U.S. News will unveil the 2022 Best Graduate Schools rankings on March 30, featuring new rankings of MBA, law, education, engineering, medical and nursing programs. All the rankings and data, which will be published on usnews.com, are based on in-depth reputation and statistical surveys conducted in fall 2020 and early 2021 of each program in the six largest graduate school disciplines. Detailed methodologies will be published in the ranking methodologies section of the website.
Prospective students who wish to view the full rankings, ranking indicator values and complete school profiles in the six disciplines will need to use the subscription-based U.S. News Graduate School Compass. The tool also provides the full versions of specialty rankings in such fields as executive MBA, marketing, finance, business analytics, constitutional law, environmental engineering and nursing administration, among others.
Brand new this year: U.S. News has worked with the Robert Graham Center, a division of the American Academy of Family Physicians, as the data provider to produce four new exclusive standalone medical school rankings based on the following: the proportion of a medical school’s graduates practicing primary care; the proportion of a medical school’s graduates practicing direct patient care in medically underserved areas; the proportion of a medical school’s graduates practicing direct patient care in rural areas; and the proportion of a medical school’s enrollment who are underrepresented minorities. The latter ranking, which will be referred to as the Most Diverse Medical Schools, takes into account Black, Hispanic, Native American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander enrollment.
Also new with the 2022 edition will be U.S. News’ first standalone ranking based on the percentage of a law school’s enrollment who are underrepresented minorities. This Most Diverse Law Schools ranking takes into account Black, Hispanic, Native American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander enrollment.
In addition, this year U.S. News will publish fresh academic reputation rankings for graduate programs in public affairs; public health schools and programs; and library and information studies, as well as doctoral program rankings in economics, English, history, sociology, political science, and criminology and criminal justice.
Rankings of doctoral programs in the sciences and graduate programs in certain health-related fields will remain available on usnews.com. These rankings are based solely on previously administered academic reputation surveys that were published in earlier years and are labeled with the calendar year they were originally published.
The statistical data that schools report to U.S. News can be used to compare factors such as enrollment; acceptance rates; scores of the most recently enrolled class on the GRE, LSAT, MCAT and GMAT; ethnic diversity at law and medical schools; student-faculty ratios; amount of research conducted at medical schools; graduate indebtedness at law, medical and business schools; bar passage rates; and career-related information for graduates of law and business programs, such as starting salaries and job placement success upon graduation.
U.S. News stresses that the rankings themselves should not be used as the sole basis to decide to attend one graduate program or school over another. Prospective students should consider other factors as well, like a school’s course offerings, department culture, the total cost to obtain the degree, debt after graduation, the advising or mentoring a student can expect to receive, the school’s location and campus life.
More from U.S. News
45 Graduate Degree Jobs That Can Pay More Than $100K
What Graduate School Is and Who Should Consider Attending
4 Options for Graduate School Loans
2022 Best Graduate Schools Rankings Coming March 30 originally appeared on usnews.com
