Baylor Graduate Programs Ranked in U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 Edition of Best Graduate Schools

March 12, 2019

Baylor Law Kronzer Appellate Advocacy Courtroom

Foster Campus Atrium — The centerpiece atrium of the Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation, home of Baylor's Hankamer School of Business.

The Master's of Public Health (MPH) degree programs with specialization in community health in Baylor's Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences debuted in the U.S. News Best Graduate School rankings at No. 62.

LHSON Simulation Center — The Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing Simulation Center prepares Baylor nursing students to become professional nurses through participation and engagement in a variety of simulation-based learning activities. (Morty Ortega/Baylor University)

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WACO, Texas (March 12, 2019) – Baylor University graduate programs were among those nationally ranked in the 2020 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools rankings, released today.

The latest rankings in law, business, nursing and health disciplines, education, engineering, the sciences and social sciences and humanities are published online at www.usnews.com/grad.

Baylor Law School

Baylor Law moved up to No. 48 in the U.S. News Best Law Schools listing for 2020, but the biggest jump for Baylor Law came In the law specialties rankings, as the law school’s trial advocacy program was ranked No. 2 in the nation.

In addition to its overall and top trial advocacy rankings, Baylor Law debuted at No. 53 in the new category of legal writing. Baylor Law is home to one of only three-year writing programs among U.S. law schools.

The U.S. News rankings of 192 law schools fully accredited by the American Bar Association are based on a weighted average of the 12 measures of quality, including quality assessments by peers, lawyers and judges; selectivity; placement success; and faculty resources. Data were collected in fall 2018 and early 2019. Specialty rankings are based solely on nominations by legal educators at peer institutions.

Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business

Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business moved up to No. 57 among the U.S. News Best Business Schools. The graduate program in entrepreneurship was ranked No. 24 in the nation. The online MBA program was ranked No. 73 nationally.

In addition, the MBA in health care administration, a specialization in Baylor’s MBA program in the Hankamer School of Business, was ranked No. 17 in the nation.

To determine the rankings, U.S. News surveyed all 475 MBA programs in business accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International, with 367 responding in fall 2018 and early 2019. The rankings were calculated on a weighted average of seven measures of quality, including peer and recruiter assessments, placement success and student selectivity. Specialty rankings are based solely on ratings by business school deans and directors of accredited MBA programs from the list of schools surveyed.

Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing

Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing was ranked among the U.S. News Best Nursing Schools. The online Master of Science in Nursing Leadership and Innovation was ranked No. 42 nationally, while LHSON’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program – which includes programs in Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP), Nurse-Midwifery (NM) and Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP) – moved up 13 places to No. 41. The nurse-midwifery was not re-ranked this year but was No. 10 in last year’s national rankings.

For the Best Nursing Schools rankings, U.S. News surveyed the 584 nursing schools with master’s or doctoral programs accredited in late summer 2018 by either the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education or the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing. With responses from 278 programs, the master’s and DNP rankings are based on a weighted average of measures of quality, including peer assessment, master’s and DNP program student selectivity and master’s and DNP program size, faculty resources and research activity. Specialty rankings are based solely on assessments by nursing school deans and deans of graduate studies.

Baylor Health Disciplines

Several Baylor graduate health programs were newly ranked this year by U.S. News, including:

The Master’s of Public Health (MPH) degree programs with specialization in community health in Baylor’s Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, which debuted in the U.S. News rankings at No. 62.
Social Work graduate programs in the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, which moved up nine places to No. 59.
The U.S. Army-Baylor master’s degree program in health care management, which was ranked in the top 10 at No. 9. (U.S. Army-Baylor health programs are operated at the Academy of Health Sciences at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.)

Other Baylor graduate health programs that have been ranked previously by U.S. News but not newly ranked include:

Clinical Psychology, (Psy.D.) in Baylor’s College of Arts and Sciences at No. 62 (last ranked in 2016).
Speech-language pathology in Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences at No. 69 (last ranked in 2016).
U.S. Army-Baylor doctor of physical therapy degree at No. 8 (last ranked in 2016).

Baylor’s School of Education

Baylor’s School of Education graduate programs were ranked No. 134 in the 2019 U.S. News graduate program rankings.

For the U.S. News rankings of graduate education programs, 392 schools granting doctoral degrees were surveyed in fall 2018 and early 2019. The rankings were based on a weighted average of 10 measures of quality, including peer and educational professional assessments, student selectivity, faculty resources and research activity.

Baylor’s School of Engineering and Computer Science

In the U.S. News graduate rankings of engineering schools that grant doctoral degrees, Baylor’s School of Engineering and Computer Science and its graduate engineering program was ranked No. 128 among Best Engineering Schools.

In the engineering specialty rankings, Baylor’s graduate electrical engineering program was ranked No. 132, while the graduate program in mechanical engineering was rated No. 121.

To determine the rankings, U.S. News surveyed 214 engineering schools that grant doctoral degrees in fall 2018 and early 2019. Rankings for the 199 schools that provided the data were calculated based on a weighted average of 10 measures of quality, including peer and recruiter assessments, student selectivity, faculty resources and research activity. Engineering specialty rankings are based solely on peer assessments by department heads in each specialty area.

Baylor Sciences

In 2018, U.S. News re-ranked graduate programs in the Sciences, including these Baylor College of Arts & Sciences programs:

Biology, No. 85
Chemistry, No. 88
Earth Sciences (Geosciences), No. 99
Mathematics, No. 117
Physics, No. 124
Statistics, No. 83

Rankings of doctoral programs in the sciences are based solely on the results of surveys sent to academics in biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, earth sciences, mathematics, physics and statistics.

Baylor Social Sciences and Humanities

U.S. News did not newly rank graduate programs in the Social Sciences and the Humanities, which were last rated in 2017. The Baylor graduate programs in the College of Arts & Sciences include:

Psychology, No. 98
English, No. 116
Political Science, included in the latest rankings but without a numerical rank
Sociology, No. 87

The Best Graduate Schools 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. The data for the rankings come from statistical surveys of more than 2,000 programs and from reputation surveys sent to more than 22,000 academics and professionals, conducted in fall 2018 and early 2019.

U.S. News first published a reputation-only graduate school ranking in 1987. The annual “America’s Best Graduate Schools” report began in 1990.

For more information about Best Graduate Schools, visit www.usnews.com/grad. To learn more about the methodology and data research, visit www.usnews.com/gradmeth.

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.