Social Work is of the hottest degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #9 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
In 2024, College Factual analyzed 9 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Social Work Schools in Iowa ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 519 degrees in social work during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Your choice of social work school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for social work schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
The social work 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 Social Work Schools in Iowa.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
The schools below may not offer all types of social work degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.
It is hard to beat University of Iowa if you wish to pursue a degree in social work. Iowa is a fairly large public university located in the city of Iowa City. A Best Colleges rank of #84 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Iowa is a great university overall.
There were roughly 140 social work students who graduated with this degree at Iowa in the most recent data year.
University of Northern Iowa is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in social work. Located in the city of Cedar Falls, UNI is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #199 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UNI is a great university overall.
There were roughly 121 social work students who graduated with this degree at UNI in the most recent data year.
Loras College is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in social work. Located in the city of Dubuque, Loras is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. This college ranks 16th out of 40 colleges for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were about 18 social work students who graduated with this degree at Loras in the most recent year we have data available.
It's difficult to beat Saint Ambrose University if you want to pursue a degree in social work. Located in the city of Davenport, St. Ambrose University is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. A Best Colleges rank of #441 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means St. Ambrose University is a great university overall.
There were approximately 72 social work students who graduated with this degree at St. Ambrose University in the most recent year we have data available.
Luther is a small private not-for-profit college located in the remote town of Decorah. A Best Colleges rank of #372 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Luther is a great college overall.
There were about 19 social work students who graduated with this degree at Luther in the most recent year we have data available.
Mount Mercy is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Cedar Rapids. This university ranks 23rd out of 40 colleges for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were approximately 21 social work students who graduated with this degree at Mount Mercy in the most recent year we have data available.
Clarke is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Dubuque. This university ranks 24th out of 40 colleges for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were roughly 31 social work students who graduated with this degree at Clarke in the most recent year we have data available.
Grand View University is a small private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Des Moines. This university ranks 26th out of 40 schools for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were about 22 social work students who graduated with this degree at Grand View University in the most recent year we have data available.
Briar Cliff is a small private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Sioux City. This university ranks 25th out of 40 schools for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were about 29 social work students who graduated with this degree at Briar Cliff in the most recent data year.
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).
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Your choice of social work school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for social work schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
