News releases

March 29, 2021

University of Washington graduate and professional disciplines rank highly in US News’ ‘Best Graduate School’ lists

More than 100 of the University of Washington’s graduate and professional degree programs are among the top 35 in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2022 Best Graduate School rankings released Tuesday.

Dozens of schools and departments placed prominently in the 2022 rankings, including medicine, nursing, library sciences, education, public health and public affairs — including the UW School of Medicine ranking No. 1 in the nation for primary care education.

“As this year of the pandemic has shown, our society depends on and is deeply indebted to the expertise and skills of researchers, scholars and health care providers for all their efforts to help us beat COVID-19 and rebuild a healthier, more equitable world,” UW President Ana Mari Cauce said. “I am so proud that throughout these difficult months, the UW has continued to educate and train Ph.D.s, experts and professionals who are integral to this work. It’s wonderful to see these graduate programs recognized for their outstanding contributions and impact.”

In addition to its No. 1 position in primary care, the UW School of Medicine earned a No. 2 ranking for family medicine training and tied with Johns Hopkins University at No. 7 for medical research. The School is second in the nation for federal grant funding with $960 million in federal grants in 2019.

The UW Information School was ranked No. 2 alongside University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. The iSchool also tied for second place in digital librarianship alongside UNC, and was No. 2 for information systems.

Ranked second among public institutions and No. 4 overall, the UW Evans School of Public Policy & Governance has maintained its top-10 ranking for the fifth consecutive year. The Evans School also ranked in the top 10 in the following areas: environmental policy, policy analysis, public finance and budgeting, social policy, nonprofit management and public management and leadership.

The UW School of Nursing received the No. 1 overall ranking for a public school offering a doctor of nursing practice degree. The UW School of Nursing was also tied for No. 1 among public schools that offer a master’s degree, and tied for No. 6 overall. This latter ranking is specific to UW Bothell and UW Tacoma.

Information about U.S. News & World Report’s methodology can be found here.

Below is a roundup of the UW’s graduate and professional school and program rankings that were available under embargo to institutions before the full rankings were published. Not all disciplines are ranked every year; rankings from prior years are noted in parentheses.

TOP 10:

Primary care medical schools: 1st

Biostatistics: Three-way tie for 1st (ranked in 2019)

Law librarianship: 1st (ranked in 2017)

Environmental policy: 2nd

Family medicine: 2nd

Library and information studies: Tie for 2nd

Digital librarianship: Tie for 2nd

Information systems: 2nd

Microbiology: Tie for 2nd (ranked in 2019)

Doctor of Nursing Practice (overall): 3rd

School of Social Work (overall): Five-way tie for 3rd (ranked in 2019)

Evans School of Public Policy & Governance (overall): Three-way tie for 4th

Nurse practitioner (pediatric acute care): Tie for 4th

Physics (nuclear): 4th (ranked in 2019)

Statistics: Tie for 4th (ranked in 2019)

Library services for children and youth: Tie for 5th

Education (secondary education): Tie for 5th

Psychology (clinical): Three-way tie for 5th (2021)

Artificial intelligence: 5th (ranked in 2019)

Genetics/Genomics/Bioinformatics: 5th (ranked in 2019)

Computer science (overall): Tie for 6th (ranked in 2019)

Programming language: 6th (ranked in 2019)

Systems: 6th (ranked in 2019)

Nonprofit management: 6th

Nursing master’s (overall): Tie for 6th

School of Medicine (research): Tie for 7th

Education (special education): Tie for 7th

Public finance and budgeting: 7th

Social policy: 7th

School of Public Health (overall): 7th

Pharmacy: Six-way tie for 7th (ranked in 2021)

Geriatrics: 7th (ranked in 2018)

School of Public Health (overall): 7th (ranked in 2020)

Education (elementary education): Three-way tie for 8th

Nurse midwifery: Three-way tie for 8th (ranked in 2021)

Chemistry (analytical): 8th (ranked in 2019)

Pediatrics: 9th

Speech-language pathology: Six-way tie for 10th

Earth sciences: Three-way tie for 10th (ranked in 2019)

Public management and leadership: 10th

Public policy analysis: 10th

TOP 25:

Accounting: Three-way tie for 15th

Anesthesiology: 13th

Biological sciences: Three-way tie for 23rd (ranked in 2019)

Business (information systems): 15th

Business (management): Tie for 23rd

Chemistry: Six-way tie for 24th (ranked in 2019)

Computer science (theory): 11th (ranked in 2019)

College of Education (overall): 13th

Education (administration/supervision): Tie for 12th

Education (psychology): Three-way tie for 17th

Education (policy): Tie for 15th

Education (curriculum/instruction): 11th

Education (higher education administration): 20th

College of Engineering (overall): Tie for 22nd

Engineering (aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical): Tie for 19th

Engineering (biomedical/bioengineering): 13th

Engineering (chemical): Four-way tie for 22nd

Engineering (computer): Three-way tie for 11th

Engineering (civil): Six-way tie for 20th

Engineering (electrical): Seven-way tie for 20th

Engineering (industrial/manufacturing/systems): Six-way tie for 23rd

Engineering (environmental/environmental health): Three-way tie for 25th

Engineering (materials): Three-way tie for 23rd

Entrepreneurship: Tie for 24th

Executive MBA: Tie for 21st

Foster School of Business (overall): 22nd

Health care management: Tie for 15th (ranked in 2019)

Internal Medicine: 15th

Law (intellectual property law): Four-way tie for 15th

Law (dispute resolution): Five-way tie for 19th

Local government management: 19th

Mathematics (applied math): 11th (ranked in 2019)

Mathematics (analysis): 17th (ranked in 2019)

Nurse practitioner (adult, acute care): Tie for 13th (ranked in 2019)

Nurse practitioner (psychiatric/mental health): Three-way tie for 11th (ranked in 2021)

Nurse practitioner (family): Three-way tie for 12th

Obstetrics and gynecology: Two-way tie for 14th

Occupational therapy: Six-way tie for 23rd (ranked in 2021)

Part-time MBA: Tie for 14th

Physics: 22nd (ranked in 2019)

Physician assistant: 14th (ranked in 2021)

Psychiatry: 13th

Public policy analysis: Tie for 12th (ranked in 2021)

Radiology: 11th

School library media: Tie for 11th

Sociology: Three-way tie for 20th

Sociology (population): Tie for 15th

Surgery: 16th

Urban policy: 19th

TOP 35:

Economics: Six-way tie for 30th

Engineering (mechanical): Seven-way tie for 29th

English: Seven-way tie for 32nd

Finance: Three-way tie for 26th

History: Four-way tie for 34th

Law (environmental): Three-way tie for 34th

Law (contracts/commercial law): Eight-way tie for 26th

Law (clinical training): Eight-way tie for 32nd

Law (tax law): Five-way tie for 34th

Mathematics: Six-way tie for 26th (ranked in 2019)

Physical therapy: Nine-way tie for 25th (ranked in 2021)

Political science: Three-way tie for 34th

Psychology: Ten-way way tie for 26th (ranked in 2017)

 

Tag(s): Rankings

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