How many years of college do you need to complete to become a social worker?
I'm a sophomore in high school and I am interested in becoming a social worker because I want to work with children and give back. Do you need to get your bachelor's and your master's or just your bachelor's? Also what is it like to be a social worker? #social-work #high-school #social-worker #sophomore
3 answers
Wael’s Answer
You can work after your bachelor in select positions. The master open up more positions. The link below will help you out.
http://study.com/how_do_i_become_a_social_worker.html
Angela Chan
Angela’s Answer
I agree with all the comments by others. Here is my example - I earned my BSW in 4 years and then went to work in two half-time positions. I worked in San Francisco Unified School District as a Peer Resource Leader, teaching 2 elective classes and running lunch time groups for middle school students, and coordinated an after school program and summer program for YMCA in Chinatown, San Francisco. I left for a full-time job in job training for at-risk youth in Oakland. After 5 years of direct service, I returned to earn my MSW. I worked full-time and went to graduate school part-time since I couldn't financing afford to stop working to return to school full-time. I completed my MSW in 2 years.
I was promoted from working in direct service to developing and managing programs, staff and budgets. From there, I worked in other settings and jobs and am currently managing a neighborhood center in a local city. I still interact with youth and families, it's just not my primary job. I supervise staff who do the direct service work and focus my time on program & partnership development, fund raising, and interacting with executive leadership team.
Hope this helps,
angela
Yolonda’s Answer
I agree with the comment above. You can get a lot of case manager positions with your Bachelors. If you want to become a clinician, director, etc. it would be best to get your Masters. With a Bachelors in Social Work (BSW) you can qualify for an accelerated 1 year Masters in Social Work program. To truly know what it is like to be a social worker, I would advise you to get experience in the field whether it is volunteer or paid.