SUMMARY
Going to school for Social Work is a valuable choice and naturally an obligatory first step for pupils endeavoring to pursue a career as a senior social worker, a hospice social worker, or a medical social worker. Interestingly, nationally, social work is somewhat popular ranking as the 26th most popular degree. Last year alone, there were 22,681 social work graduates. In-state tuition for social work at private schools is, on average, 3.2 times more expensive than their public rivals.
There are 602 universities that offer social work. 602 colleges is fairly average in terms of the number of institutions which offer each degree. If you're hoping to surround yourself with other social work majors, consider looking at universities in California which have the most undergrads admitted to social work annually. Zooming out, the best region to major in social work is in the Southeast region with University of Central Florida, Florida Atlantic University, and Liberty University best representing the region. Interestingly, our selection of the top conference to major in social work is the Sun Belt Conference with Troy University, Texas State University, and The University of Texas at Arlington representing the conference. That said, our choice for the best college for social work is New York University. You might also want to check out our list of the best colleges.
The objectively 'best' school is not necessarily the 'best' school for every student. There can be tons of angels to consider when deciding on institution. Features such as campus amenities, transportation services, and food could definitely sway one's decision on which college to attend. At Authority, we've evaluated the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you want to know which social work university boasts the best campus, the winner is New York University. If, for example, you are very interested in which college boasts the best campus, then we have a whole list dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through student reviews, professor reviews, government databases, and more so we can evaluate every U.S. major in an unbiased and informative way. You can explore our comprehensive list for the colleges with the best student life here and, from that list, our pick of the college with the best student life for social work is University of Wisconsin-Madison. Curious why? Keep reading to learn more about our top recommendations. Many of our decisions just might surprise you.
If price is a major influence in your choice of where you attend school, you might be cautious about Boston University. Boston University is our most expensive college for social work, at least for out of state students. We have a page for the most expensive colleges that might put the price tag of Boston University into perspective. You could also be interested to know that social work is the 217th most expensive major in America, with an average bill of $29,300. To zoom out a little, the most expensive state for social work in the nation is Rhode Island with expenses at the primary three colleges Providence College of $51,490, Rhode Island College at $21,683, and expenses at Salve Regina University of $21,683. To zoom out even further, the most costly region for social work is the New England region which is best demonstrated with Sacred Heart University with a cost of $42,800, Boston University with a cost of $54,720, and Providence College with a cost of $51,490.
Our cheapest region for social work is the Rocky Mountains region which is represented by Brigham Young University-Idaho with a cost of $4,208, Salish Kootenai College with a cost of $10,260, and Weber State University with a cost of $14,973. In better news, the most affordable university for social work is Florida Atlantic University. Authority.org's entire list of the most affordable colleges can be found here.
In-state attendees can expect to pay in the neighborhood of $9,400 for a degree in social work. The cost swells significantly to a median of $20,700 for an out-of-state public-school student. As such, you might be interested in our selection for the college representing the best value for social work: Boston University. Here you can see our comprehensive list of the colleges we see as being the best value in general. With that said, this list is based on being an out-of-state student. The value proposition changes when in-state tuition costs are considered, but we do not know where you live (and are not trying to collect that kind of data).
Earnings for social work majors differ widely, but within two years graduation students will regularly earn around $41,200. There can be a lot of variation in earnings; highest paid earners can bring in up to $69,700. Even straight out of school, the lowest end jobs within the social work field make $23,900, which could be worse. The highest earning grads from social work attended Boston University and if you are looking for universities with all of the highest earning graduates, we have that too.
The prevailing diversity of social work sits on the higher end, being within the 53rd percentile of all majors. The university with the highest composite diversity for social work is New York University and here you can find our general list for the schools which have the most diversity. The financial diversity of the Social Work major is only within the 59th percentile compared to all other majors. Racial diversity is actually greater, ranking in the 65th percentile. White collegians make up the largest proportion at 55% of those majoring in social work. Additionally, 88% of scholars seeking a social work degree are women.
The median ranking of social work professors is 4 stars, a score that is right on the average score for all majors; which is a fine. If you are curious about the most popular social work professor in the country, consider looking up Henriette Warren from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. It may surprise you, but the best rated professors for social work according to students are found at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. If we incorporate data beyond simply rankings it becomes clear that the university possessing comprehensively the best professors for social work is New York University. One can find more detail on our evolving ranking methodology of the best overall professors here, as well as some of the finest examples of professors in the country.
Finally, the most difficult university to get into for social work is New York University. While we do not necessarily see the value in it, we have a comprehensive page for the hardest colleges to get into. That being said, we hope you understand that looking at higher education from examples only informed by superlatives can cause problems. We at Authority hope you look at some of our other pages on different topics and peruse a few of Authority's background pages on important things to look out for as you continue your college search.