CU graduate programs earn national accolades

The University of Colorado’s four campuses earned dozens of rankings in new lists of graduate programs compiled by U.S. News & World Report, which annually highlights the best in research and teaching across the country.

U.S. News ranks programs in business, education, engineering, law, nursing and medicine. Rankings are based on expert opinions about program excellence and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school’s faculty, research and students. The publication aims to provide a tool to students and parents who are comparing college programs at accredited public and private universities in the United States.

Below is a sampling of CU’s rankings from the 2018 edition of Best Graduate Schools (U.S. News Media Group), as made available in advance by U.S. News. Some rankings include ties with other institutions:

University of Colorado Boulder

• No. 1: CU Boulder holds the top ranking nationally for atomic/molecular/optical physics.
• Top 10: CU Boulder holds a top ranking for ceramics (fifth). It also lands spots for environmental law (sixth), environmental engineering/environmental health engineering (ninth) and aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical engineering (10th).
• Another 17 CU Boulder schools and programs hold places on the national rankings within their fields: clinical psychology (16), audiology (17), physics (18), earth sciences (23), chemistry (24), speech language pathology (24), psychology (26), School of Education (29), biological sciences (30), College of Engineering and Applied Science (32), English (35), Law School (36), computer science (40), political science (40), Leeds School of Business (46 for part-time MBA schools), mathematics (46)  and economics (50). Not all disciplines are ranked by the publication.
• See the full CU Boulder rankings here.

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

School of Medicine

• Top 10: The school ranks third nationally for family medicine, sixth for pediatrics, sixth for rural medicine and eighth for primary care.
• The school ranks 35th overall for research.

College of Nursing

• The college’s nursing master’s degree is 26th; doctor of nursing practice, 34th.

Graduate School

• Top 10: The master’s program for physician assistant ranks fifth.
• Among master’s/doctorate programs in physical therapy, the program ranks 15th.

Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

• The school ranks 22nd nationally for the doctor of pharmacy program.

University of Colorado Denver

• CU Denver schools and programs that are ranked include health care management (23), School of Public Affairs (34), biological sciences (75), the Business School’s part-time MBA program (84) and the School of Education and Human Development (120).

University of Colorado Colorado Springs

• At UCCS, the part-time MBA is No. 46. The nursing master’s degree at the Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences ranks 52nd; the doctorate of nursing practice, 54th.

The U.S. News data come from statistical surveys sent to administrators at more than 1,970 graduate programs and from reputation surveys sent to more than 16,500 academics and professionals in the disciplines. Surveys were conducted during the fall of 2016 and in early 2017. The Best Graduate Schools 2018 guidebook may be pre-ordered online now or purchased in stores on April 11.