1. About Letters of recommendation 

Letters of recommendation should attest to academic ability, nature and quality of past work performance, commitment to social work values, and capacity for scholarly contribution. 

Who to ask? 

You should ask people to write a letter of recommendation for you who will be able to comment on one or more of the following: 

• your professional experience and performance 
• your intellectual, conceptual, and analytic abilities 
• your interest in, aptitude for, commitment to, and (if appropriate) experience with social work research 
• your commitment to social work values 

PLEASE INFORM THOSE WRITING LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION THAT IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT ALL REFERENCES REACH US BY JANUARY 1st OR EARLIER 

2 For those without MSW's 

We encourage applications from people holding masters degrees in related areas. Our policy is for students to complete the requirements for the MSW concurrent with their doctoral studies. You will probably be able to transfer credits from your prior masters program.

We also encourage applications to the MSW/PHD Continuum from undergraduates or from first year MSW students with strong preparation in social or behavioral science research and a desire to become a social work researcher.

3. About research experience

Some things we ask you to show in your application statement are your research interests, the area of social work practice you are interested in, and some specific research questions. Understanding how your research interests developed will be useful information for those making admission decisions. Because our primary objective is preparing researchers, you will want to show in the application whatever experience you have had with research. If you have participated in research projects, taken courses, studied and/or used statistics, you will want to describe these in your application.

4. About work experience in Human Services 

Ideally, applicants to the Ph.D. program will have two years of work experience after completing the MSW. This acquaints them with how the world looks to practitioners and provides the practical experience from which research interests spring. In addition, two years of post-MSW experience for teachers of practice is required by the Council on Social Work Education as part of their accreditation standards. Even if you don't intend to teach practice courses in a school of social work, your marketability will be increased by meeting this requirement.

If you enter our program without this experience and wish to obtain it, we can assist you to find part-time employment in a practice setting so that you can meet the requirement.

5. About late applications

The Ph.D. Program will accept and review applications until March 1. If your application or application materials are late, however, your application will be reviewed after those that were postmarked by the January 1 deadline. 

6. About the Writing Sample

A writing sample enables us to assess your ability to conceptualize and write. Appropriate writing to submit includes: professional papers, research proposals, manuals, and term papers. If you have none of these at hand, you could submit documents such as case reviews, brochures, or newsletters.

The Graduate Record Examination is required as part of your application. If you have taken the GRE earlier but your scores are more than five years old, you will need to retake the exam. Remember that your application file must be completed by January 1st, and it takes the Educational Testing Service appropriately six weeks after you take the exam for your scores to get to us. The sooner your GRE scores get to us, the sooner we can consider your application. 

Inquire at the nearest college or university or write directly to Graduate Record Exam, Educational Testing Service (ETS), CN 6000, Princeton, NJ 08541-6000, for information about the exam and dates. Register six weeks in advance of the exam date. Ask that your GRE scores be sent directly to the Graduate School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (ETS Institutional Code R5816 and Departmental Code 5001). If you have taken the examination within the last five years, write to ETS to arrange for your scores to be sent. 

If you are taking the GRE now, you may be experiencing some anxiety. This is not surprising, especially if you graduated from college some years ago. Please remember that the Graduate Record Examination is only one of the factors we consider in assessing your application; however, your competitiveness as an applicant will be improved by higher GRE scores relative to other applicants. Research suggests that your confidence and your score can be raised and your anxiety level lowered by preparing yourself for the GRE. 

We want to encourage you to take one of the GRE preparation courses, or to use one of the many books that help people prepare for the exam. Some particularly good books are Barron's How to Prepare for the GRE and Princeton Review's Cracking the GRE. We suggest that you start to prepare for the exam as soon as possible. There are also computer software programs to help you prepare for taking the examinations by computer. We want you to be able to put together a competitive application, and we feel that through preparation, you will improve your GRE scores. If you are taking the GRE by computer, be sure to obtain preparation for that type of exam. There are apparently useful computer packages for GRE preparation. 

Please note that this preparation will pay off not only in your GRE scores, but also in your building the verbal and quantitative skills you need to excel in your doctoral studies. 

We look forward to receiving your application. 

GRE resources