Most recent U.S. News Graduate program rankings, by department

U.S. News & World Report issues its "Best Graduate Schools" rankings annually, but not all programs are ranked in a given year.

Some disciplines are surveyed annually, while others are on a rotating cycle. The most recent ranking year released is the 2026 edition, with the year before being the 2025 edition.

Following are the most recent U.S. News Graduate rankings for each UW-Madison graduate program, and the ranking year that it was issued:

Audiology: 12th overall (three-way tie), listed as the University of Wisconsin AuD Consortium (Madison & Stevens Point). Last ranked in the 2026 edition.

Biological Sciences: 30th overall (five-way tie). Last ranked in 2026 edition.

Biostatistics: 11th overall (two-way tie). Last ranked in 2026 edition.

Business: 48th overall for the full-time MBA program (three-way tie), 26th in part-time MBA programs (four-way tie), and 29th in executive MBA (three-way tie). Ranked specialties include 3rd in real estate (three-way tie), 16th in accounting (ten-way tie), 22nd in marketing (three-way tie), 23rd in productions-operations (four-way tie), 25th in business analytics (seven-way tie), 28th in finance (three-way tie), 30th in management (eight-way tie), 33rd in entrepreneurship (five-way tie), and 33rd in supply chain management (four-way tie). Last ranked in 2026 edition.

Chemistry: 14th overall (three-way tie). Last ranked in 2026 edition.

Clinical Psychology: 6th overall (three-way tie). Last ranked in the 2026 edition.

Computer Science: 15th overall (four-way tie). Ranked specialties include 11th in programming language and 12th in systems. Last ranked in 2026 edition.

Earth Sciences: 18th overall (two-way tie). Last ranked in 2026 edition.

Economics: 15th overall (four-way tie). Last ranked in 2025 edition.

Education: 1st overall. Ranked specialties include 1st in educational psychology (two-way tie), 2nd in elementary teacher education, 3rd in curriculum and instruction, 3rd in secondary teacher education, 6th in educational administration and supervision, 6th in education policy (two-way tie), 7th in special education, 9th in student counseling and personnel services (two-way tie), and 12th in higher education administration. Last ranked in 2026 edition.

Engineering: 27th overall. Ranked specialties include 3rd in nuclear engineering (two-way tie), 6th in industrial/manufacturing/systems engineering (three-way tie), 9th in chemical engineering (three-way tie), 12th in biological/agricultural engineering (three-way tie), 13th in computer engineering (three-way tie), 14th in materials engineering (four-way tie),15th in electrical/electronic/communications engineering (seven-way tie), 16th in mechanical engineering (four-way tie), 17th in civil engineering (seven-way tie), 17th in environmental/environmental health engineering (five-way tie), and 18th in biomedical/bioengineering (seven-way tie). Last ranked in 2026 edition

English: 21st overall (five-way tie). Last ranked in 2025 edition.

Fine Arts: 14th(five-way tie). Last ranked in 2026 edition.

History: 13th overall (six-way tie). Last ranked in 2025 edition.

Law: 26th overall (four-way tie). Ranked specialties include 24th in clinical training (five-way tie), 24th in constitutional law (two-way tie), 33rd in law schools with most grads in public interest law (four-way tie), 34th in international law (five-way tie), 35th in criminal law (ten-way tie), 37th in tax law (seven-way tie), 42nd in contracts/commercial law (nine-way tie), 47th in business/corporate law (eight-way tie), 47th in intellectual property (14-way tie ), 48th in legal writing (nine-way tie), 51st in environmental law (eight-way tie), 55th in health care law (nine-way tie), and 105th in trial advocacy (16-way tie). Last ranked in 2026 edition.

Library and Information Studies: 11^th overall. Last ranked in 2025 edition.

Mathematics: 16th overall (five-way tie). Last ranked in 2026 edition.

Medicine: Best Medical Schools are ranked in one of 4 tiers. Tier 1 for Overall: Primary Care and Tier 2 for Overall: Research. Ranked specialties include 18th in most graduates practicing in rural areas, 48th in most graduates practicing in primary care, and 63rd in most graduates practicing in medically underserved areas. Last ranked in 2025 edition.

Nursing: 74th overall among schools offering a Doctor of Nursing. Ranked specialties include 20th in adult gerontology (acute care) (five-way tie). Last ranked in 2026 edition.

Occupational Therapy: 15th overall (five-way tie). Last ranked in the 2026 edition.

Pharmacy: 6th overall (two-way tie). Last ranked in the 2026 edition.

Physician Assistant: 26th overall (nine-way tie). Last ranked in 2025 edition.

Physical Therapy: 25th overall (six-way tie). Last ranked in the 2026 edition.

Physics: 22nd overall (six-way tie). Last ranked in the 2026 edition.

Political Science: 15th overall (three-way tie). Last ranked in 2025 edition.

Psychology: 8th overall (six-way tie). Last ranked in 2025 edition.

Public Affairs: 25th overall (six-way tie). Ranked specialties include 6th in social policy (four-way tie), 9th in health policy (two-way tie) and 23rd in public policy analysis (three-way tie). Last ranked in 2026 edition.

Public Health: 39th overall (ten-way tie). Last ranked in 2026 edition.

Rehabilitation Counseling: 1st overall. Last ranked in 2026 edition.

Social Work: 20th overall (four-way tie). Last ranked in 2024 edition.

Sociology: 9th overall (two-way tie). Last ranked in 2025 edition.

Speech-Language Pathology: 1st overall (two-way tie). Last ranked in the 2026 edition.

Statistics: 12th overall (four-way tie).Last ranked in 2026 edition.

Veterinary Medicine: 6th overall (five-way tie). Last ranked in 2026 edition.