U.S. News & World Report graduate school rankings once again showcase the strength of graduate and professional programs at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
A number of UAB programs are highly ranked in the 2021 U.S. News Best Graduate School Rankings. The full rankings are available online at www.usnews.com.
In the School of Health Professions, the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy program is now ranked No. 23 and third-highest in the Southeast, while the Doctor of Physical Therapy program moves up six spots to No. 13, second-highest in the Southeast.
The School of Nursing is ranked No. 7 among public schools of nursing and No. 15 overall for master’s degrees. The school is ranked No. 10 among public schools of nursing and No. 19 overall for Doctor of Nursing Practice degrees.
Three graduate nursing specialties also are highly ranked. The Master of Nursing Administration is No. 1 among public schools and No. 3 overall, the Master of Family Nursing Practitioner is No. 4 among public schools and No. 6 overall, and the Doctor of Nursing Practice Family Nurse Practitioner is No. 2 among public schools and No. 5 overall.
The School of Medicine is ranked No. 31 for research and No. 34 for primary care. Three specialties — anesthesiology, internal medicine and surgery — are ranked among the leaders in their respective fields.
The School of Public Health is ranked No. 19.
Each year, U.S. News ranks professional school programs in business, education, engineering, law, nursing and medicine, including specialties in each area. The rankings in these six areas 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.
Indicator and opinion data come from statistical surveys of more than 2,081 graduate programs and from reputation surveys sent to more than 24,603 academics and professionals in the ranked disciplines. The surveys were conducted during the fall of 2019 and in early 2020. In each field, rankings of programs in various specialty areas based on reputation data alone are also presented.
The magazine also ranks programs in the sciences, social sciences and humanities on a rotating basis, usually every three years. These rankings are based solely on the ratings of academic experts, as are the health specialties.
U.S. News made a number of key updates to the methodologies this year. For the most detailed explanations of these changes, read each program’s specific methodology.