April 7, 2025
UW Information School ties for 1st; other UW programs place highly in US News & World Report Best Graduate Schools ranking
The UW’s graduate and professional degree programs were widely recognized as among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best Graduate Schools rankings.University of Washington
UPDATE April 8,2025: An earlier version of this story included outdated rankings that were erroneously posted by U.S. News and have since been removed from the U.S. News ranking site. This story has been updated to reflect most recent rankings.
Many of the University of Washington’s graduate and professional degree programs were widely recognized as among the best in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best Graduate Schools released late Monday.
The UW Information School tied for No. 1 alongside the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for library and information studies. And, more than 80 UW schools and departments placed prominently in the 2026 rankings.
While the UW celebrates the success and impact of the programs recognized by U.S. News — and notes that many applicants use these rankings to help them select schools and discover potential areas of study — the University also recognizes shortcomings inherent in the ranking systems.
The UW School of Law and the UW School of Medicine withdrew from the U.S. News rankings in 2022 and 2023, respectively, citing concerns that some of the methodology in the rankings for those specific disciplines incentivize actions and policies that run counter to the schools’ public service missions.
UW leaders continue to work with U.S. News and other ranking organizations to improve their methodologies, to the extent that the organizations are open to it. Schools, colleges and departments continually reevaluate the benefits and potential shortfalls of participating in specific rankings.
“As these rankings demonstrate, the UW’s outstanding graduate and professional degree programs are leading the way in training highly skilled people to fill critical workforce needs and advance discovery and innovation in a wide range of fields,” said UW President Ana Mari Cauce. “It has never been more important to recognize how much graduate and professional education benefit our nation and people everywhere, and the UW is proud to see these exceptional programs be celebrated.”
Excluding the School of Law and the School of Medicine, 32 UW programs placed in the top 10, and more than 80 are in the top 35.
In new rankings released this year, the UW placed in the top 10 nationwide in library and information studies, public affairs, nursing, speech and language pathology, education, public health, computer science, psychology and civil engineering, according to U.S. News.
The UW’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance has maintained its top-10 ranking for more than a decade and placed seventh in the nation. The Evans School’s environmental policy program was ranked second and nonprofit management and social policy each were ranked at No. 8.
This year’s rankings highlighted UW’s leadership in nursing and public health: The UW School of Nursing held the No. 1 overall ranking for a public school offering a doctor of nursing practice program, and nursing schools at UW Bothell and UW Tacoma are among the top 10 public institutions that offer a master’s degree. The School of Public Health has maintained its top-10 ranking for more than a decade, coming in this year tied for No. 10. The school also had three programs in the top 10: biostatistics, environmental health sciences and epidemiology. And overall, the U.S. News rankings noted UW’s strength in health sciences: The School of Social Work was ranked No. 7 and the School of Pharmacy tied for 12th — or third among public institutions on the West Coast — on last year’s list, while dentistry programs are not ranked.
The UW’s programs in speech and language pathology tied for No. 5, topping schools on the West Coast. Three programs from the College of Education placed in the top 10. And the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering this year tied for seventh place overall, and four programs ranked in the top 10, including artificial intelligence, programming language, systems and theory.
In some cases, such as the College of Arts & Science and the Foster School of Business, U.S. News ranks several professional disciplines housed within academic units. The rankings below are based on preliminary data and may be updated. U.S. News & World Report’s methodology relies on both expert opinions and statistical indicators.
TOP 10:
Library and Information Studies (overall): Two-way tie for 1st
Public Affairs (environmental policy): 2nd
Library and information studies (digital librarianship): Two-way for 2nd (ranked in 2022)
Library and Information Studies (information systems): 2nd (ranked in 2022)
Nurse practitioner (doctor of nursing practice): 3rd
Physics (nuclear): Two-way tie for 3rd (ranked in 2024)
Library and Information Studies (library services for children and youth): Two-way for 5th (ranked in 2022)
Nursing (midwifery): 5th
Nurse practitioner (pediatric acute care): Two-way tie for 5th (ranked in 2022)
Speech-language pathology: Six-way tie for 5th
Education (elementary education): 6th
Education (secondary education): 6th
Public Health (biostatistics): 6th
Computer science (overall): Four-way tie for 7th
Computer science (programming language): 7th
Public Health (environmental health sciences): 7th
School of Social Work (overall): 7th (ranked in 2025)
Statistics: Tie for 7th (ranked in 2022)
Computer science (artificial intelligence): 8th
Computer science (systems): 8th
Education (curriculum/instruction): 8th
Evans School of Public Policy & Governance (overall): Two-way tie for 7th
Psychology (clinical): Six-way tie for 8th
Public Affairs (nonprofit management): 8th
Public Affairs (social policy): 8th
Public Health (epidemiology): Two-way tie for 8th
Computer science (theory): Three-way tie for 9th
Earth sciences: Five-way tie for 9th (ranked in 2024)
Geophysics: Three-way tie for 9th (ranked in 2024)
Engineering (civil): Three-way tie for 10th
Public Affairs (public finance and budgeting): 10th
School of Public Health (overall): Two-way tie for 10th
TOP 25:
Biological sciences: Three-way tie for 23rd (ranked in 2022)
Business (part-time MBA): Two-way tie for 17th
Business (information systems): Two-way tie for 12th
Business (international MBA): Three-way tie for 20th
Business (supply chain management): Three-way tie for 21st (ranked in 2025)
Business (full-time MBA): Two-way tie for 22nd
Business (entrepreneurship): Three-way tie for 23rd
Business (executive MBA): Three-way tie for 25th
Chemistry (analytical): Four-way tie for 16th (ranked in 2024)
Chemistry: Three-way tie for 24th (ranked in 2024)
Chemistry (inorganic): Three-way tie for 22nd (ranked in 2024)
College of Education (overall): Two-way tie for 22nd
Education (administration): Two-way tie for 12th
Education (policy): Three-way tie for 16th
Education (psychology): 19th
Education (special education): Two-way tie for 11th
College of Engineering (overall): Three-way tie for 20th
Engineering (aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical): Three-way tie for 15th
Engineering (biomedical/bioengineering): Four-way tie for 12th
Engineering (chemical): Two-way tie for 25th
Engineering (computer): Two-way tie for 13th
Engineering (electrical): Four-way tie for 18th
Engineering (environmental/environmental health): Four-way tie for 18th (ranked in 2025)
Engineering (materials engineering): Three-way tie for 24th
Library and Information Studies (school library media): Two-way tie for 11th (ranked in 2022)
Mathematics (applied math): 21st (ranked in 2024)
Nursing master’s (overall): Three-way tie for 12th
Nurse practitioner (family): Three-way tie for 11th (ranked in 2025)
College of Pharmacy (overall): Three-way tie for 12th (ranked in 2025)
Physics (overall): 20th (ranked in 2024)
Public Health (healthcare management): Three-way tie for 16th
Public Health (health policy and management): 13th
Public Health (social behavior): Two-way tie for 12th
Public Affairs (global policy and administration): 14th
Public Affairs (public management and leadership): Three-way tie for 11th
Public Affairs (public policy analysis): 13th
Sociology (overall): Two-way tie for 22nd
Sociology (population): Two-way tie for 15th (ranked in 2022)
TOP 35:
Business (accounting): Three-way tie for 27th
Business (management): Three-way tie for 29th
Business (finance): Three-way tie for 31st
Business (marketing): Two-way tie for 32nd
Engineering (industrial/manufacturing/systems): Three-way tie for 30th
Engineering (mechanical): Three-way tie for 30th
English: Two-way tie for 34th
History: Three-way tie for 31st
Mathematics: Three-way tie for 27th (ranked in 2024)
Political science: Five-way tie for 33rd
Psychology: Nine-way way tie for 30th
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • College of Education • College of Engineering • College of the Environment • Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering • Department of English • Department of History • Department of Psychology • Department of Sociology • Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences • Evans School of Public Policy & Governance • Foster School of Business • Information School • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • Rankings • School of Nursing • School of Pharmacy • School of Public Health • School of Social Work