University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration

The School of Social Service Administration (SSA) at the University of Chicago is one of the world's leading schools for the training of social workers, ranking 3rd (US News)and 1st (Gourman Report). It merged with the University in 1920 after having been founded as the autonomous Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy. Demanding a broad grounding in the social sciences by its graduates in which the SSA leverages its curricular and faculty interaction with the university-at-large, the school’s primary aim is to train professionals who can engage in the active formulation of policy in an applied context, in opposition to the more limited vocational trend of most graduate level social work programs in the United States. The School offers a two year A.M. degree that can be pursued full or part-time, as well as the Ph.D.