April 8, 2024
UW graduate and professional disciplines have strong showing on US News’ Best Graduate Schools rankings
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 2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings.University of Washington
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 2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings released late Monday.
While the UW celebrates the success and impact of the programs recognized by U.S. News — and 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 the extent they are open to it — to improve their methodologies. And schools, colleges and departments continually reevaluate the benefits and potential shortfalls of participating in specific rankings.
“Across the UW, our world-class graduate and professional degree programs are not only expanding and creating knowledge and discovery, they are training the next generation of highly skilled professionals and Ph.D.s who are needed in our labs, classrooms and hospitals; in government and industry and everywhere that we face serious and urgent challenges,” said UW President Ana Mari Cauce. “We’re happy to see the success of these programs be recognized.”
Dozens of UW schools and departments placed prominently in the 2025 rankings — excluding the School of Law and the School of Medicine, more than 30 placed in the top 10, and more than 60 in the top 35.
In new rankings released this year, the UW placed in the top 10 nationwide in public affairs, nursing, speech and language pathology, computer science, education, public health, social work and business, 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 eighth in the nation. The Evans School’s environmental policy program was ranked second, nonprofit management and social policy each ranking at No. 8, public finance and budgeting came in at No. 10.
This year’s rankings solidified UW leadership in the health sciences: The UW School of Nursing tied for third place for the 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 tied for No. 7, and had three programs — biostatistics, environmental health sciences and epidemiology — in the top 10. The School of Social Work was ranked No. 7 this year and the School of Pharmacy placed third among public institutions on the West Coast. Dentistry programs are not ranked by U.S. News
The UW’s programs in speech and language pathology ranked 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 three programs ranked in the top 10, including artificial intelligence at No. 6, programming language at No. 8, and systems at No. 9.
U.S. News said it would release 2025 rankings for clinical psychology and other engineering programs at a later date.
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. Information about U.S. News & World Report’s methodology can be found here.
TOP 10:
Public Affairs (environmental policy): 2nd
Library and Information Studies (overall): Tie for 2nd (ranked in 2022)
Library and Information studies (digital librarianship): Tie for 2nd (ranked in 2022)
Library and Information Studies (information systems): 2nd (ranked in 2022)
Nurse practitioner (doctor of nursing practice): Two-way tie for 3rd
Physics (nuclear): Tied for 3rd (ranked in 2024)
Library and Information Studies (library services for children and youth): Tie for 5th (ranked in 2022)
Speech-language pathology: Four-way tie for 5th
Nurse practitioner (pediatric acute care): Tie for 5th (ranked in 2022)
Computer science (artificial intelligence): 6th
Nurse midwifery: Tie for 6th
Computer science (overall): Three-way tie for 7th
Education (secondary education): 7th
Education (elementary education): 7th
School of Public Health (overall): Tie for 7th
Public Health (biostatistics): 7th
Public Health (environmental health sciences): 7th
School of Social Work (overall): 7th
Statistics: Tie for 7th (ranked in 2022)
Computer science (programming language): 8th
Education (curriculum/instruction): Three-way tie for 8th
Evans School of Public Policy & Governance (overall): 8th
Public Affairs (nonprofit management): 8th
Public Affairs (social policy): 8th
Computer science (systems): 9th
Earth sciences: Five-way tie for 9th (ranked in 2024)
Geophysics: Three-way tie for 9th (ranked in 2024)
Public Health (epidemiology): 9th
Public Affairs (public finance and budgeting): 10th
Business (part-time MBA): Three-way tie for 10th
Business (information systems): Two-way tie for 10th
TOP 25:
Biological sciences: Three-way tie for 23rd (ranked in 2022)
Business (marketing): Six-way tie for 23rd (ranked in 2024)
Business (analytics): Four-way tie for 19th
Business (entrepreneurship): Four-way tie for 21st
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)
Computer science (theory): 11th
College of Education (overall): Two-way tie for 23rd
Education (administration/supervision): Two-way tie for 11th
Education (policy): Two-way tie for 19th
Education (special education): 11th
Mathematics (applied math): 21st (ranked in 2024)
Nursing master’s (overall): Two-way tie for 12th
Nurse practitioner (family): Three-way tie for 11th
College of Pharmacy (overall): Three-way tie for 12th
Physics (overall): 20th (ranked in 2024)
Public Health (health policy and management): Tie for 14th
Public Health (social behavior): 14th
Public Affairs (global policy): 14th
Public Affairs (leadership): Three-way tie for 11th
Public Affairs (public policy analysis): 13th
Psychology: Seven-way way tie for 23rd (ranked in 2022)
Library and Information Studies (school library media): Tie for 11th (ranked in 2022)
Sociology (overall): Three-way tie for 20th (ranked in 2022)
Sociology (population): Tie for 15th (ranked in 2022)
TOP 35:
Business (accounting): Four-way tie for 29th
Business (full-time MBA): Two-way tie for 27th
Business (supply chain management): Three-way tie for 21st
English: Seven-way tie for 32nd (ranked in 2022)
History: Four-way tie for 34th (ranked in 2022)
Mathematics: Three-way tie for 27th (ranked in 2024)
Political science: Three-way tie for 34th (ranked in 2022)
Tag(s): College of Arts & Sciences • College of Education • Evans School of Public Policy & Governance • Foster School of Business • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering • Rankings • School of Nursing • School of Pharmacy • School of Social Work • UW Bothell • UW Tacoma
