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Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools

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2023 Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools

69 Colleges
$68,493 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Social Work Doctor's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 33,631 social work students received their degrees and certificates, making the major the #6 most popular in the country.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. This report analyzed 69 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best doctor's degree programs for students. The factors used to develop this ranking include those related to how in-demand the school is, the overall quality of the school, and post-graduation wages, and more.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Social Work Doctor’s Degree Schools in the United States

The colleges and universities below are the best for social work majors pursuing a doctor's degree.

Top 10 Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named University of California - Berkeley the best school in the United States for social work students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of Southern California. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Social Work Doctor’s Degree Schools list. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.

Read full report on Social Work at University of Southern California

#3

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means University of Pennsylvania is a great place for social work students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.

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#4

Capella University

Minneapolis, MN

Out of the 69 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Capella University landed the # 4 spot on the list. Capella University is a fairly large private for-profit school located in the city of Minneapolis.

Read full report on Social Work at Capella University

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Los Angeles. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Social Work Doctor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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With a ranking of #6, University of St Thomas Minnesota did quite well on this year’s best schools for social work students working on their doctor’s degree. UST MN is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Saint Paul.

Full Social Work at University of St Thomas Minnesota Report

#7

New York University

New York, NY

New York University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Social Work Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

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#8

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

With a ranking of #8, University of Chicago did quite well on this year’s best schools for social work students working on their doctor’s degree. UChicago is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.

Read full report on Social Work at University of Chicago

The University of Texas at Austin came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Social Work Doctor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large city of Austin, UT Austin is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Full Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin Report

University of Washington - Seattle Campus landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best doctor’s degree social work programs. UW Seattle is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Seattle.

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Additional Noteworthy Schools

Here are some additional great schools for Social Work students that almost earned our Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
11 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
12 Smith College Northampton, MA
13 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN

Social Work by Region

View the Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

One of 5 majors within the area of study, social work has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Public Administration 13,571
Public Policy 3,737
Human Services 1,277
Community Organization & Advocacy 741
Other Public Administration 295

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Army Medicine.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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