U.S. News & World Report: Best Graduate Schools

Institutional Effectiveness, Strategic Planning, and Assessment has prepared a PowerPoint presentation providing an overview of 2021 US News and World Report Best Graduate School Rankings

The U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Graduate Schools ranks programs and specialties in law, medicine, and nursing annually, while other programs are typically ranked every four years. In the table below, the year indicates the calendar year the rankings were released. The "2026" rankings were released April 8, 2025 and are shown under the 2025 column.  Schools of Medicine are ranked utilizing tier groups instead of ordinal rankings beginning with the rankings released in 2024.

  2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
School of Medicine 
Research - Overall  34 27 29 32 Tier2 Tier2
  Among Publics 14 9 10 13 Tier2 Tier2
Primary Care - Overall  12 16 15 22 Tier1 Tier2
  Among Publics 10 14 13 21 Tier1 Tier2
 
Most Diverse Medical Schools a, b 86 58 51 81  
Most Graduates Practicing in Health Professional Shortage Areas a 95 98 114 146 133
Most Graduates Practicing in Primary Care a 67 58 64 82 104
Most Graduates Practicing in Rural Areas a 122 111 98 107 99
 
a new ranking in 2021
b ranking discontinued after 2024
  2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Carey School of Law 
Day Program - Overall 47 50 47 51 55 63
  Among Publics 24 26 24 24 28 34
Evening Program - Overall 5 8 6 21 8 4
  Among Publics 2 3 2 8 3 1
 
Specialties
  Business / Corporate Law 61 52 56 60 35 51
  Clinical Training 6 9 8 13 5 8
  Constitutional Law 44 41 40 48 39 41
  Contracts / Commercial Law 46 56 59 72 64 66
  Criminal Law 57 50 39 36 34 29
  Dispute Resolution 13 15 12 9 7 9
  Environmental Law 10 16 13 19 21 21
  Health Care Law 7 7 6 6 4 4
  Intellectual Property Law 79 97 87 46 53 53
  International Law 69 68 67 47 71 45
  Legal Writing 63 114 115 98 111 93
  Tax Law 63 73 76 68 70 53
  Trial Advocacy 31 30 31 40 36 24
 
  2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
School of Nursing 
Doctor of Nursing Practice 16 33 13 15 8 12
Master of Science 22 37 21 25 20 17
Nursing Anesthesia a 10 10 10 10 22 26
 
Doctor of Nursing Practice Specialties            
  Administration / Management - - - - -
  Leadership - - - - -
  Nurse Practitioner: Adult / Gerontology, Acute Care - 9 10 - -
  Nurse Practitioner: Adult / Gerontology, Primary Care 6 5 4 3 -
  Nurse Practitioner: Family 8 4 11 10 -
  Nurse Practitioner: Pediatric, Primary Care b     6 - - -
  Nurse Practitioner: Psychiatric / Mental Health, Across the Lifespan b     5 4 - -
Master's Specialties
  Clinical Nurse Leader c -        
  Nursing Leadership d       2 - -
  Nurse Practitioner: Adult / Gerontology, Acute Care - - 7 - -
  Nurse Practitioner: Adult / Gerontology, Primary Care - - - - 6
  Nurse Practitioner: Family - - - - 9
  Nurse Practitioner: Pediatric, Primary Care - - - - -
  Nurse Practitioner: Psychiatric / Mental Health, Across the Lifespan - - - - -
  Nursing Administration 11  - - 2 2 4
 
a Nursing Anesthesia ranking updated for 2024 and 2025.  2016 ranking shown 2020 through 2023
b new ranking for 2022
c ranking discontinued after 2021
d new ranking for 2023
 
  2008 2012 2016 2020 2024  
School of Pharmacy 
Overall 9 17 9 14 15  
 
  2016 2018 2019 2022 2024  
School of Social Work 
Overall 17 17 17 21 24  
 
Physical Therapy Program 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 2025
Overall 15 19 28 42 58 50
 
  2019 2021 2022 2023 2024 2024
Public Health Program a
Overall: 62 60 54 76 68 55
 
Ranking expanded in 2019 to include both schools and programs
 
  2010 2014 2018 2022 2023  
Graduate Program In The Sciences 
Biological Sciences a 100 93 90 119 119  
Chemistry  107 106 - 140 136  
 
a ranking not updated for 2023

Note: Dates refer to year rankings were released. A dash (-) means UMB program was unranked for that year.

Updated April 23, 2025


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