Graduate Programs Earn High Rankings From U.S. News

Scores of University of Maryland programs earned accolades in U.S. News & World Report’s 2023 Best Graduate Schools lists released today, with 56 top-25 rankings in overall and specialty categories.

Combined with the previous university-wide and 14 undergraduate program rankings in U.S. News’ 2022 Best Colleges, UMD now has 74 schools, colleges, programs and specialties on the publication’s top 25 lists, which are widely used by prospective students when considering where to apply to school.

The magazine each year ranks graduate programs in education, engineering, business (MBA), law, medicine and nursing, along with a rotating selection of specialty schools and programs.

This year’s group also included social work; doctoral program rankings in economics, psychology, math, statistics, biological sciences, computer science, chemistry and earth sciences; and a first-ever ranking of doctoral programs in biostatistics. Rankings in public affairs and public health schools and programs were updated as well.

In terms of overall placement, the School of Public Health ranked No. 19; the Robert H. Smith School of Business’ part-time MBA was No. 25; the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS) was No. 17 for computer science and No. 18 for physics; and the A. James Clark School of Engineering was No. 21 for graduate engineering.

For specific programs, the highlights this year include:

• The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences’ (BSOS) economics program at No. 22;
• The Smith School’s information systems program at No. 8 and supply chain and logistics at No. 22;
  
• CMNS’ artificial intelligence program at No. 13, programming language at No. 15, computer science systems at No. 21, computer science theory at No. 20, applied mathematics at No. 14, mathematical analysis at No. 22, atomic/molecular/optical physics at No. 7, elementary particles/field/string theory at No. 15, condensed matter physics at No. 10, quantum physics at No. 8 and geochemistry at No. 17;
  
• The College of Education’s counseling and personnel services program—a joint program with BSOS’ Department of Psychology—at No. 1, curriculum and instruction at No. 20, education policy at No. 19, education psychology at No. 7, higher education administration at No. 12, secondary teacher education at No. 18, special education at No. 14, elementary education at No. 18, and education administration and supervision at No. 24;
  
• The Clark School’s aerospace engineering program at No. 15, computer engineering at No. 15, electrical/electronic/communication engineering at No. 19, mechanical engineering at No. 19 and materials engineering at No. 22; and
  
• The School of Public Policy’s homeland/national security program at No. 3 and public finance and budgeting at No. 12.
  

Since U.S. News doesn’t rank all graduate programs annually, other current honors for UMD from previous editions include:

• The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ veterinary medicine program at No. 17 in 2020;
  
• The College of Arts and Humanities’ American Literature before 1865 program at No. 12 in 2022;
  
• The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences’ audiology program at No. 10 in 2021, criminology at No. 1 in 2022, sociology at No. 24 in 2022, sociology of population at No. 14 in 2022, and speech-language pathology at No. 16 in 2021;
  
• The Smith School was ranked No. 12 overall for online MBA programs in 2022, in addition to the online MBA business analytics program at No. 6, finance at No. 4, general management at No. 6, and marketing at No. 1;
  
• The College of Information Studies was ranked overall No. 4 in 2022, in addition to archives and preservation at No. 6, information systems at No. 5, school library media at No. 5, services for children and youth at No. 2, and digital librarianship at No. 8; and
  
• The Clark School was overall No. 12 for online graduate engineering programs in 2022, with online electrical engineering at No. 15 and online industrial engineering at No. 14.
  

The rankings are based on statistical surveys of more than 2,150 programs and reputation surveys sent to more than 23,200 academics and professionals, conducted in fall 2021 and early 2022.