The School of Social Administration is one of six graduate and professional schools at the University of Chicago, one of the top-ranked universities in the world. The University boasts an active and historic urban campus that's home to over 10,000 graduate students and 5,000 undergraduates. The University is the cultural and intellectual anchor of Hyde Park, one of Chicago's most vibrant and eclectic neighborhoods. As an SSA student, you will take advantage of both worlds—the best of campus life and city life—to build a rich and rewarding graduate school experience.
The SSA Community
SSA students are more than just classmates. When you put this many highly intelligent, diverse, compassionate people in one place, they want to engage with each other and with the issues that matter most. SSA students operate 16 clubs and organizations including the Advocate's Forum, a student-run academic journal addressing cutting edge topics in the practice and administration of social work. SSA is one of only a handful of schools of social work to sponsor such a journal. Our successful alumni—in Chicago and across the world—are some of the biggest supporters of SSA students, offering mentorship and networking opportunities through the Office of Career Services.
The Campus
The University of Chicago is an intellectual incubator. Eighty-five Nobel Prize winners have walked this campus as students, faculty or researchers, and others have won Pulitzers, National Medals of Science and MacArthur "genius" grants. Our students feed off of this energy to form a vibrant intellectual community that values cross-disciplinary debate, open inquiry and personal engagement.
The campus is 15 minutes from downtown Chicago, one of the world's great cultural capitals, and the University is large enough to support its own art and history museums, a professional theatre company, and a busy calendar of campus arts, social and cultural activities for every taste.
- Court Theatre - Named "the most consistently excellent theater company in America" by The Wall Street Journal
- Smart Museum of Art – The University's free public art museum
- Renaissance Society – Another free modern art museum on campus
- The Oriental Institute – One of the nation's premier collections of artifacts from the ancient Near East
- Doc Films - The longest-running student film society in America
- Ratner Athletics Center – Olympic-sized pool, fitness center, dance classrooms and a gym for dozens of intramural and club sports.
In addition, the UChicago campus is flanked by three of Chicago's most beautiful parks and green spaces, including the 600-acre Jackson Park, home to miles of lakeside walking and jogging trails, beaches, lagoons, sports fields and even a golf course.
The Neighborhood
When the Obamas moved to the White House, they kept their home in Hyde Park, a racially integrated, residential, South Side community famous for its legendary bookstores, global cuisine, historic architecture, wide open green spaces, and of course, the University of Chicago. The neighborhood feeds off the intellectual energy of the University, nurturing a thriving music, theater, literary and art scene.
Lisa Elliott, AM ’16
As a social worker doing psychotherapy with children in a medical practice in Chicago’s northern suburbs, Lisa Elliott, AM ’16, feels that SSA provided her with excellent preparation to pursue a career that was shaped by her interests.