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Most Popular Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools

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2023 Most Popular Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools

62 Colleges
$48,724 Avg Salary
$25,500 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Social Work Graduate Certificate School for You

In 2020-2021, 58,326 people earned a degree or certificate in social work, making the major the #13 most popular in the United States.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Most Popular Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 62 schools in the United States to see which graduate certificate programs were the most popular for students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Social Work program at each school on the list.

The colleges and universities below are the most popular for social work majors pursuing a graduate certificate.

#1

University of Kentucky

Lexington, KY

Our 2023 rankings named University of Kentucky the most popular school in the United States for social work students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the large city of Lexington, UK is a public college with a very large student population.

Of the 83 students majoring in social work at UK, 16% are male and 84% are female.

Read full report on Social Work at University of Kentucky

Out of the 62 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, The University of Tennessee - Knoxville landed the # 2 spot on the list. UT Knoxville is a very large public school located in the midsize city of Knoxville.

About 95% of the students majoring in social work at the school are women while 5% are male.

Read full report on Social Work at The University of Tennessee - Knoxville

#3

Western New Mexico University

Silver City, NM

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Western New Mexico University is a great place for social work students working on their graduate certificate. Western New Mexico University is a small public school located in the town of Silver City.

Of the 67 students majoring in social work at Western New Mexico University, 15% are male and 85% are female.

Full Social Work at Western New Mexico University Report

#4

Aurora University

Aurora, IL

The in-demand graduate certificate programs at Aurora University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular social work schools in the United States. Located in the large suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

Women make up 93% of the social work majors at the school.

Full Social Work at Aurora University Report

#5

Yeshiva University

New York, NY

Out of the 62 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Yeshiva University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the large city of New York, Yeshiva is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.

Women make up 76% of the social work majors at the school.

Read More…

#6

University of Denver

Denver, CO

With a ranking of #6, University of Denver did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for social work students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of Denver, DU is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.

Women make up 95% of the social work majors at the school.

Read full report on Social Work at University of Denver

#7

Montclair State University

Montclair, NJ

Montclair State University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular graduate certificate social work programs. Montclair State is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Montclair.

Women make up 41% of the social work majors at the school.

Read full report on Social Work at Montclair State University

#8

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA

University of Iowa did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for social work students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #8 on the list. Located in the small city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public school with a very large student population.

About 97% of the students majoring in social work at the school are women while 3% are male.

Read More…

University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular graduate certificate social work programs. Pitt is a very large public school located in the city of Pittsburgh.

Of the 28 students majoring in social work at Pitt, 14% are male and 86% are female.

After completing their Graduate Certificate, social work graduates from Pitt carry an average student debt load of $25,378.

Read full report on Social Work at University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus

University of California - Berkeley did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular places for social work students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #10 on the list. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Berkeley.

About 81% of the students majoring in social work at the school are women while 19% are male.

Read More…

Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional popular schools for Social Work students that almost earned our Most Popular Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools award.

Rank College Location
11 Madonna University Livonia, MI
11 University of North Alabama Florence, AL

Social Work by Region

View the Most Popular Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

Social Work is one of 5 different types of programs to choose from.

Majors Similar to Social Work

Related Major Annual Graduates
Public Administration 16,905
Human Services 13,238
Public Policy 6,430
Community Organization & Advocacy 3,096
Other Public Administration 588

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • 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 Army Medicine.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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