2024 Best Social Work Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region
Social Work is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #3 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
College Factual looked at 48 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Social Work Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 5,032 master's degrees in social work during the 2020-2021 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Social Work School for Your Master's Degree
The social work master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality social work program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
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 social work students vs. other majors.
- Major Demand - The number of social work students who choose to seek a master'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 easy is it for social work to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized social work related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for social work students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Social Work Schools
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Social Work Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Social Work in the Great Lakes Region
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in social work.
10 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Master's in Social Work
University of Chicago is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in social work. UChicago is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.
Social Work master's degree recipients from University of Chicago get an earnings boost of about $2,160 over the average income of social work majors.
More information about a master’s in social work from University of Chicago
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in social work. Located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a very large student population.
Those social work students who get their master's degree from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor receive $2,647 more than the typical social work student.
More information about a master’s in social work from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
University of Wisconsin - Madison is a wonderful choice for students interested in a master's degree in social work. UW - Madison is a very large public university located in the large city of Madison.
Master's recipients from the social work major at University of Wisconsin - Madison earn $3,101 more than the average college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
More information about a master’s in social work from University of Wisconsin - Madison
Ohio State University - Main Campus is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in social work. Located in the large city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the social work program earn an average of $44,537 in their early career salary.
More information about a master’s in social work from Ohio State University - Main Campus
UIUC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Champaign.
Social Work master's degree recipients from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign get an earnings boost of approximately $3,369 over the typical income of social work majors.
More information about a master’s in social work from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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