U.S. News & World Report’s current list of the best graduate schools, published in mid-April, ranked three schools and dozens of specialty graduate programs at the George Washington University among the nation’s top 20, with notable showings from GW programs in its health enterprise.
The Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Affairs (TSPPPA) tied for 10th best in public affairs; the Milken Institute School of Public Health tied for 12th best in public health; and the School of Nursing ranked 19th overall in nursing master’s programs, its first time in the publication’s top 20.
The university’s health enterprise made impressive showings across the board, with top 15 specialty rankings including:
- fifth best physician assistant program (tie)
- fifth best rehabilitation counseling program
- sixth best Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) for administration/management (tie)
- sixth best Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) for administration and management (tie)
- seventh best health policy and management program (in Milken Institute SPH)
- seventh best DNP for adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner (tie)
- eighth best Master of Health Administration
- eighth best Master of Health Care Management
- 10th best health policy and management program (in TSPPPA)
- 11th best family nurse practitioner MSN (tie)
- 11th best family nurse practitioner DNP
- 13th best environmental health sciences program (tie)
- 13th best epidemiology program (tie)
- 13th best social and behavioral sciences program
- 14th best biostatistics program
Other highly ranked graduate specialties include:
- sixth best homeland security and emergency management program in TSPPPA
- sixth best international/global policy and administration (tie) in TSPPPA
- eighth best international MBA (tie) in GW Business
- eighth best public management and leadership program in TSPPPA
- 10th best public finance and budgeting program (tie) in TSPPPA
- 10th best urban policy program (tie) in TSPPPA
- 15th best nonprofit management program (tie) in TSPPPA
- 18th best public policy analysis program in TSPPPA
- 18th best social policy program (tie) in TSPPPA
Many of GW’s online graduate programs, though not part of this latest release, were also ranked highly by U.S. News & World Report this year.
“GW continues to advance our academic, research and medical enterprises as we work to make a truly transformational impact on the world,” Provost Christopher Alan Bracey said. “This year’s impressive rankings for several of our schools and many of our graduate programs show that we are making impressive strides in fulfilling our academic mission, thanks to the hard work of our university community. That said, we must continue making strategic investments in our academic programs to maintain momentum and ensure that such reputational excellence endures.”
While specific methodology for each list varies by specialty, the publication’s rankings are generally based on two types of data: expert opinion about program excellence and statistical indicators. This year’s data came from statistical surveys of 2,214 programs and from reputation surveys sent to approximately 6,300 academics and 12,690 professionals, conducted in fall 2022 and early 2023. Controversy around the methodology by which law and medical schools were ranked led U.S. News & World Report to indefinitely delay publication of those lists.
