Society is never static, and the role of the social worker never stops evolving.
There are plenty of people with big hearts and a clear view of social problems. You didn’t have to look any farther than the Black Lives Matter protests that flooded Lower Manhattan in early 2020 to see that. Five thousand or more people turned out against the inexplicable cruelty of police violence, and bravely held on against a taste of it themselves.
Those protests morphed into a popular call from social workers and community organizers to defund the police. And indeed, the NYPD responded with cuts of nearly $1 billion dollars later that year, disbanding entire units.
Yet crime rates in the city climbed sharply after those cuts. And protesters taking to the streets over Israel’s invasion of Gaza didn’t see any noticeable improvements in police behavior four years later.
It turned out that making effective criminal justice reforms was harder than just tearing up checks to the cops.
You’ll find plenty of social work students out on the streets advocating for change. But it takes more than just heart to make a difference with such systemic complexity. Meeting these new developments and challenges requires innovation and exploration, too. Understanding how to make the hard tradeoffs or come up with creative solutions is a job that often falls to the best-trained social workers in the world: graduates with New York state doctoral degrees in social work.
DSW vs PhD in Social Work – What are the Respective Benefits of a DSW and a PhD in Social Work?
What is PhD in Social Work?
A Doctor of Philosophy, or PhD, is typically the highest level of university education you can attain in any subject. They represent the most intensive, most innovative study in social work principles and practices. PhD in Social Work graduates push the field forward from teaching and leadership roles.
Some PhD programs in social work may offer an advanced practice concentration that more closely aligns with practical applications similar to a DSW.
What is a DSW Degree?
PhD programs are renowned for their theoretical work and academic preparation. But social work also remains an intensely practical field, solving real-world problems for real people. That has led to the development of another type of doctoral-level program for the field, the DSW: Doctor of Social Work.
DSW programs are just as advanced, but with a different focus. Although research plays a role, DSW programs are all about creating highly effective clinical social workers. So although DSW programs drill the theory, they are less about expanding it and more about putting it to use.
In New York, the birthplace of social work education, these most advanced degree programs are found at universities that can draw on lengthy experience and deep resources in social work research and practice.
Both types of programs can take anywhere from two to four years to complete. The timeline depends on whether you study on a full or part-time basis, and whether or not you have previously earned an MSW. Some DSW degrees are relatively shorter than PhD programs at the same school; however, the length of each can vary from college to college.
Getting Accepted to New York PhD in Social Work & DSW Programs is an Accomplishment In Itself
Unlike other levels of social work degrees, getting into a PhD or a DSW degree in New York is far from a shoo-in. Spaces are limited and admissions standards are high. These are some of the top schools in the nation for social work studies, and people from all over the world apply.
Applicants with an MSW degree are almost always preferred. However, BSW graduates with a high grade point average may be accepted. In both cases, post-graduate practice experience is preferred, often three years or more, but if you hold only a BSW it is practically required.
Some DSW programs may also prefer currently licensed clinical social workers for admissions.
You’ll definitely need strong letters of recommendation and samples of professional writing in social work. A statement of research interest or an essay outlining your background and philosophy of social work may be required.
The real key to getting into the right doctoral program in social work is ensuring that your intentions and interests are aligned with your professors and the department as a whole. It’s not a good use of your time or theirs if you plan to specialize in an area the school doesn’t support or have the resources to pursue.
PhD in Social Work & DSW Programs at New York Schools Offer a Completely Unique Experience
A doctoral program is a completely different experience from other college degrees. The entire process is both more independent and more collaborative. You engage with instructors more like colleagues. You need to be highly-motivated and have strong ability to be self-directed.
Many of your courses will be seminar style: small groups of fewer than a dozen students engaged in discussion and debate, facilitated but not dominated by an instructor who offers their own experiences in New York social work.
Doctoral studies offer close collaboration with advisors and instructors. Some New York PhD programs also pair students immediately with a research mentor for the duration of the program.
PhD studies will be driven by your research topics. A few broad seminars will prepare you for that research:
- Philosophy of Science & Knowledge Development
- Social Science Theories and Social Work
- Social and Behavioral Intervention Research
- Quantitative and Qualitative Methods
- Introductory Statistics and Statistical Modeling
- Research in Diverse Populations
- Publication Development Workshop
You’re also likely to have some classes on academic instruction. You may also have a role in teaching some undergraduate social work classes as a kind of apprenticeship for becoming a professor.
In DSW programs, there’s a more clinically focused curriculum plan. While you still have a lot of flexibility in focusing your studies, you’ll go through more practice-oriented classes such as:
- Professional Collaboration Networks for Social Work Practice
- Implementing Evidence-based Practices in Social Work
- Designing Implementation Strategies
- Adaptive Leadership for Organizational Change
- Clinical Social Work and Social Policy
You are more a part of the establishment at your school while you are earning a doctoral degree. You’ll likely work closely with campus centers and institutes for social services studies, like health and aging or recovery from violence and trauma. You may even be paid a stipend to help you through the program.
PhD in Social Work & DSW Programs Are Capped Off by an Intensive Final Project
One major distinguishing characteristic of DSW and PhD degrees is the final project.
In PhD programs, this is traditionally and almost always a doctoral dissertation. These scholarly papers can be anywhere from 100 to 300 pages long. They are carefully reasoned and researched explorations of a unique topic in social work, chosen by you and your advisors. It’s expected to be a significant contribution to the state of knowledge in the field.
Your absorption of your coursework and the social work values you’ve learned are expressed in your doctoral dissertation or capstone project.
A defense of that paper in front of a committee of experts seals the deal… and leaves you frequently with a publication-quality manuscript to launch your career with.
DSW programs may allow dissertations, but have leaned in to a more practical expression of knowledge and skill: the capstone project.
Capstones involves research and some writing, taking in theory, literature reviews, and planning proposals. But they are mostly about identifying an issue in modern social work, researching it deeply, and developing and implementing a real-world intervention.
Whatever form it takes, the final project is a significant piece of your doctoral studies. In many cases, it will take most of your focus for as much as half of your program.
Can You Earn a PhD in Social Work or DSW Online?
Unlike other kinds of social work degrees, online PhD in social work and DSW degree programs are thin on the ground, both in New York and elsewhere. The intimate nature of doctoral studies is tough to translate to remote formats.
But PhD students face the same constraints as many older, professional students. You may have strong community ties that keep you from relocating for four or more years. You almost certainly have a job and career you don’t want to interrupt. You may well have a family to take care of.
If that’s the case, finding an online PhD in social work is a blessing.
Since you can log in from anywhere, relocation isn’t required. With some classes that don’t need to be taken at a specific time, you can shift your coursework around to parts of the day when pressures aren’t so intense. And with commutes to class off the table, your menu of potential schools to attend opens up all around the state… a key advantage in PhD programs, where a good fit between you and the program is critical.
What Can You Do with a PhD in Social Work or DSW?
Just as there is a split between the curriculum of a PhD in Social Work versus a DSW, there’s an informal division of jobs each degree leads you toward.
A PhD program, with its exhaustive research and academic focus, has long been the standard degree for anyone looking to teach social work at the college level. Most of your instructors in your MSW program were probably PhDs; the journal articles and research projects you studied were authored primarily by PhD graduates.
It’s a natural path to teaching in the field after engaging with the kind of theoretical, exploratory investigations into social and human services questions that a PhD program involves.
Doctor of social work jobs, on the other hand, intentionally focus on practice-oriented studies. The jobs they are aiming for are all about putting those tools to use in challenging real-world scenarios. With the most advanced coursework behind them, they are typically bound for roles in leadership in human services organizations.
Jobs With a PhD in Social Work Are Limited Only by Your Imagination
Something you notice right away about social workers is that they aren’t people who wait around for others to come up with solutions. You get into this business to make a difference. Pushing hard on the status quo of inequity is part of your character.
New Yorkers in particular aren’t known for pulling their punches, and New York City is a place where possibility is around every corner. So it’s not surprising that some of the greatest innovation in social work comes out of the five boroughs.
That comes out through efforts like Harlem’s Our Story Tours, helping to preserve the rich cultural history of Black voices in New York with a modern focus on helping those affected by racism in the criminal justice system.
Cross-overs between business schools and schools of social work at elite New York universities help foster this sense of possibility.
Doctorate programs in social work are natural landing places for people with the drive to create innovative social services solutions. And the history of New York higher education in social work is all about encouraging that innovation. So PhD programs in social work may lead you to jobs where you set the agenda.
But the fact is that either degree will qualify you for both types of jobs. There’s no chain stretched in between academic and practical social work roles for doctoral graduates. Many social work PhD graduates take on tough clinical roles; many DSW students go on to teaching, authoring books, and conducting important field research.
A doctor of social work salary versus a PhD in social work salary don’t have any significant differences—see our social work salary guide for more information.
Whether you are driven to right wrongs directly through clinical counseling, or take a more long-term view of the arc of history toward justice through educating other social workers or delivering the evidence needed to power new policies, doctoral studies can put you in the driver’s seat. Like all kinds of social justice work, it’s a hard path. But it’s also the way to a social work career where you can make the biggest difference.