School of Social Work among Nation’s 20 Best

SSW advances six spots in U.S. News ranking

| From BU Today | By Rich Barlow

Dean Gail Steketee says the School of Social Work’s faculty shares the credit for the bravos from outside rating groups. Photo by Vernon Doucette

The School of Social Work is the 16th best graduate program in its field nationally, U.S. News & World Report declares in its most recent rankings.

The last such survey, in 2008, placed SSW at number 22. This year’s rankings compare 206 graduate schools of social work and “are based solely on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to deans, other administrators, and/or faculty at accredited degree programs or schools,” according to the magazine.

BU was in an 8-way tie for the number 16 spot.

SSW has also caught the approving eye of an independent rating website, thebestschools.org, which recently ranked the school’s online master of social work program fourth best in the nation.

“That peer social work educators rate our program among the nation’s very best indicates the high quality of our faculty and academic programs, our urban mission, and our dedication to graduating excellent social workers with skill and compassion,” SSW Dean Gail Steketee says. The school’s quality is confirmed by the high enrollment rate among accepted applicants and the “high pass rates” of alumni on social work licensing exams, she says.

SSW is the third BU school recently to score well in national rankings. U.S. News placed Sargent College’s graduate programs among the top 25 health therapy schools, while Bloomberg Businessweek lauded the School of Management as number 18 among undergraduate business programs.

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