How New Brunswick High School Graduates Enter St Thomas University's Bachelor of Social Work Directly

Direct entry means no separate degree first, not no requirements

St Thomas University's Bachelor of Social Work is a four-year degree, and New Brunswick high school graduates enter it without first completing an unrelated bachelor's degree somewhere else, unlike social work programs elsewhere that require a completed first degree before you can apply. That is what makes STU's BSW a direct-entry program.

This does not mean you declare and lock in the major from day one. You spend your first two years completing prerequisite coursework, then apply into the professional major itself partway through.

The practical advantage is time. Many social work programs across Canada require a completed bachelor's degree, typically three or four years, before you can even apply to a separate professional social work degree on top of it.

STU's route folds the prerequisite years and the professional years into one continuous four-year degree, so a New Brunswick high school graduate who follows the path cleanly can finish with a full BSW in four years instead of six or more.

Step 1: Apply to St Thomas University as an incoming student

Start by applying to STU through the university's regular undergraduate admissions process, the same way you would for any other STU program. You are not applying to the BSW major yet at this stage. You are applying to the university, with social work as your intended area of study.

Step 2: Complete your first two years of prerequisites

Your first two years cover liberal arts coursework alongside two specific social work courses the BSW major requires:

• SCWK 2013, Introduction to Social Welfare

• SCWK 2023, Introduction to Social Work

You need a minimum grade of B in both courses to qualify for the standard admission route into the major. If you have not taken these specific courses, for example if you transferred in or built your first two years differently, you can still apply through an alternative route: an interview process weighted at 30 percent of your application evaluation.

Step 3: Apply into the BSW major itself

Once you have completed 60 credit hours, you apply to formally enter the Bachelor of Social Work major. The academic bar for this internal application is a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0, or a minimum GPA of 3.0 calculated on your most recent 30 credit hours if your overall cumulative average sits lower. If you have completed more than 60 credit hours by the time you apply, your cumulative GPA gets calculated across your full credit total, not just the minimum 60.

Beyond GPA and course grades, your application needs to show evidence of professional commitment to social work through a personal statement, a resume and two references. Reviewers use these materials to look for critical awareness of social structures, not just academic performance.

The deadline for the BSW major application, along with all supporting documents, is January 31. Treat this as a hard cutoff: STU requires the Admissions Office to receive everything by that date, not just have it postmarked or submitted informally.

Step 4: Years 3 and 4, including practicum

Once admitted into the major, your third and fourth years cover the professional social work curriculum along with field practice. STU's BSW requires a minimum of 700 practicum hours split across two separate placements during these final two years, giving you direct supervised experience before graduation rather than only classroom instruction.

After you graduate, working as a social worker in New Brunswick requires registration with the province's social work regulator, separate from earning the degree itself. Build time into your final year to research that registration process directly with the regulator, since a completed BSW on its own does not automatically make you licensed to practice.

A note on STU and UNB

St Thomas University sits on the same Fredericton campus as the University of New Brunswick, and the two schools share some services, including library access through UNB's library system. STU and UNB remain financially and academically separate institutions, and STU's own program pages do not describe a formal joint Bachelor of Social Work arrangement between the two schools specifically, so do not assume UNB coursework substitutes for STU's social work prerequisites without confirming directly with STU's admissions or social work office first.

Quick checklist for NB high school graduates

• Apply to STU as an incoming student, listing social work as your intended path.

• Take SCWK 2013 and SCWK 2023 during your first two years and aim for at least a B in each.

• Track your GPA toward the 3.0 cumulative threshold, or your most recent 30 credit hours if that number is stronger.

• Prepare a personal statement, resume and two references well before January 31.

• Plan your third and fourth years around a 700-hour practicum commitment across two placements.