Baylor Graduate and Professional Programs Ranked in U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 Edition of Best Graduate Schools
WACO, Texas (March 25, 2020) – Baylor University graduate and professional programs were among those nationally ranked in the 2021 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools rankings, released March 17 at www.usnews.com/grad.
The latest rankings include professional school programs in business, education, engineering, law, medicine and nursing, and specialties in each area. In addition, U.S. News periodically ranks programs in the sciences, social sciences and humanities, and health.
Baylor Law School
Baylor Law is ranked No. 50 in the U.S. News Best Law Schools listing for 2021, with the law school’s renowned trial advocacy program rated No. 2 in the nation. Among other specialty areas, Baylor Law’s professional track in health care law is ranked No. 54 nationally.
The U.S. News rankings of 194 law schools fully accredited by the American Bar Association are based on a weighted average of 12 measures of quality, including quality assessments by peers, lawyers and judges; selectivity; placement success; and faculty resources. The data was collected in fall 2019 and early 2020. Specialty rankings are based solely on nominations by legal educators at peer institutions.
Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business
Business graduate programs in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business moved up to No. 56 among the U.S. News Best Business Schools, with the graduate program in entrepreneurship rising to No. 15 in the nation.
The MBA in health care administration, a specialization in Baylor’s MBA program in the Hankamer School of Business, is ranked No. 17 in the nation. In the U.S. News online rankings released in January, Baylor’s online MBA program jumped to No. 47 nationally.
To determine the rankings, U.S. News surveyed all 477 MBA programs in business accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International in fall 2019 and early 2020. 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 Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program at Baylor’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing – which includes programs in anesthesia nursing, executive nurse leadership, family nurse practitioner, neonatal nurse practitioner, nurse-midwifery and pediatric nurse practitioner – is ranked No. 59 nationally.
In the specialty rankings, LHSON’s U.S. Army Graduate Program in Anesthesia Nursing (USAGPAN), which operates at the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, is ranked No. 8 nationally, while Baylor’s nurse-midwifery program is newly ranked at No. 21 in the nation.
For the Best Nursing Schools rankings, U.S. News surveyed the 603 nursing schools with master’s or doctoral programs accredited by either the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education or the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing in fall 2019 and early 2020. DNP rankings are based on a weighted average of 14 measures of quality, including peer assessment, student selectivity 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:
- U.S. Army-Baylor doctor of physical therapy degree in the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences at No. 13. (U.S. Army-Baylor health programs are operated at the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.)
- Speech-language pathology in the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences at No. 55.
- Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.) in the College of Arts and Sciences at No. 101.
Other Baylor graduate health programs that were ranked last year by U.S. News but not newly ranked include:
- The U.S. Army-Baylor master’s degree program in health care management in the Hankamer School of Business at No. 9. (U.S. Army-Baylor health programs are operated at the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.)
- Social Work graduate programs in the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work, at No. 59.
- The Master’s of Public Health (MPH) degree programs with specialization in community health in the Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences, at No. 62.
Baylor’s School of Education
The Baylor School of Education’s graduate program in curriculum and instruction debuted at No. 29 nationally in the 2021 U.S. News rankings, while the SOE graduate program overall is ranked No. 147.
For the U.S. News rankings of graduate education programs, 393 schools granting doctoral degrees were surveyed in fall 2019 and early 2020. 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 is ranked No. 129 among Best Engineering Schools.
In the engineering specialty rankings, Baylor’s graduate electrical engineering program is ranked No. 129, while the graduate program in mechanical engineering is rated No. 117.
To determine the rankings, U.S. News surveyed 213 engineering schools that grant doctoral degrees in fall 2019 and early 2020. Rankings 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
Baylor graduate health programs in the College of Arts & Sciences included in the U.S. News rankings but not newly ranked are:
- 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
Baylor graduate programs in the social sciences and humanities in the College of Arts & Sciences included in the U.S. News rankings but not newly ranked are:
- 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 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. The data for the rankings comes from statistical surveys of more than 2,000 programs and from reputation surveys sent to more than 24,000 academics and professionals, conducted in fall 2019 and early 2020.
U.S. News first published a reputation-only graduate school ranking in 1987. The annual “America’s Best Graduate Schools” report began in 1990.
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 18,000 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 90 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.