UW Graduate and Professional Disciplines Shine in US News’ Best Graduate Schools Rankings
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.