2023 Best Public & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools
Finding the Best Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor's Degree School for You
Public Administration & Social Service is the #14 most popular major in the country with 98,583 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.
There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.
To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Public & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 532 schools in the United States to see which bachelor's degree programs offered the best educational experiences for students. To come up with a school's ranking, we analyzed numerous factors related to post-graduation wages, the quality of education offered by the school, average accumulated student debt, and more.
View our full ranking methodology.
2023 Best Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the United States
Check out the public administration and social service bachelor's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best education that money can buy.
Top 25 Top Schools for a Bachelor's in Public & Social Service
Our 2023 rankings named Cornell University the best school in the United States for public administration and social service students working on their bachelor’s degree. Located in the small city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Princeton University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools list. Princeton is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Princeton.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of California - Berkeley. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the midsize 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 Duke University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit school 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 Elizabethtown College. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large suburb of Elizabethtown, Etown is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
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Northwestern University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public administration and social service students to get a bachelor’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.
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With a ranking of #7, Bethel University Minnesota did quite well on this year’s best schools for public administration and social service students working on their bachelor’s degree. Bethel University Minnesota is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Saint Paul.
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Winona State University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public administration and social service students to get a bachelor’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. Located in the distant town of Winona, Winona State is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
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With a ranking of #9, University of Chicago did quite well on this year’s best schools for public administration and social service students working on their bachelor’s degree. UChicago is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.
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Brown University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public administration and social service students to get a bachelor’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. Brown is a large private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Providence.
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Minot State University ranked #11 on this year’s Best Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the remote town of Minot, MSU is a public school with a small student population.
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With a ranking of #12, St Catherine University did quite well on this year’s best schools for public administration and social service students working on their bachelor’s degree. Located in the large city of Saint Paul, St. Kate's is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
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Bemidji State University landed the #13 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best bachelor’s degree public administration and social service programs. Located in the town of Bemidji, Bemidji State University is a public college with a small student population.
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Minnesota State University - Mankato came in at #14 in this year’s edition of the Best Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the city of Mankato, Minnesota State Mankato is a public college with a fairly large student population.
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Minnesota State University - Moorhead came in at #15 in this year’s edition of the Best Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the suburb of Moorhead, MSU Moorhead is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
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With a ranking of #16, Nebraska Wesleyan University did quite well on this year’s best schools for public administration and social service students working on their bachelor’s degree. Located in the city of Lincoln, NWU is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
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The College of Saint Scholastica landed the #17 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best bachelor’s degree public administration and social service programs. St. Scholastica is a small private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Duluth.
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University of Wisconsin - River Falls did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public administration and social service students to get a bachelor’s degree. It came in at #18 on the list. Located in the distant town of River Falls, UW - River Falls is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.
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University of Nevada - Reno did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public administration and social service students to get a bachelor’s degree. It came in at #19 on the list. UNR is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Reno.
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University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire landed the #20 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best bachelor’s degree public administration and social service programs. Located in the city of Eau Claire, UW - Eau Claire is a public college with a large student population.
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University of North Dakota ranked #21 on this year’s Best Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools list. Located in the small city of Grand Forks, UND is a public college with a large student population.
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University of Washington - Tacoma Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public administration and social service students to get a bachelor’s degree. It came in at #22 on the list. Located in the midsize city of Tacoma, UW Tacoma is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.
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Colorado State University - Fort Collins landed the #23 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best bachelor’s degree public administration and social service programs. Located in the city of Fort Collins, Colorado State is a public college with a fairly large student population.
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With a ranking of #24, Monmouth University did quite well on this year’s best schools for public administration and social service students working on their bachelor’s degree. Monmouth is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of West Long Branch.
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Marquette University ranked #25 on this year’s Best Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools list. Marquette is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Milwaukee.
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Remaining Award Winners
This list shows the rest of the schools awarded a Best Public & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools badge. Showing in this list means the school was ranked in the top 15% of the 532 different United States public administration and social service schools we analyzed.
Additional Noteworthy Schools
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Public & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools award.
Public Administration & Social Service by Region
View the Best Public & Social Service Bachelor'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 |
More Public Administration & Social Service Rankings
Public Administration & Social Service Related Rankings by Major
Public Administration & Social Service Majors to Study
| Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Social Work | 58,326 |
| Public Administration | 16,905 |
| Human Services | 13,238 |
| Public Policy | 6,430 |
| Community Organization & Advocacy | 3,096 |
| Other Public Administration | 588 |
Most Popular Majors Related to Public Administration & Social Service
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting | 142,610 |
| Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies | 73,813 |
| Legal Professions | 61,055 |
| Military Technologies & Applied Sciences | 4,477 |
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 University of the Fraser Valley.
More about our data sources and methodologies.