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2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

There are about 151,128 students enrolled in Social Work in the USA.

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popularity

Very Popular

Compared to national avg.

Diplomas received last year

62,188

Vs. National Avg.

293%

popularity Rank

#23

cost

Very Affordable

Compared to national avg.

Median degree cost

$23K

Vs. National Avg.

-5%

cost Rank

#288

salary

Low Paying

Compared to national avg.

Average Salary Two Years Out of School

$39K

Vs. National Avg.

-2%

salary Rank

#288

professors

Below Average

Compared to national avg.

Professor Rating

C+

Vs. National Avg.

-1%

professors Rank

#276

students

Not Very Diverse

Compared to national avg.

Diversity Rating

C+

Vs. National Avg.

-4%

students Rank

#328

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&nbsphere 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&nbspis our most expensive college for social work, at least for out of state students. We have a page for the most expensive&nbspcolleges that might put the price tag of Boston University&nbspinto 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&nbspin 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&nbspand 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&nbspand 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.

Top 25 Best Colleges for Social Work

Search for the best Social Work colleges according to your filter parameters.

A+

Rating

#1 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

The University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX | https://www.utexas.edu/

32%

Acceptance

54,243

Students

#81

Ranking

$40K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#2 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

Boston University

Boston, MA | www.bu.edu/

20%

Acceptance

42,047

Students

#35

Ranking

$58K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#3 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Madison, WI | www.wisc.edu/

57%

Acceptance

47,831

Students

#101

Ranking

$39K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#4 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL | www.uchicago.edu/

7%

Acceptance

20,413

Students

#11

Ranking

$61K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#5 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

University of California-Berkeley

Berkeley, CA | www.berkeley.edu/

17%

Acceptance

45,878

Students

#55

Ranking

$44K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#6 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

New York University

New York, NY | www.nyu.edu/

21%

Acceptance

58,361

Students

#23

Ranking

$55K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#7 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Champaign, IL | www.illinois.edu/

63%

Acceptance

57,324

Students

#125

Ranking

$33K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#8 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

University of Washington-Seattle Campus

Seattle, WA | www.washington.edu/

56%

Acceptance

56,554

Students

#108

Ranking

$39K

Tuition

A

Rating

#9 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

Brigham Young University

Provo, UT | www.byu.edu/

69%

Acceptance

39,086

Students

#198

Ranking

$6K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#10 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

University of Georgia

Athens, GA | www.uga.edu/

48%

Acceptance

42,941

Students

#120

Ranking

$31K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#11 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

Texas Christian University

Fort Worth, TX | www.tcu.edu/

48%

Acceptance

11,506

Students

#119

Ranking

$52K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#12 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus

Pittsburgh, PA | www.pitt.edu/

64%

Acceptance

35,563

Students

#155

Ranking

$34K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#13 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL | https://www.fsu.edu/

32%

Acceptance

47,836

Students

#138

Ranking

$19K

Tuition

A

Rating

#14 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

Ohio State University-Main Campus

Columbus, OH | www.osu.edu/

68%

Acceptance

66,017

Students

#194

Ranking

$34K

Tuition

A

Rating

#15 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

Michigan State University

East Lansing, MI | https://www.msu.edu/

76%

Acceptance

55,406

Students

#178

Ranking

$40K

Tuition

A

Rating

#16 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

University of South Florida

Tampa, FL | www.usf.edu/

49%

Acceptance

60,343

Students

#220

Ranking

$17K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#17 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

Rutgers University-New Brunswick

New Brunswick, NJ | https://newbrunswick.rutgers.edu/

67%

Acceptance

56,178

Students

#152

Ranking

$32K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#18 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

North Carolina State University at Raleigh

Raleigh, NC | www.ncsu.edu/

46%

Acceptance

40,537

Students

#136

Ranking

$29K

Tuition

A

Rating

#19 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA | www.uiowa.edu/

84%

Acceptance

34,495

Students

#315

Ranking

$32K

Tuition

A+

Rating

#20 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

Skidmore College

Saratoga Springs, NY | www.skidmore.edu/

32%

Acceptance

2,818

Students

#86

Ranking

$58K

Tuition

A

Rating

#21 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

University of Central Florida

Orlando, FL | www.ucf.edu/

45%

Acceptance

81,082

Students

#200

Ranking

$22K

Tuition

A

Rating

#22 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

Arizona State University Campus Immersion

Tempe, AZ | www.asu.edu/

88%

Acceptance

82,880

Students

#332

Ranking

$29K

Tuition

A

Rating

#23 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

University of Massachusetts-Amherst

Amherst, MA | www.umass.edu/

65%

Acceptance

35,781

Students

#218

Ranking

$36K

Tuition

A

Rating

#24 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

University of Utah

Salt Lake City, UT | www.utah.edu/

79%

Acceptance

38,335

Students

#354

Ranking

$27K

Tuition

B+

Rating

#25 2024 Best Colleges for Social Work

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Birmingham, AL | https://www.uab.edu/

81%

Acceptance

25,843

Students

#613

Ranking

$20K

Tuition

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