though I have appreciated on line courses for convenience as I have to work full time, I think that in the field of social work it is vital to acknowledge and interact... Read More with the diversity of the students studying in this field. Grand Canyon University on the other hand has an entirely online bachelors of social work degree available. While again I am also appreciative of the online classes that have enabled me to continue to work and progress my academic career at a nice pace, social networking in this field is irreplaceable. ASU is supportive of it's students and has an excellent tutoring program.

Since grade school I envisioned gaining higher education. It was a topic that was lightly introduced to children but teachers would not spend much time exploring educational paths with students. I attended a public school in a low income community. Coming from a family with no college background, my parents expected their children to take advantage of the education opportunities. And her I am as an ASU graduate student pursuing my graduate degree. The experience at ASU has remained similarly between... Read More undergraduate and graduate programs. I had an overall good experience with instructors and their quality of teaching. In social work, teachers know their material, and also have field experience being real social workers. The BSW curriculum in Social Work, sets the foundation for the major with opportunity to specialize in a concentration. The university has a diverse student body. In my experience, students are friendly and willing to help you. The campus has adequate security that offers safety in campus during the day and night. The ASU downtown campus in particular, is well lit and appears safe to students with night class sessions. Financial services are available to all students in-person and online. My experience as an undergraduate student inspired me to continue my education at ASU and pursue a graduate degree in Social Work. I enrolled in the the graduate program in 2016 and have an expected date for graduation of May 2018.

I graduated in 2010 with an Interdisciplinary Studies degree. My concentrations were Social Work and Religious Studies. Although the instruction in the online IDS classes was good I graduated with few job prospects. I really have no one to blame but myself. I was interested in Social Work but did not want to go the traditional route. Believing that IDS would offer an expanded breadth of knowledge that would make me a more attractive hire to the Social Service providers I was interested in I went... Read More that route.

My recommendation is this: do your homework if you don't know exactly what job your degree will qualify you for; do not assume that it will qualify you for anything. Part of the issue was cuts, to federal funding, which fund most of the social service programs. These cuts took place during my 3rd and 4th year of school, which greatly decreased the number of social service jobs available and lowered the pay for those jobs.