UT Austin Ranks Among Top Public Universities in Latest Graduate School Rankings

Image Credit: Tower and West Mall, Texas Union 2019

AUSTIN, Texas — The newest edition of “Best Graduate Schools” from U.S. News & World Report ranks 49 graduate schools and programs at The University of Texas at Austin in the top 10 in the nation based on a variety of factors. UT Austin has five specialty programs ranked No. 1 and places among the top five public universities in the country for the number of top 10 schools and specialties. Overall, the university saw 26 of its programs move up.

The university has top-10 specialties in more than a dozen of its colleges and schools. Four of UT Austin’s graduate colleges rank in the top 10: the LBJ School of Public Affairs (No. 7), the Steve Hicks School of Social Work (No. 8), Jackson School of Geosciences (No. 7, ranked under Earth sciences) and the School of Information (No. 5, ranked under library and information sciences). Public Universities with the Most Top 10 Graduate Rankings Rank University 2022 1 University of California, Berkeley 118 2 Michigan University 110 3 University of California, Los Angeles 63 4 The University of Texas at Austin 49 5 University of Wisconsin 44 6 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 41 7 University of Washington 39 8 University of Illinois 37 9 Georgia Institute of Technology 23 9 Ohio State University 23 The five specialties ranked No. 1 in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report, 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. Other notable improvements include:

“It’s great to see our graduate programs getting more of the recognition they deserve,” said UT Austin President Jay Hartzell. “From here, we’ll continue to reach higher — recruiting elite faculty and outstanding students; fostering an atmosphere characterized by excellence, diversity and academic freedom; and leveraging the unique opportunities that being in Austin and in Texas affords us.”

U.S. News & World Report’s graduate rankings, which are published separately from the magazine’s yearly ranking of undergraduate programs, are considered the gold standard of graduate and professional rankings. 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.

The publication updates some of its specialty rankings each year and republishes the most recent rankings in other areas. Areas updated this year were business, education, engineering, law, liberal arts, library and information studies, nursing and public affairs.

UT Austin graduate schools and programs that U.S. News & World Report ranked in the top 30 are listed below.

Business – 18

Education – 16

Engineering – 12

Health Disciplines (other than Nursing)

Law – 16

Library and Information Studies Schools (UT Austin’s School of Information) – 5

Nursing

Public Affairs – 7

The Sciences

Biological Sciences – 27*

Chemistry – 15*

Computer Science – 10*

Earth Sciences (UT Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences) – 7*

Mathematics – 14*

Physics – 17*

Social Sciences and Humanities

Economics – 21

English – 17

History – 11

Political Science – 19

Psychology – 8*

Sociology – 11

Fine Arts – 23*

*Ranking not revised for 2022. Based on latest ranking available.