U.S. News and World Report Again Names UC San Diego’s Graduate Programs Among Best in Nation

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The UC San Diego School of Medicine placed 19th (up from 38th compared to last year) in the primary care category and in the research category, UC San Diego’s School of Medicine was ranked 17th out of 118 medical schools.

The 2016 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools guidebook, released today, highly ranks the University of California, San Diego’s professional schools and programs in engineering and medicine. The campus’s academic Ph.D. programs in the sciences, social sciences and humanities earn top marks in the book as well.

“We are pleased U.S. News & World Report has once again rated UC San Diego’s graduate programs among the best in the nation,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “UC San Diego’s strong academic programs across diverse disciplines continue to demonstrate education and research of the highest caliber.”

The Jacobs School of Engineering is building new research centers focused on emerging, interdisciplinary research areas including wearable sensors, extreme events research, sustainable power and energy, and visual computing.

This year, UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering biomedical/bioengineering program is ranked second (up from third compared to last year) in the nation. The Jacobs School of Engineering overall ranking was 17th out of 195 engineering schools.

The Jacobs School of Engineering has been consistently ranked in the top 20 by U.S. & World Report for its wide range of strengths in fundamental engineering research areas such as wireless communications and biomedical engineering. The school is building on its many core strengths through new research centers focused on emerging, interdisciplinary research areas including wearable sensors, extreme events research, sustainable power and energy and visual computing.

The UC San Diego School of Medicine placed 19th (up from 38th compared to last year) in the primary care category. In the research category, it was ranked 17th out of 118 medical schools. The school has consistently ranked among the top research-intensive medical school programs by U.S. News & World Report and others. In 2014, it had the ninth highest National Institutes of Health total funding of 136 schools of medicine. The UC San Diego School of Medicine recently announced the first in human trials of stem cells to treat conditions such as diabetes, chronic spinal cord injury and cancer.

The U.S. News guidebook annually ranks professional school programs in business, education, engineering, law and medicine. Included this year’s new rankings, UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management was rated the 63rd best school out of 385 business schools across the nation. In addition, the campus’s department of education studies was in the top 100 in U.S. News & World Report’s list of best education schools.

Beyond the five disciplines ranked annually, the publication also periodically ranks programs in other areas.

Data from previous U.S. News surveys indicates UC San Diego graduate programs in the sciences are among the best in the nation. Biological sciences (14th), chemistry (21st), computer science (15th), earth sciences (16th), mathematics (23rd) and physics (16th) are listed near the top nationally in their overall fields. U.S. News also gives high marks to specialties in discrete mathematics and combinations (third), and neuroscience/neurobiology (second).

UC San Diego’s other graduate programs listed in the top 25 include overall field rankings in political science (8), fine arts (13), psychology (14), and economics (15).

In addition, UC San Diego’s Ph.D. programs in history, sociology and English are ranked 30th, 35th and 39th, respectively, in the nation

The annual Best Graduate Schools rankings are based on two types of data: expert opinions about program excellence and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school’s faculty, research and students.

Go to the 2016 edition of theU.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools guidebook for more information.