Herzing University: Bachelor of Social Work

Program Overview

Begin your journey toward career opportunities that change lives. Herzing's Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) prepares you to engage, assess, advocate, and intervene with individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities to improve their wellbeing.

Designed for working students, the online BSW program prepares you to pursue a wide range of career opportunities or transition to graduate-level study in social work – including the Herzing MSW program.

What You'll Learn

The Bachelor of Social Work program is designed to prepare students for generalist social work practice, equipping them with culturally informed knowledge, skills, and values necessary to address complex social issues and to ensure the promotion of social justice in the service delivery to diverse populations and communities. The program combines academic coursework with an experiential practicum, allowing students to develop a strong foundation in social work theory and practice.

Throughout the program, students engage in analysis of social problems, learn evidence-based engagement, assessment, intervention, evaluation strategies to improve the wellbeing of individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. The program emphasizes ethical and cultural informed practice with a commitment to serving vulnerable and marginalized populations. With the emphasis on preparation for practice, the BSW program prepares graduates to make meaningful contributions in a broad spectrum of social service settings.

Program Accolades:  Ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the best online bachelor’s degree programs in 2026. 

Career Preparation 

Two practicum courses are built into our program, providing students with the opportunity to apply social work knowledge, skills, and values in a supervised agency setting, allowing students to integrate classroom learning with experiential practice in social work.

Under the guidance of an approved social work field instructor, students will complete 400 field education hours total, engaging in social work practice and reflective assignments.

Course topics include the application of the NASW Code of Ethics, legal and regulatory considerations, ethical decision-making models, research ethics, evidence-based practice, cultural humility, and social work theories.

Students will be supported throughout their practicum experiences, including initial, midterm, and final virtual site visits each semester and evaluations to assess competency development in all 9 Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) competencies and proficiency in generalist social work practice.

Graduates may be eligible to apply for the Advanced Standing MSW program if they meet the requirements, and begin working towards becoming a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW).

Admission Requirements

Prerequisites to enroll in the Herzing University bachelor's degree in social work program include:

• Prior education requirement. Completion of high school diploma, GED, or equivalent.
• Entrance testing.   Achieve the minimum score on one of several options for entrance testing, including the Wonderlic, ACT or SAT. The Wonderlic assessment is a short assessment provided by Herzing University at no cost to you.  Prior college coursework may also be used in lieu of testing.  
• Availability of time, personal commitment, and a professional attitude. We exist to help enthusiastic students fully committed to reaching their highest career goals. Our faculty and leadership are dedicated to helping you reach them.
• Reside in an Eligible State for Enrollment. Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York,  North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

You will need to meet and interview with a Herzing University admissions advisor and complete an enrollment application to be admitted into the program.

About Herzing University

^{*The Bachelor of Social Work program is currently in pre-candidacy for accreditation by the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Board of Accreditation (BOA).}

^{Pre-candidacy status indicates that it submitted an application to be reviewed for candidacy and received approval of its Benchmark 1 from CSWE Accreditation Staff to move forward for a candidacy review within 1-year. A program that has attained pre-candidacy status has not yet been reviewed by the BOA nor verified to be compliant with the accreditation standards.}

^{Students that are admitted to pre-candidate programs in the fall (or later) of the academic year in which the program is granted candidacy status will be retroactively recognized as graduates from a CSWE-BOA accredited program as long as the program attains initial accreditation. Candidacy is typically a 3-year process and attaining pre-candidacy does not guarantee that a program will eventually attain candidacy and initial accreditation.}

^{Pre-candidacy applies to all program options, which include locations and delivery methods.}

^{Accreditation provides reasonable assurance about the quality of the program and the competence of students graduating from the program.}

^{Review Herzing’s program's accredited status in CSWE's Directory of Accredited Programs https://www.cswe.org/accreditation/about/directory/?. For more information about social work accreditation, contact CSWE's Department of Social Work Accreditation  http://mailto:accreditation@cswe.org.}