Updated May 11, 2023

Several University of Arizona graduate programs across a variety of disciplines have been recognized among the best in the nation in U.S. News & World Report's latest Best Graduate Schools rankings.

The annual list, released April 25, again ranked the Eller College of Management's program in management information systems No. 1 among public universities and No. 3 overall, behind Carnegie Mellon University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Programs in the UArizona Department of Geosciences, housed in the College of Science, also continued to rank among the nation's best. UArizona's doctoral program in Earth sciences rose five spots to tie for No. 4 overall and rank No. 2 among public universities. The following Earth sciences subspecialties also earned strong scores: geology (tied for No. 5 overall, No. 3 among public universities), geochemistry (tied for No. 6 overall, tied for No. 4 among public universities) and geophysics/seismology (No. 15 overall, No. 8 among public universities).

The university's rehabilitation counseling program in the College of Education was also ranked a top-10 program, tied for No. 10 overall and tied for No. 9 among public institutions. The College of Education also had a strong showing in higher education administration (No. 17 overall, No. 11 among public universities) and education psychology (No. 21 overall, No. 16 among public universities). The college's overall ranking was tied for No. 58 overall and tied for No. 44 among public universities.

"I am proud to see such a wide variety of our graduate programs deservedly recognized among the nation's best," said University of Arizona President  Robert C. Robbins. "Graduate students are essential to all of our research initiatives and teaching programs. Those who choose to take part in a University of Arizona graduate program do so knowing they will be given the opportunity to excel in scholarship, teaching and career preparation."

Eller's McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship tied for No. 17 overall and tied for No. 7 among public universities. The college's accounting program tied for No. 40 overall, while the part-time MBA program tied for No. 56 overall and the full-time MBA program tied for No. 53 overall.

The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson earned its best ranking on the U.S. News & World Report diversity index (No. 17 overall and No. 12 among public universities). The College of Medicine – Tucson also earned strong marks for its programs in primary care (tied for No. 53), rural health (No. 72) and research (No. 63).

U.S. News & World Report also ranks colleges and universities by the percentage of 2014-16 graduates practicing direct patient care in geographic regions that are experiencing health professional shortages. The College of Medicine – Phoenix was ranked No. 64 in this category and College of Medicine – Tucson was ranked No. 69.

The colleges also secured strong placements in the number of 2014-16 graduates who are now practicing as primary care physicians (tied for No. 77 overall for the College of Medicine – Tucson and ranked No. 132 for the College of Medicine – Phoenix). The College of Medicine – Phoenix was ranked No. 115 in the rural health category.

The UArizona College of Veterinary Medicine earned recognition in U.S. News & World Report's first ranking of veterinary medicine doctoral programs, placing No. 30 overall and No. 26 among public universities.

The School of Government and Public Policy, housed in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, tied for No. 39 on the list of public affairs programs, with a subspecialty in public management/leadership also earning recognition at No. 30 overall.

Other College of Science graduate programs ranked this year were in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (tied for No. 51, with a No. 13 overall ranking in the analytical chemistry subspecialty), the Department of Physics (tied for No. 35 overall), the Department of Computer Science (tied for No. 50 overall) and the Department of Mathematics (tied for No. 43 overall).

The Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health tied for No. 43 in the publication's ranking of public health programs. The College of Nursing tied for No. 31 in doctoral programs and tied for No. 41 in master's programs on the annual Best Nursing Schools list.

The James E. Rogers College of Law earned its best mark in the legal writing specialty, tied for No. 8 overall and tied for No. 4 among public universities. The college tied for No. 54 overall on the Best Law Schools list. The following specialties also were ranked:

• Health care law (tied for No. 29)
• Dispute resolution (tied for No. 34)
• Constitutional law (tied for No. 35)
• Business/corporate law (tied for No. 36)
• International law (tied for No. 38)
• Environmental law (tied for No. 39)
• Criminal law (tied for No. 45)
• Clinical training (tied for No. 45)
• Contracts/commercial law (tied for No. 59)
• Tax law (tied for No. 62)
• Intellectual property (tied for No. 67)
• Trial advocacy (tied for No. 80)

The College of Engineering tied for No. 63 on the Best Engineering Schools list, with rankings in the following subspecialties:

• Industrial/manufacturing/systems (tied for No. 21)
• Environmental (tied for No. 31)
• Aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical (tied for No. 32)
• Civil (tied for No. 41)
• Material (tied for No. 51)
• Biomedical/bioengineering (tied for No. 50)
• Electrical/electronic/communications (tied for No. 54)
• Mechanical (tied for No. 53)
• Chemical (tied for No. 55)

Each year, U.S. News & World Report ranks graduate schools and programs in several academic disciplines. The rankings in these areas are based on expert opinions about program excellence and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research and students.

Beyond the categories ranked annually, U.S. News also periodically ranks programs in the sciences, social sciences, library sciences, humanities, health and many other areas based solely on the ratings of academic experts.

Previous rankings

Several other UArizona graduate programs appear on the U.S. News list, but their rankings were not subject to review this year. In previous updates, UArizona earned top-10 placements in photography (tied for No. 3 overall, No. 2 among public universities), speech language pathology (tied for No. 6 overall, No. 3 among public universities) and audiology (tied for No. 10 overall, No. 6 among public universities).

In other previous updates, the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences' graduate program in Latin American history tied for No. 10 overall and tied for No. 5 among public universities. UArizona earned top-30 rankings for the School of Sociology (No. 26 overall, No. 13 among public universities) and the library and information science program (No. 27 overall, No. 24 among public universities). The Department of Psychology tied for No. 35 overall.

The doctoral program in political science was ranked No. 50. UArizona's doctoral program in biological sciences tied for No. 50 overall and tied for No. 12 in the ecology subspecialty (tied for No. 5 among public universities). The statistics and data science graduate interdisciplinary program tied for No. 54 overall. The Department of History's graduate program tied for No. 54 overall, and the Department of English's graduate program tied for No. 69 overall.

For a full list of rankings, visit https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools.