Which ONLINE college can I complete credits to obtain Bachelors fastest?

[SmirkinCat]

[b]What CSWE accredited ONLINE college should I choose that is affordable and fastrack?[/b]

Your Location: NYC, NY
Your Age: 27
What kind of degree do you want?: BSW (fastest) so I can enroll in a Master in Psychology 
Current Regional Accredited Credits: 44 
credits from CUNY (Laguardia CC)

Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS Credits: none


Any certifications or military experience? No military experience. 
No real certifications worth mentioning. (CPR, CPI, Trained Overdose Responder & Trainer, CPI, Child Mandated Reporter, F-80)


Work Experience: Human Services professional, experienced working with vulnerable populations: chronically homeless and individuals with mental illness & substance abuse. I worked mainly as a residential aide, harm reduction specialist, and am currently an Operations Manager at homeless shelters. 


Goal: To obtain a BSW as quickly as possible so I can enroll in a Masters degree program. 
My ultimately goal is to become a LCSW. 

Time Constraints: I currently work full time during the day as an Operations Manager at a shelter, and often do additional shifts.




Thank you for the time in reading this and I appreciate any advice!!

[carrythenothing]

What kind of degree do you want?: Bachelors (fastest) so I can enroll in a Master in Psychology 

Goal: To obtain my Bachelors as quickly as possible so I can enroll in a Masters degree program. 
My ultimately goal is to become a LCSW.

You generally need a CSWE-accredited MSW program to become an LCSW: https://www.cswe.org/accreditation/directory/

[rachel83az]

IIRC, most CWSE Masters programs won't admit you unless you have a CWSE Bachelor's as well. As far as I'm aware, most of those are very slow and accept few, if any, alternate credits.

[carrythenothing]

IIRC, most CWSE Masters programs won't admit you unless you have a CWSE Bachelor's as well. As far as I'm aware, most of those are very slow and accept few, if any, alternate credits.

You only need a CSWE bachelor's degree (and usually a minimum GPA in that program) if you want advanced standing (typically removes one year of the program).

[dfrecore]

A BSW is hard to get, the programs are generally not flexible. And they require a "clinical" or hands-on thing. So the any-bachelor's-to-MSW program is much better than BSW-to-MAinPsych program. Plus I don't think a MA in Psych gets you a LCSW. You MUST get a MSW to get that licensure/certification.

I thought this was discussed previously, you do not need any particular degree to get into a MSW program - so you're better off getting a fast, cheap BA/BS in just about anything, and then getting into a 2yr FT or 3yr PT MSW program.

My advice, because I don't think MSW programs are competitive: UMPI's BLS/Management or BA in CJ degree if you want to do a CBE program; or EU's BSL degree if you want to stick to a non-CBE program.

You should also list all of your credits: course #, full course name, number of credits, and grade We can then tell you what might be the best option based on your exact information.

[ss20ts]

You need to read up on New York State's requirements for social workers. This state is a pain in the you know what when it comes to licensing. I think drecore has you on the right track with getting a liberal arts type of bachelor's which can be done quickly - as in 6 months or less especially since you already have 44 credits and then move into a MSW program. You'll want a MSW program that the state approves. Seriously UMPI's BLS can be completed in under 6 months. I'd go that route so you can get working on your master's that much faster. A typical BSW program is a couple of years. You could put those couple of years to a master's instead.

[louise]

You can't become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with an MA in psychology. Also, no BSW is going to be super quick. It requires hundreds of hours of internship experience as does the MSW.

[studyingfortests]

If the end goal is to become an LCSW, then the masters degree you want is an MSW, not an MA in Psychology.  The licensed MSW (LCSW) has a wider scope of practice than the equivalent MA in psychology which would be an LMFT or LPCC, so there's really no advantage to going with the MA Psychology over the MSW.

Now, with that said, you do not need a BSW to get an MSW. In fact, CSWE (the programmatic accreditor for social work programs) has an entire section of their accreditation policy that relates to people seeking an MSW without having a BSW. In short, they recommend a liberal arts degree with some coursework in psychology and/or human services.

The BSW is going to be extremely restrictive, with little to no alternative credit options, 450 hours of practicum, and a very rigid course structure. This is dictated by CSWE's programmatic accreditation standards for BSW degrees.

It will be much faster to earn a non-traditional bachelors degree (such as many people who frequent this board do) and then do the two-year non-advanced standing MSW.  That would be about a three-year (or perhaps a bit less) plan all in, where the BSW+advanced standing MSW program will be an absolute minimum of 4 to 5 years. (I know this firsthand, as the non-traditional BA + non-advanced standing MSW is the route I am currently engaged in, I'm getting close to halfway through my MSW.)

Depending on what credits you already have, you can earn a BA in liberal studies from one of the schools regularly discussed here. That's the fastest and simplest degree to earn (most flexible with credit options), and you can certainly tailor your education plan to include some of the psychology and human services coursework that masters programs will want to see. (This is what I did, and I have three other friends currently on this path, one currently in an MSW program and the other two finishing their undergrads with plans to apply to grad school early next year.).

Even though it isn't the least expensive option, I chose Thomas Edision, for the combination of minimal upper level credits required, fastest completion time, and best application of the credits I already had. If you don't have many credits, UMPI might be a better option; I'll let others comment on the best undergraduate option. My friend who is a semester behind me in graduate school had about 40 credits to transfer in, and completed the other 80 credits in about 6 months at TESU. 

As far as MSW programs, I did a ton of research and ultimately chose Western New Mexico U.  It's a CSWE accredited school, fully online/asynchronous, with extremely flexible options, more electives than many of its competitors, 6 start dates each year, and a completely flexible curriculum as far as how many courses and in what order you take them.  As with any CSWE accredited non-advanced standing MSW program, you will need to do 900 hours of practicum over the two year program, which comes to 225 hours per semester for four semesters.  It's also among the least expensive of any online program at about $33K all in for the two-year program.  Again, the length of practicum will be the same at any CSWE-accredited school; this is in addition to the 60 (+/-) graduate credits you need to earn over the two years. All of this is a CSWE requirement that all 50 states require for licensure.   (If you do the BSW, then you only have to do 450 hours of practicum, and only 30 hours of graduate credits... but it will take you way longer than a year to earn the BSW, so you will take more time all-in with the BSW/MSW route.)

Other schools that have similar non-advanced standing MSWs that are worth a look are Boise State, Campbellsville, University of Kentucky, and Louisiana State University.  All have two-year non-advanced standing online programs and all are in similar price range to WNMU. (Though, for me, all of them came with disadvantages that WNMU did not have.)  All of these (including WNMU) are Advanced Generalist programs that are great in giving you a very broad and complete education. Some have clinical tracks in addition, but for those that do not, you can "create your own" by adding in clinical-related electives to the core requirements.

Also, you'll want to check into specific requirements your state may have over and above CSWE curriculum. For example, CA has about 30 extra hours of education on specific issues not covered in the CSWE-required curriculum. It's no problem, because there are a bunch of providers that offer CE credits specifically to fill this need, but you just want to do your legwork.

Also, depending on your intended use of the degree, you probably want the LCSW license rather than the LMSW if you are going to do clinical work. In general, the LMSW is not a clinical license, and LMSW social workers must work under the supervision of an LCSW. There is no difference in education; the difference is in number of postgrad hours of supervision.

[carrythenothing]

Depending on the state, you'll need a certain number of supervised clinical hours after graduating with your MSW to become an LCSW/LICSW.

Social work regulations and licensure/registration requirements: https://www.aswb.org/regulation/laws-and...-database/

[bjcheung77]

You can't become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with an MA in psychology. Also, no BSW is going to be super quick. It requires hundreds of hours of internship experience as does the MSW.

Depending on the state, you'll need a certain number of supervised clinical hours after graduating with your MSW to become an LCSW/LICSW.

Social work regulations and licensure/registration requirements: https://www.aswb.org/regulation/laws-and...-database/

As far as MSW programs, I did a ton of research and ultimately chose Western New Mexico U. It's a CSWE accredited school, fully online/asynchronous, with extremely flexible options, more electives than many of its competitors, 6 start dates each year, and a completely flexible curriculum as far as how many courses and in what order you take them.

In addition to the above, I would recommend you take a look at a few MSW programs and write down the majority of their requirements. Your main goal is to complete the required Bachelors for entry, it doesn't have to be a BSW if you want a quicker way to get the check the box Bachelors. WNMU is a good school, there is another one I would recommend is Eastern University for about the same price range and also completely online. In short, Bachelors> MSW> License requirements