Baylor Graduate Programs Ranked in U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 Edition of Best Graduate Schools

Media Contact: Lori Fogleman, 254-710-6275
Follow Lori on Twitter at @LoriBaylorU
Follow Baylor Media Communications on Twitter: @BaylorUMedia

WACO, Texas (March 20, 2018) – Baylor University graduate programs in law, business, nursing and health disciplines, education, engineering, the sciences and social sciences and humanities were among those nationally ranked in the 2019 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools rankings, released today.

The latest rankings are published online at www.usnews.com and in the U.S. News’ “Best Graduate Schools 2019” guidebook.

The rankings in business, education, engineering, law, medicine and nursing, including specialties in each area, 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 these rankings come from statistical surveys of more than 2,012 programs and from reputation surveys sent to more than 20,500 academics and professionals, conducted in fall 2017 and early 2018.

Beyond the six major disciplines ranked annually, U.S. News also periodically ranks programs in science, social sciences and humanities, health and many other areas based solely on academic experts’ ratings.

This year, U.S. News has published fresh academic reputation rankings of doctoral programs in criminology and criminal justice; master’s degree programs in social work and public affairs and related specialty areas; and doctoral programs in the sciences, specifically in biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, earth sciences, mathematics, physics and statistics.

Baylor Law School

Baylor Law climbed into the Top 50 in the magazine’s “Best Law Schools” listing for 2019. In the law specialties rankings, Baylor’s trial advocacy program remains one of the top five programs in the nation.

The U.S. News rankings of 194 law schools fully accredited by the American Bar Association are based on a weighted average of the 12 measures of quality described below. Data were collected in fall 2017 and early 2018. Specialty rankings are based solely on nominations by legal educators at peer institutions.

In addition to moving into the Top 50 “Best Law Schools,” Baylor Law is first among Texas law schools in the state’s bar exam passage rate.

Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business

Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business moved up to No. 59 among the top-rated master’s programs in business. The graduate program in entrepreneurship debuted at No. 24.
In addition, the MBA in health care administration, a specialization in Baylor’s MBA program in the Hankamer School of Business, was last ranked in 2015 by U.S. News at No. 17 in the nation.

To determine the rankings, U.S. News surveyed all 480 MBA programs in business accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International, with 387 responding in fall 2017 and early 2018. 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 Louise Herrington School of Nursing

The master of science degree in nursing (MSN) program at Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON) in Dallas was ranked No. 72 in the 2019 U.S. News graduate rankings, while the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) program was ranked No. 54.

In addition, LHSON’s nurse-midwifery program was ranked No. 10 nationally under the health disciplines category, which was last ranked in 2016.

Among online programs, Baylor’s online master’s degree program in nursing leadership and innovation was ranked No. 39 in the U.S. News online program rankings. The rankings were based on factors such as faculty credentials and training, student engagement, admissions selectivity, peer reputation and student services and technology.

For the Best Nursing Schools rankings, U.S. News surveyed the 552 nursing schools with master’s or doctoral programs accredited in late summer 2017 by either the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education or the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing. With responses from 314 programs, the master’s and DNP rankings are based on a weighted average of 14 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.

Baylor’s School of Education

Baylor’s School of Education, which is among the nation’s top 20 education schools located at private universities, moved up to No. 84 in the 2019 U.S. News graduate program rankings.

For the U.S. News rankings of graduate education programs, 385 schools granting doctoral degrees were surveyed in fall 2017 and early 2018. 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 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. 127.

In the engineering specialty rankings, Baylor’s graduate electrical engineering program moved up to No. 107, while the graduate program in mechanical engineering debuted in the latest rankings at No. 110.

To determine the rankings, U.S. News surveyed 214 engineering schools that grant doctoral degrees in fall 2017 and early 2018. 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. The peer assessment surveys for the specialty area rankings were conducted in fall 2017.

Baylor Health Disciplines

U.S. News did not newly rank graduate health disciplines this year, with the exception of Social Work graduate programs in the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, which were ranked at No. 68 this year.

Included in last year’s health discipline rankings were these Baylor graduate programs:

• Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.) in Baylor’s College of Arts and Sciences at No. 62 (last ranked in 2016)
• Speech-language pathology in the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences at No. 69 (last ranked in 2016)
• the U.S. Army-Baylor master’s degree program in health care management at No. 7 (last ranked in 2015)
• the U.S. Army-Baylor doctor of physical therapy degree at No. 8 (last ranked in 2016)

U.S. Army-Baylor health programs are operated at the Academy of Health Sciences at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

Baylor Sciences

U.S. News did newly rank graduate programs in the Sciences, which were last ranked in 2014. Ranked Baylor science graduate programs in the College of Arts and Sciences include:

• 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 newly ranked the Social Sciences and the Humanities, which were last surveyed in 2013. Ranked Baylor graduate programs in the College of Arts and Sciences include:

• Psychology, up three places to No. 98
• English, up five places to No. 116
• Political Science, included in the latest rankings but without a numerical rank
• Sociology, ranked at No. 87

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. To learn more about the methodology and data research, visit www.usnews.com/gradmeth.

ABOUT 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.