AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas at Austin is one of the public universities with the most top-ranked schools and academic programs in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 edition of “Best Graduate Schools,” released this morning. The university has five programs ranked No. 1 and 49 schools and specialties ranked among the nation’s top 10.
Only two other public universities have as many top 10 graduate programs, and UT Austin has more top-ranked graduate programs than any other university in Texas.
“In every college, school and department at The University of Texas at Austin, there is innovative research, teaching and multidisciplinary collaboration taking place by our faculty and students,” said President Gregory L. Fenves. “These national rankings reflect our focus on quality and our impact as a public flagship university.”
The university has top 10 programs in 12 of its colleges and schools including business, communications, geosciences, education, engineering, information, fine arts, natural sciences, pharmacy, public affairs, social work and liberal arts.
The five specialties ranked No. 1 in the nation are accounting in the McCombs School of Business; petroleum engineering in the Cockrell School of Engineering; geology in the Jackson School of Geosciences; and Latin American history and Sociology of Population, both in the College of Liberal Arts. (Three of these were updated this year. U.S. News & World Report does not update every discipline in every year.)
U.S. News & World Report’s graduate rankings, separate from the magazine’s yearly ranking of undergraduate programs, are among the most widely regarded ratings in higher education. They are based on surveys of academic leaders and, for select programs, additional quantitative measures including placement test scores, student/faculty ratios, research expenditures and job placement success.
Also updated this year: the Cockrell School of Engineering ranks No. 10 nationally (No. 6 among public universities) and has eight specialties in the top 10. The Jackson School of Geosciences is No. 7 for Earth sciences (No. 3 among publics), with two specialties in the top 10. Computer science ranks No. 10 (No. 5 among publics), with four specialties in the top 10. The College of Education ranks No. 10 nationally (No. 4 among publics), with five specialties in the top 10. The Steve Hicks School of Social Work ranks No. 5 nationally (No. 3 among publics). And the LBJ School of Public Affairs ranks No. 9 (No. 6 among publics), with one specialty in the top 10.
The McCombs School of Business MBA program ranks No. 17 nationally (No. 5 among publics), with a part-time MBA program ranking at No. 7 nationally and three specialties in the top 10. The School of Law ranks No. 15 nationally (No. 4 among publics) and the School of Nursing ranks No. 23 (No. 13 among publics).
Several other graduate schools at UT Austin remain nationally ranked in the top 10, according to previous U.S. News & World Report data that was not revised this year. The School of Information is ranked No. 5 nationally (No. 4 among publics) for Library and Information Studies, with four top 10 specialty areas. The College of Pharmacy ranks No. 3.
In addition to nursing and pharmacy, the university scored top ratings in several other health disciplines when they were last updated in 2016, including speech-language pathology in the Moody College of Communication (No. 7) and clinical psychology (No. 8) in the College of Liberal Arts. The recently launched Dell Medical School will not enter the rankings until the accreditation process is complete.
The top rankings for graduate programs are consistent with other rankings for UT Austin, which has been named the eighth best value among public colleges (Kiplinger, 2017) and the 10th most productive university in the U.S. for scientific research (Nature Index, November 2017).
UT Austin graduate schools and programs that U.S. News & World Report ranked in the top 30 are listed below. These rankings are drawn from early figures released by U.S. News & World Report and could grow when fuller lists are published. Check news.utexas.edu for the most up-to-date lists:
UT Austin Graduate Programs Ranked in the Top 30
Professional Schools
- Business – 17
- Accounting – 1
- Entrepreneurship – 9
- Finance – 13
- Information Systems – 4
- International – 20
- Management – 15
- Marketing – 17
- Production/Operations – 12
- Supply Chain/Logistics – 18
- Executive MBA – 22
- Part-Time MBA – 7
- Education – 10
- Administration/Supervision – 3
- Curriculum/Instruction – 8
- Education Policy – 15
- Educational Psychology – 7
- Elementary Teacher Education – 12
- Higher Education Administration – 15
- Secondary Teacher Education – 10
- Special Education – 7
- Engineering – 10
- Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical – 8
- Biomedical/Bioengineering – 18
- Chemical – 6
- Civil – 2
- Computer – 7
- Electrical/Electronic/Communications – 9
- Environmental/Environmental Health – 6
- Industrial/Manufacturing/Systems – 21
- Materials – 21
- Mechanical – 10
- Nuclear – 15
- Petroleum Engineering – 1
- Health Disciplines (other than Nursing)
- Audiology – 13*
- Clinical Psychology – 8*
- Pharmacy (UT Austin’s College of Pharmacy) – 3*
- Social Work (UT Austin’s Steve Hicks School of Social Work) – 5
- Speech-Language Pathology – 7*
- Law – 15
- Clinical Training – 28
- International Law – 22
- Tax Law – 11
- Library and Information Studies Schools (UT Austin’s School of Information) – 5*
- Archives and Preservation – 2*
- Digital Librarianship – 5*
- Information Systems – 10*
- Law Librarianship – 2*
- Nursing – 23
- Public Affairs – 9
- Nonprofit Management – 17
- International/Global Policy – 7
- Public Finance and Budgeting – 26
- Public Management and Leadership – 18
- Public Policy Analysis – 17
The Science
- Biological Sciences – 27
- Ecology/Evolutionary Biology – 6
- Chemistry – 15
- Analytical – 4
- Organic – 16
- Physical – 14
- Computer Science – 10
- Artificial Intelligence – 8
- Programming Language – 8
- Systems – 8
- Theory – 7
- Earth Sciences (UT Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences) – 7
- Geology – 1
- Geophysics and Seismology – 7
- Mathematics – 14
- Analysis – 7
- Applied Math – 9
- Topology – 8
- Physics – 17
- Cosmology/Relativity/Gravity – 10
Social Sciences and Humanities
- Economics – 27*
- English – 20*
- History – 16*
- Latin American History – 1*
- Political Science – 19*
- Psychology – 8*
- Sociology – 11*
- Sociology of Population – 1*
- Sex and Gender – 8*
Fine Arts – 27*
- Sculpture – 7*
*Ranking not revised for 2019. Based on latest ranking available.
Public Universities with the Most Top 10 Graduate Program Rankings:
Public University |
2019 |
UC Berkeley |
111 |
Michigan |
100 |
UT Austin |
49 |
Washington |
47 |
Wisconsin |
46 |
UCLA |
43 |
Illinois |
35 |
UNC |
27 |
Georgia Tech |
20 |
Penn State |
18 |