U.S. News Recognizes Maryland Graduate Programs

Schools, colleges and programs across the University of Maryland earned recognition in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 Best Graduate Schools rankings, released yesterday. 

Several UMD programs and specialties ranked among the Top 10 in the nation: counseling/personnel services (No. 1), homeland/national security (No. 4), educational psychology (No. 5), higher education administration (No. 10), information systems (No. 10) and audiology (No. 10).

Here are this year’s highlights:

• The College of Education and the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences jointly hold one top 5 ranking: counseling/personnel services (No. 1).
• The College of Education has another top 5 ranking in educational psychology (No. 5). Six other college programs also have top 20 rankings: higher education administration (No. 10), special education (No. 14), secondary teacher education (No. 16), education policy (No. 17), curriculum and instruction (No. 19) and elementary education (No. 19).
• The School of Public Policy netted one top 5 ranking—homeland/national security (No. 4), and two in the top 20: public finance and budgeting (No. 11) and international global policy (No. 12).
• The A. James Clark School of Engineering counts four top 20 rankings: aerospace engineering (No. 12), computer engineering (No. 14), electrical engineering (No. 14) and mechanical engineering (No. 17). 
• The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences holds two other top 20 rankings: audiology (No. 10) and speech-language pathology (No. 16).
• The Robert H. Smith School of Business holds one top 20 ranking: information systems (No. 10).

While not every program is evaluated each year, UMD retains several top 20 graduate program rankings from previous cycles:

• The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences’ criminology program was ranked No. 1 in 2018,
• The College of Arts and Humanities' African American history program took the No. 2 slot in 2017.
• The College of Information Studies’ library and information studies program was ranked No. 8 in 2017.
• The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences’ physics program ranked  No. 14 and its computer science program earned a No. 16 ranking, both in 2018. 

The rankings are based on expert opinions about program excellence and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school’s faculty, research output and student achievement.

According to U.S. News, the data for rankings in all six disciplines—business, education, engineering, law, medicine and nursing—came from statistical and reputation surveys sent to tens of thousands of academics and professionals, conducted in fall 2019 and early 2020.

The full U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools rankings are available here, with UMD’s complete graduate rankings listed here.