Baylor graduate programs fare well in latest U.S. News rankings

Every year, U.S. News unveils its annual ranking of American colleges and universities to the world. Last fall, Baylor came in at No. 75 in the nation — among the top 20% of national universities — and made the outlet’s short list of best schools for both undergraduate teaching and undergraduate research opportunities. (Baylor was also named among the nation’s best first-year student experiences and best values.)

Such rankings typically focus on undergraduate education, which has long been Baylor’s bread and butter. But for those pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees, there’s another important U.S. News ranking: its “Best Graduate Schools 2023” rankings, released late last month. Here’s a quick look at how some of Baylor’s graduate programs fared in the latest rankings:

• Baylor Law School’s trial advocacy program held steady at No. 2 in the country.
• The Louise Herrington School of Nursing’s U.S. Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing ranked No. 8 nationally, while its nurse-midwifery program placed 21st.
• The U.S. Army-Baylor master’s degree program in health care management ranked No. 9 nationally.
• The U.S. Army-Baylor doctor of physical therapy program in Baylor’s Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences is ranked No. 13.
• The Hankamer School of Business’ graduate program in entrepreneurship and its MBA in health care administration each came in at No. 17 nationally.
• The Baylor School of Education’s graduate program in curriculum and instruction ranked No. 26 nationally.

Four of Baylor’s schools and colleges ranked among the top 30% of graduate programs in their fields: the Hankamer School of Business (87th percentile, No. 64 overall), the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work (83rd percentile/No. 51), the School of Education (75th percentile/No. 113), and Baylor Law School (70th percentile/No. 58). At the program level, a wide variety of programs cracked the top 100 overall, including speech-language pathology (No. 55); statistics (No. 66); public health (No. 79); chemistry (No. 81); sociology (No. 84); psychology (No. 88); biology (No. 93); English (No. 99); and earth sciences (No. 100).

U.S. News bases its rankings on two types of data: expert opinions about program excellence, and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school’s faculty, research and students. All those statistics and measures reaffirm what we’ve known for a long time — that Baylor University is an amazing place to take your education to the next level!

Sic ’em, Baylor graduate & professional programs!