How to Complete Your UCalgary MSW Program Proposal
Applications for MSW programs can be tough, especially when you are trying to figure out what each school requires for your application. To help make the process as easy as possible, I’ve put together a guide to your University of Calgary MSW application so you can focus less on logistics and more on your application itself!
UCalgary MSW Programs
The University of Calgary offers two different streams for their MSW programs, one for applicants entering with a BSW, and another for applicants entering with a non-social work degree. Both programs are offered primarily online, but will require some short-term in-person attendance on-campus in either Calgary or Edmonton depending on your specialization choice (more on this below).
Non-Social Work Degree Applicants
In this stream of the MSW program, students will complete a foundational year (12 months) prior to moving on to their specialization courses. In total, this program is a 36 month full-time program. If students want to complete a thesis, this will add an additional 12 months to the program completion time.
BSW Applicants
Applicants who already have their BSW will start directly with their specialization courses. This program is 24 months long, and similar to the foundation stream, completing a thesis would add an additional 12 months to the length of the program.
For each of these streams, U of C offers two specializations: Clinical Social Work Practice, as well as International and Community Development. Within these specializations, students can select a specific stream based on a topic of interest. These streams vary from year to year, so be sure to read carefully on their website for more information. For spring 2025 admission, you can find the available streams for applicants with a BSW here, and available streams for non-social work degree applicants here.
Ucalgary MSW Application Process
As with most other MSW programs, the application for UCalgary’s MSW program has a few different elements. The first step of the process includes completing their online application form and fee. You will need to gather your references prior to completing the application because you will have to provide their information while filling out the online application form. Once this is done, you’ll need to upload your required documents. Similar to many other MSW applications, you will need to upload unofficial transcripts, your resume, and your program proposal (personal statement). Additionally, if you are hoping to complete a thesis, you will need to upload a thesis proposal as well. You can find more information on preparing your U of C MSW application here!
References
When applying to UCalgary’s MSW programs, you will be asked to provide information for two different references. One reference will need to be from an academic setting, such as a past course instructor or research supervisor. The other reference should be from a professional/work related setting, and U of C specifies that this should be someone who directly supervised you. You can find further details on references requirements for your U of C application here.
Finding people to have as a reference for your MSW application can be daunting, but don’t worry! You can find our full guide to grad school references here to help you through the process!
Resume
For your resume, UCalgary has provided specific guidelines that you should follow. There are three headings that you are required to include on your resume: employment experience related to social services, volunteer experience related to social services, and employment experience not related to social services. In addition to this, their website indicates to include your educational history, as well as other accomplishments such as awards, scholarships, presentations, publications, etc. Importantly, for your UCalgary resume, make sure you include how many hours you accrued for each of your social service experiences on your resume! You can find further instructions on the UCalgary website here!
Does the University of Calgary Require A Personal Statement?
UCalgary’s MSW program requires a program proposal - which is similar to a personal statement - as part of the application process. Below, we will dive deeper into how to answer the program proposal prompts.
Use our personal statement template to help guide your responses!
UCalgary MSW Program Proposal
The program proposal is one of the most important parts of your MSW application as a whole, so prioritizing writing a great statement can really strengthen the quality of your overall application. UCalgary provides three questions for applicants to answer in their statements, and each question must be addressed. The program proposal should be 5 pages or less (excluding title page and references), and U of C recommends APA formatting for your statement. Below, I’ll break down each of the three prompts to give you some ideas and tips for how to answer the MSW Program Proposal.
Prompt 1: Introduce yourself and discuss your decision to apply for graduate education (MSW) in the context of your personal and professional development.
This question is broad and allows for a lot of flexibility for your answer depending on your own personal experiences. In answering this question, I would recommend thinking about why you are choosing to pursue your MSW, because this will help you get started in the right direction for your answer. Depending on your experiences, you may have been motivated by social service related professional experiences, or even by your own personal experiences. Either way, make sure you are clearly highlighting why you are choosing to pursue social work in particular, as opposed to another helping profession like medicine, nursing, psychology, etc.
Trying to narrow down your motivation for pursuing social work can be a bit tricky, but doing so will be helpful in creating a cohesive statement overall. To help you with figuring out your “mission statement”, we have created an entire blog post on the topic to help you get started!
Prompt 2: Provide an analysis of your area of interest- drawing on the scholarly literature (references required) and your own practical experience. Discuss how your education in the MSW program will advance your work in this area.
The wording of this question is a little bit vague, but in answering this question, U of C is asking you to analyze a social issue that you are interested in. As mentioned in the question, by linking your answer here to your past experience (which you probably discussed in the first question), your entire statement as a whole will feel a lot more cohesive. That said, choosing a social issue related to your past experiences will help you write a strong answer here. In addition, make sure you are including at least a few references (I would recommend at least 3) so that you clearly demonstrate your academic writing and research skills. Answering this prompt is an important component of the program proposal, so we have a dedicated post to this exact topic that you can find here!
Prompt 3: Discuss your experience with and commitment to address equity, racial justice, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization in your practice.
As with the other U of C prompts, this one is very open-ended and there are many different aspects of equity, diversity, and inclusion that you may choose to discuss. For instance, you may choose to discuss your own positionality and how this experience influences your perspective. This can be valuable to highlight regardless of your background, because your ability to be reflective will demonstrate your self-awareness to the admissions committee.
In addition, if you have experience working with any specific populations, this will be valuable to highlight here. When doing so, I would suggest including anything you may have learned from this experience along with how this will help you excel in the MSW program and as a social worker in the future. More broadly, it will be important to discuss how you will uphold these principles in your practice as a professional social worker. This is not only important within the context of this program proposal, but also in your future practice because this is a key aspect of the Canadian Association of Social Workers code of ethics. By making your career goals related to these principles clear, you will be able to demonstrate your commitment to social justice, which is what makes the field of social work unique.
Final Tips For Your University of Calgary MSW Program Proposal
Lastly, below are a few more tips for your UCalgary MSW program proposal and application!
UCalgary requests that applicants follow APA format for their MSW application statement(s), and APA format is most common in the field of social work, so I always recommend following APA format. Doing so shows your attention to detail and professionalism. You can find a guide for APA 7th edition student papers here!
Keep in mind that The University of Calgary’s application deadlines are quite a bit earlier than most other programs – the application and documents are due November 1st! Make sure you get started as early as possible so you have lots of time to find references, write your program proposal, etc.
You can only apply to one program specialization (Clinical Social Work/International and Community Development) and one program stream (course based or thesis based), so make sure that you are sure of which one you’d like to pursue when you apply! If there are multiple topics within your preferred stream, you will be able to indicate your top preferences in the application.
Although MSW applications can be overwhelming, for your University of Calgary application, you basically need to gather your references, fill out the application form, and then submit your resume, unofficial transcripts, and personal statement/program proposal (and thesis proposal if applicable). By following the suggestions I’ve provided above, you will be ready to put together an amazing application for UCalgery’s MSW program!
Related reading:
Check out our guides to other Canadian Universities!
