By Richard Gelles, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Social Policy & Practice
Sixteen years ago, when I began to explore an academic position at a school of social work, I bought a copy of the U.S. News and World Report issue on Best Graduate Schools. I used the rankings to guide my search, prioritizing my applications based on the rankings of Master of Social Work (MSW) programs. When I began my position at the University of Pennsylvania I was not surprised to learn that many of our applicants also relied on the U.S. News and World Report rankings to guide their own searches and choices. It was not until I became the Dean of the School of Social Policy & Practice at Penn that I learned the reality about the U.S. News and News Report rankings.
Sixteen years ago, when I began to explore an academic position at a school of social work, I bought a copy of the U.S. News and World Report issue on Best Graduate Schools. I used the rankings to guide my search, prioritizing my applications based on the rankings of Master of Social Work (MSW) programs. When I began my position at the University of Pennsylvania I was not surprised to learn that many of our applicants also relied on the U.S. News and World Report rankings to guide their own searches and choices. It was not until I became the Dean of the School of Social Policy & Practice at Penn that I learned the reality about the U.S. News and News Report rankings.
I was under the impression that
the rankings of MSW programs were conducted in a similar fashion as the
rankings of undergraduate schools and many graduate and professional programs
such as law and medicine--in other words, that there were some objective
measures applied to each MSW program. I
assumed that factors such as quality of the students, faculty/student ratio, and
financial resources of the program would be assessed. I also assumed that the rankings assessed the
percentage of graduates who secured positions within 9 months of
graduation.
Well, I was wrong. Shortly after I became dean I received a
package in the mail from U.S. News and
World Report. Inside were two forms and two return envelopes. The forms were titled “Best Graduate Schools
Assessment of Social Work Programs.” On
the following pages were listed, in alphabetical order by state, some 200 MSW
programs. I was to rank each program
from 1 to 5 (“5” being “outstanding” and “1” being “marginal.” I could also check off “Don’t Know.” Honestly, I never heard of some of the
schools. More importantly, I had no basis
for ranking the schools. The forms
included no data on the schools and I was not about to spend the next 6 weeks
tracking down what I considered the relevant metrics. I knew my own school, knew something about
schools I had visited or been interviewed by; but for the vast majority, I had
no basis for choosing a rating.
I was asked to give a second form
to one of my senior colleagues so there would be two rankings submitted by our
school. The colleague I approached was
as dumbfounded as I was. He said he
could rank us, the school he received his MSW from, the school he attended for
his doctorate, but really knew too little about the hundreds of schools on the
list to provide a meaningful rank.
It also crossed my mind that were
one so inclined, the rankings could be “gamed.”
In the most recent MSW rankings (2012), the difference between the top
school and the school ranked tenth was six-tenths of a point. Had I wanted to, I could have improved my own
school’s ranking by simply ranking schools previously ranked in the top ten as
“marginal.” Had my colleague and I
actually done this, we would have dropped the #1 ranked school to #3 or the 11th
ranked school to #16. In the end I filled out my form as best I could, ranking
more than 150 schools “don’t know.” Our
program was tied with 8 other schools and ranked #16.
There was one more answer I was
looking for regarding the rankings: Just
how many of my colleague deans and senior faculty actually sat down and ranked
MSW programs? According to U.S. News and World Report
the response rate for Master of Social Work programs in was 53%.
So in the end, the assessment and
ranking of Master of Social Work programs is essentially a beauty contest where
half of the judges do not show up, those who do show up wear dark glasses, and
the contestants stand behind an opaque curtain.
In a word, the rankings are worthless.
As an applicant, you will have to do the research U.S. News and World Report refuses to carry out. When assessing MSW programs ask the following
questions:
1. What
is the faculty/student ratio?
2. What
is the average class size?
3. What
is the average GPA of accepted students/enrolled students?
4. What
is the average financial aid award and is it based on merit, need, or a
combination of both?
5. What
field placements are available?
6. What
percentage of students are employed in professional work within 6 months of
graduation?
7. What
is the average salary of a graduate the first year after the graduation; the 5th
year after graduation?
8. How
strong is the school’s alumni network?
