2023 Best Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools
Public Administration & Social Service isn't the most popular bachelor's program in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #16 in popularity out of 38 majors in the country. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.College Factual looked at 479 colleges and universities when compiling its 2023 Best Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 36,233 bachelor's degrees in public administration and social service during the 2020-2021 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Public Administration & Social Service School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of public administration and social service for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
- Major Focus - How much a school focuses on public administration and social service students vs. other majors.
- Major Demand - The number of public administration and social service students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
- Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
- Student Debt - How much debt public administration and social service students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized public administration and social service related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for public administration and social service students working on their bachelor's degree.
One Size Does Not Fit All
The public administration and social service school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Featured Public Administration & Social Service Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
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BA in Human Services
Improve the lives of individuals, families and communities with the human service tools gained from this online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University. Learn More > |
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BS in Business Administration - Public Administration
Prepare yourself to make the decisions that best serve a community, its constituents and its economic growth with this specialized business degree from Southern New Hampshire University. Learn More > |
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Public Administration & Social Service in the United States
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in public administration and social service. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
25 Top Schools for a Bachelor's in Public Administration & Social Service
Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in public administration and social service has to take a look at Duke University. Duke is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Durham.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from Duke University
University of Chicago is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in public administration and social service. UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from University of Chicago
Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in public administration and social service needs to check out Cornell University. Located in the city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from Cornell University
Princeton University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in public administration and social service. Located in the city of Princeton, Princeton is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from Princeton University
Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from University of California - Berkeley
Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from Northwestern University
Brown is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Providence.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from Brown University
UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from University of Pennsylvania
Located in the city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Located in the city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from University of Southern California
UW Seattle is a very large public university located in the city of Seattle.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from University of Washington - Seattle Campus
Brandeis is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Waltham.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from Brandeis University
Located in the suburb of College Park, UMCP is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from University of Maryland - College Park
Located in the small city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from Indiana University - Bloomington
Located in the city of Hartford, Trinity Bantams is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from Trinity College
UIUC is a very large public university located in the small city of Champaign.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
NYU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from New York University
UT Austin is a very large public university located in the large city of Austin.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from The University of Texas at Austin
Located in the midsize city of Salt Lake City, U of U is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from University of Utah
UW - Madison is a fairly large public university located in the city of Madison.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from University of Wisconsin - Madison
St. Scholastica is a small private not-for-profit college located in the small city of Duluth.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from The College of Saint Scholastica
TCU is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Fort Worth.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from Texas Christian University
Located in the medium-sized city of Fort Collins, Colorado State is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from Colorado State University - Fort Collins
Located in the city of Syracuse, Syracuse is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in public administration and social service from Syracuse University
Rest of the Top Best Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools
Additional Award Winners
This list represents the rest of the schools awarded a Best Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools badge. Showing in this list means the school was ranked in the top 15% of the 479 different United States public administration and social service schools we analyzed.
Honorable Mentions
Here are some additional great schools for Public Administration & Social Service students that almost earned our Best Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools award.
Public Administration & Social Service by Region
View the Best Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.
Region |
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Southeast |
New England |
Rocky Mountains |
Plains States |
Middle Atlantic |
Far Western US |
Southwest |
Great Lakes |
Other Rankings
Best Associate Degrees
in Public Administration & Social Service
Best Doctorate Degrees
in Public Administration & Social Service
Best Value
in Public Administration & Social Service
Best for Non-Traditional Students
in Public Administration & Social Service
Best Online
in Public Administration & Social Service
Most Popular Online
in Public Administration & Social Service
Best Master's Degrees
in Public Administration & Social Service
Best Overall
in Public Administration & Social Service
Highest Paid Grads
in Public Administration & Social Service
Best for Veterans
in Public Administration & Social Service
Most Popular
in Public Administration & Social Service
Most Focused
in Public Administration & Social Service
Public Administration & Social Service Majors to Study
Major | Annual Graduates |
---|---|
Social Work | 22,221 |
Human Services | 6,292 |
Public Administration | 3,076 |
Public Policy | 2,603 |
Community Organization & Advocacy | 1,884 |
Other Public Administration | 157 |
Majors Similar to Public Administration & Social Service
Related Major | Annual Graduates |
---|---|
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting | 60,668 |
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies | 55,115 |
Legal Professions | 4,961 |
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences | 1,560 |
Notes and References
- The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
- 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 University of the Fraser Valley. More about our data sources and methodologies.
Featured Public Administration Schools
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Southern New Hampshire University
You have goals. Southern New Hampshire University can help you get there. Whether you need a bachelor's degree to get into a career or want a master's degree to move up in your current career, SNHU has an online program for you. Find your degree from over 200 online programs ... Learn More > |