UAB graduate and professional programs ranked in top 20 by U.S. News & World Report

Several UAB programs ranked among the nation’s top 20 in 2017 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools.”

Written by: Tiffany Westry

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campus shotU.S. News & World Report ranks a number of University of Alabama at Birmingham schools and programs among the nation’s best. The latest rankings were released in the 2017 edition of “Best Graduate Schools” guidebook, available online at www.usnews.com.

The Master of Science in Health Administration program in UAB’s School of Health Professions remains No. 2 in the nation. The school’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program ranked No. 20; the Occupational Therapy program tied for No. 25 and the Physician Assistant Studies program is tied for No. 16.

In the UAB School of Nursing, the Master of Science in Nursing program was ranked No. 15. Its Doctor of Nursing Practice program ranked No. 18, Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner specialty program ranked No. 14, and Nursing Health Systems Administration specialty program tied for the No. 6 ranking. The UAB School of Public Health’s Master of Science in Public Health ranked No. 19. UAB’s School of Medicine tied for No. 35 for top schools of medicine for research and also tied for No. 21 for its Primary Care program.

Each year, U.S. News ranks professional school programs in business, education, engineering, law, nursing and medicine. 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 1,900 graduate programs and from reputation surveys sent to more than 18,400 academics and professionals in the ranked disciplines. The surveys were conducted during the fall of 2015 and in early 2016. 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.