The U.S. News & World Report has released its 2023-2024 rankings for the best graduate programs in various fields including education, public health, engineering, and more. In this year's list, MIT was ranked No. 4 while Harvard claimed the top spot followed by University of Chicago and Northwestern University of Pennsylvania.
MIT was one of several prestigious universities that boycotted medical and law school rankings due to concerns about methodology and data accuracy; however, they continued to participate in other categories such as education and public health.
In terms of Massachusetts schools ranking high on the list, Boston University came fifth after MIT with UMass Amherst tying for No. 46 with five other educational institutions. For engineering specialties at a national level, Case Western Reserve University, University of Cincinnati, and Cleveland State were among those highly ranked.
Harvard also secured a place at No.9 alongside New York University in another category within the latest rankings report which aims to help prospective graduate students make informed decisions regarding their future studies.
This year's edition saw a shift towards academic quality weightage rather than reputation factors allowing outcome-based results to account for 25% of each program's overall success rate.
Some notable programs highlighted by these new parameters include Ohio State ranking third in chemistry and Air Force Institute Technology securing places within nuclear engineering (No.26) as well as industrial engineering (No41).
Several business schools also gained recognition such as The Booth School at the University of Chicago taking first place followed closely by Kellogg School at Northwestern University then Wharton School from Pennsylvania rounding out the top three spots based on academic excellence alone.
Arizona State University earned accolades for its public affairs program being placed tenth overall whilst Arizona took fourth place nationally within earth sciences disciplines specifically.
Despite initial delays surrounding data accuracy concerns leading to pushback from universities, the rankings have received an abundance of feedback and submissions resulting in a comprehensive list capturing top graduate programs across various fields.
The U.S. News & World Report's medical schools and law school rankings are set to be released at a later date alongside new additions regarding master's degree-level qualifications within public health specialties such as biostatistics, environmental health sciences, epidemiology, and health policy management among others.