Applying for the social work degree

Before you make your application, you will need to research. Find out more about your preferred
universities, colleges and courses from their websites or by reading their prospectuses.
The first thing you need to do is to check the entry requirements of individual universities. Each university
sets its own entry requirements and may specify particular subjects, grades, qualifications and
experience. As a guide, most universities will ask for 5 GCSE subjects at grades A* - C, including English
and maths and a minimum of 2 (usually 3) A levels. Equivalent vocational qualifications may be accepted. 
If you are a mature student, the university may accept a QAA approved Access course or in some cases
Open University study instead of traditional qualifications.  Some universities may be willing to accept you if
you have been working in social care and have achieved NVQ qualifications at levels 3 or 4.
All universities will expect applicants to have had a certain amount of relevant experience and you will be
expected to demonstrate that you understand what social work involves. Having experience will allow you
to find out about opportunities and to think about your reasons for choosing social work as a career. It will
also enable you to gain an understanding of social work practice and an awareness of the personal
qualities required. Your experience may include voluntary work, paid work or life experience but must be
sufficient to demonstrate your interest and commitment to a career in social work.
Universities are required to make sure that students are fully prepared and suitable for their practice
placements.  This preparation must include the opportunity to develop a greater understanding of the
experience of people who use care services and the opportunity to shadow an experienced social worker. If
you are applying for the MA Social Work, the course is only two years and you will be going on your first
placement very early on in the course, universities may therefore ask you to supply an authenticated
testimonial from a social worker to the effect that you already meet the requirements concerning
preparation for assessed practice. The university will give you guidance on what is required.
All college based courses including the postgraduate programmes, recruit through UCAS (Universities and
Colleges Admission Service) http://www.ucas.com/
If you are applying for an employment based course you should consult your employer.
For courses starting in Autumn 2010, you should apply through UCAS between 1 September 2009 and 15
January 2010. Outside these dates you should contact the university to see if they will consider your
application. All applications for entry to courses offered at universities and colleges in the UK should be
made online using the electronic system "Apply". Apply is a secure web-based application system. If you
do not have access to a personal computer with an internet connection, you can find an online centre in
your local area that offers these resources for free on  http://www.ukonlinecentres.com/consumer At these
centres you will be able to access the UCAS website, set up your account, apply to the institutions of your
choice and track your application progress.
The on-screen help text will guide you through the application. If you are still attending school or college,
you will first need to obtain their buzzword - this will allow you to register in Apply. If you have left school or
college, you will be able to register as an individual applicant.

The Personal Statement

 The personal statement is often the weakest section of the UCAS application. The main weaknesses are:
(a) poor structure, (b) poor grammar and spelling, (c) too much waffle (d) not being taken seriously enough.
One of the most important parts of your application is the personal statement. Use it as a selling
opportunity.
You can enter 4,000 characters, including spaces, for your personal statement. You can use up to 47 lines
of text. When you save text, the system will automatically tell you how many more characters are still
available or if you have used too many characters. Unfortunately, you cannot use italics, bold type,
underlining or foreign characters, such as accents, in your personal statement.
You should prepare your personal statement offline as a word-processed document and paste in the text
by clicking in the box and holding down Ctrl +V.
Keep your style clear and simple but remember you are not e mailing a friend so use a formal style. Your
form has to serve as evidence of your writing ability and admissions tutors are likely to take poor spelling
and sentence construction as evidence of carelessness.
Your personal statement should show enthusiasm for your chosen course. Some applicants often focus too
much on extra-curricular activities and not enough on academic issues or choice of course.
Most importantly you should explain why you have applied for a social work degree. An outline of how your
qualifications and / or work experience are relevant to social work training should be given. For instance,
you could comment on topics you have studied and books you have read that have given you an insight
into social issues.
Don’t just describe what work experience you have done, give examples of skills and qualities you have
gained as a result and why you think you would make a good social worker. What evidence can you
provide that you are patient, tolerant, open minded, non judgemental and can work as part of a team?
Explain how your experience has given you an understanding of the role of a social worker.
Remember that any points written in your personal statement may be discussed during an interview, so
make sure that all your points are genuine.

Preparing for Your Social Work Interview

Individual universities and colleges select and admit students for social work training programmes using
their own criteria but they are also required to make a judgement on applicants’ prospective suitability for
professional registration with the General Social Care Council.
The admissions tutor will assess your educational and employment details, your personal statement and
reference from your UCAS application and will decide if you are to be short-listed and invited to attend for
an interview.
It is likely that you will be asked to submit a short piece of written work beforehand based on your
experience of social work or social care or on some current topical issue. Some universities may ask you to
complete a questionnaire designed to assess qualities such as your ability to work with others, adaptability,
resilience, commitment, organisational skills and communication skills.
The interview is likely to explore your understanding of the knowledge and skills required for social work
along with the reasons for your interest in social work, your personal qualities and ability to study at the
 required level.  Interview panels are often made up of the course tutor and an experienced practising social
worker. Users of social work services also contribute to the admissions process.
To prepare for your interview you should read widely about social issues so that you are fully aware of the
nature of social work and if possible, talk to practising social workers about their role and the requirements
and complexities of professional social work.
You will find a selection of books on social work and related issues in most libraries. Some titles to look out
for include:

 Coulshed V & Orme J. (4th edition, 2006) Social work practice, Palgrave
 Cree V (ed) (2003) Becoming a social worker, Routledge
 Cree V & Davis A (eds) (2006) Social work: voices from the inside, Routledge
 Davies M. (Ed) (2000) The Blackwell encyclopaedia of social work, Blackwell
 Horner N (2nd edition, 2006) What is social work?, Learning Matters
 Shardlow S. & Nelson P (eds) (2005) Introducing social work, Russell House Publishing
 Thompson N. (2nd edition, 2005) Understanding social work – preparing for practice, Palgrave

You should try to read a national newspaper – look out for articles on social issues.
Tune into news programmes and documentaries on TV and radio.
Read Community Care magazine, a weekly journal available in newsagents, reference libraries and online
at www.community-care.co.uk
Be aware of recent government policies and legislation – look at the websites of the Department of Health
and the Department for Children Schools and Families.
Try answering the questions below? Preparing answers to these should help you to demonstrate your
motivation to undertake social work training and that you are aware of the nature of professional social
work and the demands of the degree programme.
What has prompted your interest in a career in social work?
If your motivation comes from personal experience, can you be sufficiently objective to be able to benefit
from the programme and work within professional boundaries? 
What rewards, benefits and challenges will social work offer you?
What do you think you have to offer social work? (Are you aware of your own strengths and weaknesses,
particularly in relation to your values, skills and knowledge?)
How will you organise your time to meet the course, work placement requirements and your personal life? 
What have you done to broaden your knowledge and experience of social work?
What do you know about recent changes in social work practice? (Think here about multidisciplinary
working, training, occupational standards and regulation - what has driven these changes).
All applicants for social work training will need to demonstrate that they can understand and make use of
written material and are able to communicate clearly and accurately in spoken and written English.
How can you demonstrate that you are ready to undertake a programme of higher education or study at
Master's level?  What examples can you give to demonstrate that you have the study skills listed below?
 Research skills e.g. using library and Internet sources to gather evidence and material for essays,
making notes, analysing and interpreting what you have read.
 Written skills e.g. being able to write clearly and concisely, organising your work into paragraphs,
using correct grammar and spelling, presenting a well-reasoned argument, using references and a
bibliography. 
 Communication skills e.g. presenting your ideas verbally, discussing and exploring issues with
people who may have different opinions, taking part in group activities.
Good luck and remember that thorough preparation is key to a good interview.
(Any formal offer of a place would usually include a statement that it is made on condition of satisfactory
criminal, barring and health checks.)