1. Does Graduate Social Work Education have an Open Enrollment Policy?
Peter A. Kindle, Doctoral Candidate Graduate College of Social Work, University of Houston
For more information
Abstract
A convenience sample of MSW students responded to an Internet-based survey (N = 2,289) retrospectively reported their graduate application and acceptance history. Reponses indicate that the overall acceptance rates may be substantially higher than individual program statistics suggest and may indicate a virtual open enrollment policy on the national level.
Hepler and Noble (1990) were quick to affirm the importance of maintaining admissions standards. Both framed the graduate admission decision as an ethical issue in which the gatekeeping function of graduate admissions should prevail over enrollment goals.
Research on social work graduate admissions is dated (Fellin, 1983; Sanchez, Mindel, & Saleebey, 1980) or restricted to students of color (Bowie, Cherry, & Wooding, 2005; Sanchez et al., 1980). Application of the findings from research sponsored by the National Association of Graduate Admission Professionals (Augusto, 2000) may be problematic because social work graduate applicants are older and more likely to be female than graduate applicants at large, and uncritical embrace of CSWE Annual Program Statistics (CSWE, 2007) does not account for individual applicant behavior.
To date there has been no broad-based survey of graduate social work applicants in order to determine the actual acceptance rates for the profession as a whole. This study begins to fill that gap.
Method
Using a retrospective, cross-sectional, and descriptive research design, a convenience sample (N = 2,289) of MSW students was solicited through the National Deans and Directors listserve to respond to an Internet-based survey on which they reported demographic, current enrollment, and graduate school application history.
The demographics of respondents were fairly typical, although not statistically equivalent, to enrolled graduate social work students in 2004.
Results
In 2004 CSWE reported a full-time and part-time actual enrollment rate of 37.4% and 52.7%, respectively, for graduate social work programs (CSWE, 2007, p. 37). Calculated as the simple ratio between actual enrollment and total applications received and considered, the actual enrollment rate is often used as a proxy for selectivity in program admissions. Respondents in this study reported that the average full-time student applied to 2.02 (SD = 1.544) graduate programs and that the average part-time student applied to 1.39 (SD = .974) programs.
If the average number of applications for full-time and part-time students are utilized to restate the number of unique applicants to all programs, the denominator of the enrollment rate drops significantly. The 24,078 full-time applicants adjusted by the average number of applications in this sample results in only 11,920 unique applicants; the 10,052 part-time applications falls to 7,232 (CSWE, 2007). Utilizing these new numerators to recalculate enrollment rates produces substantially higher estimates of 74.6% for full-time students and 72.2% for part-time students.
Limitations
Care should be taken in generalizing the results from this convenience sample. Recruitment of MSW student respondents through the NADD listserve is likely to have resulted in some responses from students attending Canadian schools of social work.
Conclusions
Even without adjusting acceptance rates for multiple applications by individual applicants, 12 (7.7%) of the 155 reporting accredited and candidacy programs admitted more than 70% of their applicants, 63 (40.6%) more than 50%, while only 17 (11.0%) programs admitted less than 30% of their applicants (CSWE, 2007). Enrollment rates at these high levels suggest that there is, in effect, an open enrollment policy for graduate social work education on a national level. There is a high likelihood that an applicant will be accepted into some program if multiple applications are submitted.
The growth in the number of programs, low GRE scores among graduate social work students, modest entry-level wages for social work graduates (Karger & Stoesz, 2002), and declining pass rates on the MSW licensing examination (D. DeAngelis, personal communication, May 18, 2005) are consistent with a national trend toward escalating enrollment rates. In an open enrollment environment, recruiting will become increasingly more important for every social work graduate program in order to enhance both the quantity and quality of applicants.
Background and Purpose
Between 1990 and 2004, the number of CSWE accredited MSW programs increased from 99 to 186, an 87.9% increase. For this same period, MSW enrollment increased at a slower pace from 27,420 to 36,475 or 33.0%. Despite significance variation in response rates in these CSWE reports, from 96.0% in 1990 to 84.4% in 2004, the number of enrolled MSW students per program seems to be declining from in 1990 to in 2004 (CSWE, 2007; Lennon, 1991). Some have interpreted this trend as increasing the competition between graduate programs for the best students (Keith-Spiegel & Wiederman, 2000).
This is not the first time that the profession has faced a potential imbalance between applicants and desired enrollment levels. Born and Carroll (1988) criticized the escalation of acceptance rates that accompanied a downturn in applications in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.
References
Augusto, J. (2000). A report on the uses of the Internet in selecting a graduate
program: A collaboration between the National Association of Graduate Admissions Professionals and the Graduate Record Examinations. National Association of Graduate Admissions Professionals.
Born, C. E., & Carroll, D. J. (1988). Ethics in admissions. Journal of Social Work
Education, 24,
Bowie, S. L., Cherry, D. J., & Wooding, L. H. (2005). African American MSW
students: Personal influences on social work careers and factors in
graduate school selection. Social Work Education, 24,
Council on Social Work Education 9CSWE). (2007). Statistics on social work education in the United States: Alexandria, VA: Author.
Fellin, P. (1983). Student recruitment: Recommendations from an applicant
survey. Journal of Education for Social Work, 19(1),
Hepler, J.B., & Nobel, J. H. Jr. (1990). Improving social work education: Taking
responsibility at the door. Social Work, 35,
Karger, H. J., & Stoesz, D. (2002). The growth of social work education
programs, : Its impact on economic and educational factors
related to the profession of social work. Journal of Social Work
Education, 39,
Keith-Spiegel, P., & Wiederman, M. W. (2000). The complete guide to graduate
school admission: psychology, counseling, and related professions.
Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Lennon, T. M. (1991). Statistics on social work education: Alexandria, VA:
Council on Social Work Education.
Sanchez, J. H., Mindel, C. H., & Saleebey, D. (1980). Factors influencing the
decision of minority students to attend graduate schools of social work.
Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 7,