(Photo by Sanjay Suchak)
University of Virginia graduate schools earned superior national marks in U.S. News and World Report’s new 2024 rankings of graduate programs, released Tuesday.
UVA’s School of Law remains the country’s No. 1 public law school and jumped four spots to No. 4 overall, in a tie with Duke University, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.
The School of Education and Human Development cracked the top 10 for the first time in more than two decades. The school climbed eight spots to tie for No. 8, with five other schools including Harvard, New York and Stanford universities. Among public institutions, the school tied for No. 4. It remains the No. 1 graduate school of education in Virginia.
#1
Public Law School
#4
Public Education School
UVA’s Darden School of Business moved up four spots to No. 10 overall, in a tie with Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business. Darden is the No. 2 public school, after the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, which rated No. 7 overall in a three-way tie.
Specialty programs in UVA’s School of Nursing also earned high marks.
The school’s Master of Science in Nursing program is the No. 11 public program and ranked No. 18 overall. Its Doctor of Nursing Practice program is the No. 22 public program.
In a new specialty subranking, “Best Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Programs,” the school is in a six-way tie for No. 7 in the country.
All nine individual programs in UVA’s School of School of Education and Human Development included in the rankings also landed in the top 20, with most improving their standing from last year:
UVA’s School of Law, with many others, stopped supplying data to U.S. News beginning with its 2023 graduate school ranking cycle because deans said the outlet’s categorizations were unreliable and not fully representative of the educational experience.
U.S. News said it surveyed almost 200 law schools accredited by the American Bar Association and reported that 144 responded.
According to U.S. News, “All statistical data used to calculate the overall rankings aggregated students and faculty from any full-time and part-time J.D. programs.”
Monday afternoon, U.S. News said that it “received and is currently reviewing queries from some graduate schools, including whether and to what extent affiliated institutions were considered in the bibliometric data used in the 2024 Best Medical Schools and 2024 Best Engineering Schools rankings, and which accrediting body was used as a source of reference for the 2024 Best Clinical Psychology Programs rankings.
“As a result, we have made the decision to delay the publication of the 2024 Best Medical Schools, Best Engineering Schools and Best Clinical Psychology Program rankings until such time that we can appropriately address these questions,” it said.
University News Senior Associate Office of University Communications
jak4g@virginia.edu (434) 243-9935
September 23, 2025
