Graduate programs earn top national ratings

Graduate programs across the University of Colorado system continue to gain attention for excellence in the latest annual rankings from U.S. News & World Report. Research and teaching contributions by the four campuses in health care, engineering, law, education and business are well-represented in the 2014 edition of Best Graduate Schools (U.S. News Media Group).

CU’s 2014 rankings (lists available via U.S. News at USNews.com):

• No. 1: CU-Boulder retains top honors for the atomic/molecular/optical physics program, tied with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Top 10: Other CU-Boulder programs ranking in the top 10 nationally are environmental sciences (fifth), environmental law (fifth), quantum physics (fifth) and physical chemistry (eighth).
• Some 29 other CU-Boulder schools and programs land on the national rankings within their fields: aerospace engineering (14), biochemistry (15), chemical engineering (18), clinical psychology (18), civil engineering (19), education policy (19), physics (19), environmental engineering (22), earth sciences (23), speech-language pathology (25), chemistry (26), audiology (27), School of Education (28), psychology (30), biological sciences (30), mechanical engineering (30), computer engineering (31), College of Engineering and Applied Science (34), electrical engineering (36), Leeds School of Business (38 for part-time MBA schools), computer science (39), Law School (44), political science (45), math (46), sociology (46), English (50), history (50), economics (53) and fine arts (53).

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

• Top 10: The School of Medicine ranks fifth nationally for primary care, with the specialties of family medicine (third), pediatrics (fifth) and rural medicine (eighth) also ranking high.
• The school also ranked 35th overall for research. The physician assistant program ranks at 11; physical therapy, 34.
• Within the nursing program (15th), the pediatric nurse practitioner program ranks fifth; nursing-midwifery, 13th; family nurse practitioner, 16th.
• The Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is ranked 24th overall.

University of Colorado Denver

• The School of Public Affairs, with programs at CU Denver and the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, is listed at 29 nationally. Within that program, environmental policy and management is ranked 10; nonprofit management, 14; and public management administration, 24.
• Within the Business School, health administration and executive heath administration is 32; the part-time MBA program ranks 89.
• The Department of Integrative Biology (Biological Sciences) is ranked at 68.
• The School of Education and Human Development is ranked at 81.

University of Colorado Colorado Springs

• UCCS shares the School of Public Affairs (29) honor with CU Denver.
• The part-time MBA program ranks 112 and the online MBA is 36.
• The nursing program is 99.
• UCCS’s psychology program ranks 132.
• The engineering program is ranked 143, with electrical engineering listed at 122.

The 2014 Best Graduate Schools includes essential, detailed statistical information on more than 1,200 programs nationwide, with rankings in five of the largest professional graduate school disciplines (business, law, education, engineering, and medicine). Highlights of the rankings will be published in the Best Graduate Schools 2014 edition guidebook, available April 9, 2013.

Rankings are based on two types of data: expert opinions about program quality, and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research and students. These data come from surveys of more than 1,200 programs and some 12,400 academics and professionals. 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.