UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State's Smeal College of Business and College of Nursing have substantially improved their standings in the latest U.S. News & World Report ranking of graduate programs.
The 2016 edition of "Best Graduate Schools," released today (March 10), reviewed professional graduate school disciplines in business, education, engineering, law, medicine and nursing.
In "Top Schools," Smeal's master of business administration degree program jumped four places from last year, to come in tied at No. 37 among its peers. The College of Nursing, last ranked in 2013, tied at No. 38 this year, up six positions. The College of Engineering stayed at No. 25, and the College of Education came in at No. 36. Penn State Dickinson School of Law ranked at No. 71.
Specialties in these colleges that ranked in the top five among their counterparts at other national universities included Penn State's programs in technical/vocational education, which placed at No. 1 for the second year in a row. In addition, supply chain/logistics placed at No. 5, up one spot from last year, and nuclear engineering tied at No. 5, up three spots from last year.In addition, the University ranked No. 6 (tied) in rehabilitation counseling; No. 7 in educational administration and supervision; No. 7 (tied) in student counseling and personnel services; No. 7 (tied) in higher education administration; No. 10 in education policy; and No. 10 (tied) in industrial/manufacturing/systems engineering.
These rankings and additional ones are available on the U.S. News 2016 rankings website, which also includes current rankings for programs that are reviewed periodically, including graduate programs in public affairs, fine arts, the sciences, and social sciences and humanities, as well as rankings for undergraduate, global and online programs.
The annual graduate school rankings are based on expert assessments and statistical measures of a school's faculty, research and students, involving more than 1,900 graduate programs in a variety of disciplines and more than 13,700 academics and professionals.
Methodologies for the 2016 rankings are available online. The print edition of "Best Graduate Schools" is scheduled to be published in early April.