Completing Your Application

1. Begin the Online Application

Initiate the application process by creating your login credentials for the USC online application portal. You may complete the application at your own pace and in any order.

2. Personal Information, Academic History, and Support Information

Submit the required personal information, academic history, and supporting documents. For personal information, provide a release statement; biographic, contact, and citizenship information; race and ethnicity; other personal and financial aid information; and USC background information. Academic history should include details on high school and college attendance, GPAs, educational gaps, and standardized test scores. If applicable, include supporting information such as experiences, achievements, conferences attended, memberships and relevant documents.

3. USC DSW Program Questions

Please respond to the questions that are specific to admission to the DSW Program, including questions related to program length, application history, academic background, and personal information. These questions also include the following important questions about your educational and career goals:

• Describe how your professional background and goals align with our DSW program’s focus on social change and innovation.
• Identify a large-scale social challenge you are passionate about addressing. Why is this challenge personally significant to you?
• In a scholarly manner, briefly analyze and establish the scope and significance of the identified social challenge, supported by empirical evidence. Demonstrate your understanding of its systemic nature.
• Considering the scope and significance of this challenge, what are the immediate needs and next steps that should be taken to address it? Describe any experience you have in addressing similar challenges.
• Reflect on how enhancing an aspect of your practice could improve your ability to address the challenges, needs, and steps you have outlined. How do you envision this enhancement aligning with the DSW program?

The questions primarily aim to assess two key areas:

Leadership in social work and social innovation: We ask about your leadership roles and responses to significant social challenges to assess your potential for driving impactful change in social work. This evaluation helps us understand your ability to undertake advanced responsibilities and guide transformative initiatives.

Empirical analysis and critical thinking:  These questions evaluate your ability to apply empirical evidence and critical thinking to dissect and understand complex social issues. This scrutiny ensures you are prepared to develop informed and effective large-scale strategies to address the challenges faced by the communities you will serve.

When answering the short-answer questions, please respond directly to what is being asked of you, while ensuring that your responses demonstrate your ability to communicate effectively and professionally in writing. Pay close attention to organization, grammar and syntax.

4. Add your Resume

For admission, experience in the field of social work is preferable but not required. Applicants are expected, however, to have experience in environments such as social and environmental justice, human services (e.g., nonprofit organization, public health, healthcare, etc.) and education. These experiences may include those in the workplace or in academic settings (e.g. internships). Applicants should submit an up-to-date resume highlighting their educational, professional and leadership experience and achievements, as well as their capacity to work effectively with a variety of populations. Resumes should include the following:

• Academic Experience
  Please describe your academic background and experience relevant to the field of social work. Include the following details for each degree obtained or currently being pursued: institution name, degree type (e.g., BA, BS, MSW), major or focus, dates of attendance, and any relevant coursework or research projects. If applicable, also include information about any academic honors or distinctions received.

• Professional Experience
  Please describe your professional experience, emphasizing post-master’s work, and supervisory, management, and executive positions within the field of social work or related fields. Detail the specific responsibilities and the impact of these roles on service delivery and outcomes. Include the following for each position: agency/organization name, position/title, dates of employment, and responsibilities.

• Leadership Experience
  In this section, focus on illustrating your leadership impact beyond immediate job functions. Describe your involvement in developing policies, initiating programs, and leading changes that significantly benefited the organization or community. Highlight how you have influenced organizational culture, improved team performance, or contributed to policy development. Please provide the duration of these roles, the agency or community where these efforts were made, and specific examples of your leadership activities

• Internship and Volunteer Social Work Experience
  Only include internships and volunteer work that offer unique perspectives or critical skills not covered by your paid employment. Focus on roles that demonstrate early leadership potential or special projects that are particularly relevant to your career trajectory. Include agency name, position/role, dates of volunteer work, and key responsibilities.

• Miscellaneous
  Please provide details of affiliations with professional organizations (e.g., National Association of Social Workers), honors or recognitions received, and special achievements.

5. Request Two (2) Recommendations

In the online application portal, you will be asked to send electronic recommendation requests. We require two (2) recommendations. Applications without two recommendations will be considered incomplete and not reviewed.

Only professional and academic references are acceptable. This includes recommendations from academic instructors or professionals who have supervised you in a social work related position or capacity. Personal recommendations (e.g., friends, relatives, therapists) will not be considered.

Once you have saved an electronic recommendation, an email request will automatically be sent to the recommender on your behalf. Please advise your recommender to look for this email in their inbox, as well as their spam or junk-mail folder, as emails do occasionally get filtered out.

6. Request your Official Transcripts from All Previously Attended Postsecondary Institutions (Undergraduate and Graduate)

Electronic or hard copy transcripts are accepted. Applications with missing transcripts will be considered incomplete and not reviewed.

Electronic: Please have electronic transcripts sent to both your email address and etrans@usc.edu. Once you have received the transcripts, upload them to the Academic History section of the application for admissions review purposes.

Hard copy: Please scan and upload your official transcripts directly to the Academic History section of the application portal. Opened, scanned and uploaded transcripts are acceptable for admissions review purposes. Once admitted, you will need to submit electronic transcripts or sealed, official transcripts from your degree-conferring institution to USC.

PLEASE NOTE: The USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work does not offer in-person interviews as part of the application. However, some applicants may be asked to complete a short virtual interview or phone call if needed for clarification purposes.