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2024 Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools

74 Colleges in the United States
680 Doctor's Degrees
Social Work is of the hottest doctor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #38 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

College Factual reviewed 74 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for doctor's degree seekers in the field of social work. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 680 doctor'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 Doctor's Degree

Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools Your choice of social work for getting your doctor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality social work program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for social work students working on their doctor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Social Work Schools

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More Social Work Rankings Other Ranking Categories

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.


 

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Social Work in the United States

Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for social work students seeking a a doctor's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

11 Top Schools for a Doctorate in Social Work

1
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
193 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in social work needs to take a look at University of Southern California. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in social work from University of Southern California

2
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
5 Annual Graduates

University of California - Berkeley is a good choice for individuals pursuing a doctor's degree in social work. Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in social work from University of California - Berkeley

3
NYU crest
New York University
New York, NY
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
18 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a doctor's degree in social work needs to take a look at New York University. NYU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.More information about a doctorate in social work from New York University

4
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
6 Annual Graduates

University of Chicago is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in social work. UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.More information about a doctorate in social work from University of Chicago

5
UPenn crest
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
17 Annual Graduates

UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.More information about a doctorate in social work from University of Pennsylvania

6
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
5 Annual Graduates

WUSTL is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Saint Louis.More information about a doctorate in social work from Washington University in St Louis

7
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
5 Annual Graduates

UW Seattle is a very large public university located in the large city of Seattle.More information about a doctorate in social work from University of Washington - Seattle Campus

8
Yeshiva crest
Yeshiva University
New York, NY
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
10 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of New York, Yeshiva is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a doctorate in social work from Yeshiva University

9
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
6 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Lexington, UK is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in social work from University of Kentucky

10
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
5 Annual Graduates

UCLA is a very large public university located in the large city of Los Angeles.More information about a doctorate in social work from University of California - Los Angeles

11
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
14 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of New Orleans, Tulane is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in social work from Tulane University of Louisiana

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
12 University of St Thomas Minnesota Saint Paul, MN
13 Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY
14 The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX
15 Boston University Boston, MA
16 University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI
17 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
18 Arizona State University - Tempe Tempe, AZ

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
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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One of 3 majors within the Social Work area of study, Social Work has other similar majors worth exploring.

Notes and References

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