First-Year and Transfer Students

If you are a student interested in transferring to Buffalo State, you must apply for admission through the Undergraduate Admissions Office and select Social Work as your major.

First-year and transfer students who have completed fewer than 45 credit hours are assigned to the Pre-Social Work major.

Pre-Majors

If you are currently a Buffalo State first-year or sophomore student interested in majoring in Social Work, you may be eligible to become a pre-major. Although pre-majors are not eligible to register for social work courses that are reserved only for junior and senior social work majors, you will receive advisement, including information on pre-requisite requirements for the Social Work major, to ensure that you are academically prepared once you are accepted into the major.

 

Counselor working

Undergraduate Admission

Undergraduate Students

Transfer Students

 

Admission Requirements for Majors

In order to be eligible for admission into the Social Work program, current and transfer students are required to:

  • Have a minimum GPA of 2.5 or better (cumulative)

  • Completed 45 credit hours

  • Successfully completed:

    • CWP101/102 with a C or better 

    • BIO101 Human Biology

    • PSY - Any 3 credit hour Psychology course or SPF 302, ED PSY, AP PSY from HS

    • SOC - Any 3 credit hour Sociology course

Verify Eligibility 

Professional social work practice requires a strong foundation in the liberal arts which includes the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences — especially human biology. These are necessary for a capacity to think critically about people and their environments, an important skill for the professional practitioner. The values and ethics of the social work profession are drawn from our inherited traditions of helping to create a more just and resourceful society.

Students can meet the requirements for this foundation by selecting at least one course from each discipline below as they fill their core and elective requirements. Human Biology is mandatory; the other courses are highly recommended by advisement and normally required for graduate education in social work.

Humanities
ENG 210 or 211 British Literature I: Special Topics or British Literature II: Special Topics
ENG 220 or 221  American Literature I: Special Topics or American Literature II: Selected Topics
ENG 252 British Modernism
PHI 102  Introduction to Ethics

Arts
Any course meeting the Intellectual Foundations requirement

Social Sciences
ECO 101 The Economic System
PSC 101 Introduction to Government and Politics
PSY 101 Introduction to Psychology
SOC 100 Introduction to Sociology
SOC 240 Analyzing Social Problems

Natural Sciences
ANT 100 Human Origins

Non-Western Civilizations
ANT 101 Understanding Culture

American History
ECO 103 Economic History of the United States
HIS 107 History of American Life II
PSC 102 Introduction to American Government and Politics

Diversity
SOC 350 Power, Class, and Inequality
SOC 351 Sociology of Race and Ethnicity