Social Work at WVU vs. Marshall (Huntington, Morgantown: credit, home, school)

[zvercetti]

What is the general opinion of specifically the Social Work programs at both universities?

Any input?

Thanks!

[tbailey1138]

I don't have any experience with either program, nor have I heard people really compare the two. I think if trying to choose between them, the first thing you would have to do is decide if you want a Bachelors or a Masters degree. Marshall only offers a Bachelors but WVU appears to offer a Bachelors and a Masters. So if you want a Masters degree in social work, WVU would be your answer.

If you want a Bachelors though, it appears that both Bachelors programs are accredited by the Council on Social Work Education which is something very important to consider. I could only find rankings for Masters programs but none for Bachelors programs so there doesn't appear to be a good resource online for comparing the two.

I would suggest looking at the requirements, talking to the administrators/teachers of each program, consider tuition cost and see which one fits your needs the best. It also appears that you are currently in Morgantown so another thing you need to consider is would you like a change in scenery and can what would be the difference in housing costs of moving to Huntington?

Sorry I couldn't be more specific but I'll try to ask some Social Workers that I work with if they have any input. I hope this was somewhat helpful.

Tim

[CTMountaineer]

What's your goal? If you are only planning to work for a "program" or at an entry level job in Government in the social services field, a bachelors degree would probably suffice and you'd do fine at either school. If you want to get into social work "practice" with counselling, psychiatric social work and the like, you'd need a masters. The program at WVU is fully accredited at the masters level.

Like Tim says, you would want to weigh whether or not you want a change in scenery, but you'd also want to factor in the cost of moving and the need to establish yourself in a new community if you were to move.

Here's a link to the program descriptions at WVU and at Marshall:

Division of Social Work | HOME | West Virginia University | Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

College of Health Professions (http://www.marshall.edu/cohp/portal/Main/index.asp?pid=49&sid=5 - broken link)