Are Doctoral Studies in Your Future?

Current research initiatives within social work tackle the vital human needs in our society. More than ever, we need our most critical, analytical, and theoretically astute minds focused on these needs.

If you are committed to social justice and social change, if you gravitate toward courses and/or jobs where you work with underprivileged and/or oppressed people, here are some questions to consider for determining if social welfare research is a potential long-term career interest for you.

• Are you a creative, analytical, and critical thinker?
• Do you want to explore the hidden assumptions behind the ideas you hear and read?
• Do you need a disciplined, intellectually-rich environment in which to expand your mind and your possibilities for contributing to society?
• Do you want to understand theories about our society and figure out what methods might work to solve what problems?
• Do you feel frustrated with policies and social programs that don’t seem rooted in the everyday lives of people?
• Are you concerned that services be appropriate and responsive to diverse people, such as people of color, sexual minorities, elderly, and those with special needs?
• Do you want to figure out what social welfare questions really need to be asked and search for solutions that work?

If you answered “yes” to most of these questions you could be among those who enter a field filled with new ideas and challenges and with ongoing potential for growth and prosperity! Consider returning to school for a doctorate in social welfare at the University of Washington School of Social Work.