UC San Diego’s Graduate Programs Among Best in Nation, According to U.S. News and World Report

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The UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering was ranked 17th out of 215 engineering schools and its biomedical/bioengineering program is fourth in the nation. The campus’s School of Medicine placed 18th in the research category out of 118 schools. In the primary care category, it was ranked 21st out of 130 medical schools. Photo by Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego Publications

The 2017 edition of U.S. News and 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 Jacobs School of Engineering was ranked 17th out of 215 engineering schools and its biomedical/bioengineering program is fourth in the nation.

The campus’s School of Medicine placed 18th in the research category out of 118 schools. In the primary care category, it was ranked 21st out of 130 medical schools.

“UC San Diego’s impressive showing in the U.S. News and World Report rankings is a testament to the campus’s broad academic excellence,” said Chancellor Pradeep. K. Khosla. “The cutting edge work of our graduate students and faculty are critical parts of UC San Diego’s success, bringing hard work, ingenuity, creativity and a diversity of life experiences that enrich the campus and its scholarly pursuits.”

The Jacobs School of Engineering has been consistently ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News and 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 and institutes focused on emerging, interdisciplinary research areas including contextual robotics, wearable sensors, extreme events research, sustainable power and energy, visual computing, resilient materials and systems, and microbiome innovation.

UC San Diego’s School of Medicine, established 48 years ago, is the youngest among the nation’s top medical schools and has frequently ranked among the top research-intensive medical school programs by U.S. News and World Report and others. In 2015, it had the eighth highest National Institutes of Health total funding of 139 schools of medicine. Researchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine are conducting dozens of novel immunotherapy trials and first-in-human trials of stem cells to treat conditions such as diabetes, chronic spinal cord injury and cancer. They recently announced a new cataract surgical technique that permitted endogenous stem cells to regrow functional lenses in children.

The campus’s doctoral programs in the sciences, social sciences and humanities continue to earn top marks in the book as well.

The U.S. News guidebook annually ranks professional school programs in business, education, engineering, law and medicine. In this year’s new rankings, UC San Diego’s joint doctoral program with San Diego State University in clinical psychology was ranked 25, as was the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management and the campus’s department of education studies were both included in the top 100 for the best graduate programs for business and education.

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 (3rd), and neuroscience/neurobiology (2nd).

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

In addition, UC San Diego’s doctoral 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 2017 edition of the U.S. News and World Report Best Graduate Schools guidebook for more information.