We are pleased that you are looking at Illinois State University for your Bachelor of Social Work degree. We know that transferring to a 4-year university can feel a bit intimidating, and we will work with you to make the transition as smooth as possible. Here are the requirements to begin the BSW program at ISU:

Requirements for entry into the two-year BSW program are:

General Education requirements must be completed. There are two ways transfer students may meet the General Education Requirements: Associates Degree (AA or AS) or the Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI).
Application to Illinois State University
Submit BSW application materials to the Director of Recruitment and Admissions for the School of Social Work by February 15th.
Completion of the following course requirements before entering the BSW program sequence:

One social work course:

SWK 170 - Introduction to Social Work

One human biology course from the following:

BSC 101 - Fundamental Concepts in Biology

BSC 145 - Human Biology

BSC 170- Genetics and Society

One statistics course from the following:

ECO/GEO/POS/PSY 138 - Social Science Reasoning and Statistics

MQM 100- Statistical Reasonsing

One sociology course from the following:

SOA 106 –Intro to Sociology

Two psychology courses:

PSY 110 – Intro to Psychology

PSY 350 – Psychopathology

One economics course:

ECO 103 – Individual and Social Change

One political science course:

POL 101 or POL 105 or POL 106

One anthropology course:

ANT 185- Fulfills Global Study Requirement

Your community college may offer classes that will articulate to ISU as the following prerequisite classes. You can find this information in the IAI information page. If it does not, please talk with the Director of Recruitment and Admissions to see whether the School of Social Work can help you find another class that will meet the requirement.

University Graduation Requirements

While the graduation requirements are not needed to begin the BSW program, you will need to complete them in order to graduate. Please see the undergraduate catalog for specific requirements.

There are distinct advantages to completing these requirements before you begin the BSW program. Please speak with the Director of Recruitment and Admissions for advice about this.

Additional BSW Degree Requirement:

(Students must take one of the following three courses in addition to the University General Education requirements)

An additional Sci/Math/Tech course beyond general education requirements. Approved courses for this requirement can be found in the list of the Bachelor of Science Requirement in Science, Mathematics, and Technology.
An additional foreign language course LAN 115 or higher

All General Education requirements must be completed prior to taking courses in the BSW program sequence. If you have any questions, contact the

Resources for Transferring Courses

Illinois Articulation Initiative: Transfer students can use this site to determine what courses will transfer to Illinois State under the IAI and what Illinois State courses are IAI general education courses.
Course Articulation from Illinois Community Colleges: Learn how Illinois community college courses transfer to Illinois State. You may also use this resource to see which courses count for the BSW degree requirement as well as which courses meet the Global Studies requirement.
Course Applicability System: This is a new site that provides course transfer information to and from many U.S. colleges