Rutgers School of Social Work is pleased to welcome approximately 770 new students to the MSW program this year. The School’s Office of Admissions selected this group of talented students from a pool of more than 1,550 applicants. The average undergraduate GPA was 3.43, up from 3.41 in 2020. We also enrolled our first cohort of students in the MSW/MA in Criminal Justice program, welcoming 12 new students into this new dual degree program that launched last fall.
Students earned their undergraduate degrees from 230 different institutions, including regional schools such as Rutgers, Seton Hall, Columbia, and Rider University, as well as many across the U.S., including Vanderbilt University, Texas A&M University, Boston College, and Brigham Young University. Seven international students also join us from Canada, China, India, Israel, Kuwait, Mexico, and Peru.
The School also welcomes eight new Dean's Excellence Scholars from schools, including Rutgers University, Villanova University, Hunter University, and Elon University. Each scholar was awarded $6,000 to $10,000 based on their personal, professional, and academic accomplishments. Recipients of this scholarship include a theatrical design major who served in the NYC District Attorney’s office, a student leader from Texas with significant human trafficking research and advocacy experience, and a care coordinator at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who is supporting families of critically ill children with COVID relief services.
The number of out-of-state students has grown from 8% in 2020 to 13% in 2021. Similar to many large public institutions, the majority of the School’s on-campus and online MSW students live in New Jersey, while 31 live in New York or Pennsylvania, and another 68 hail from California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, and several other states.
The new students range in age from 20 to 68 years old, adding to the rich diversity of this class. The group is comprised of 693 women and 100 men and includes 21 veterans.
