COLLEGE PARK, Md - University of Maryland programs made a strong showing in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best Graduate Schools rankings released Tuesday, with more than three dozen top-25 placements in overall and specialty categories.
Combined with university-wide and undergraduate program ratings in U.S. News’ 2025 “Best Colleges” guide, UMD now has 70 entries for schools, colleges, programs and specialties on the publication’s top-25 lists.
Several colleges and schools at UMD improved their overall rankings: the College of Information moved up one spot to No. 3, the School of Public Health gained three spots to No. 22, with three specialties ranked for the first time in the top 25, and the College of Education rose one spot, to No. 24. The A. James Clark School of Engineering stayed steady at No. 18.
Highlights include the student counseling program—a joint program between the College of Education and the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences’ Department of Psychology—regaining its No. 1 ranking, and computer science climbing a notch to No. 16, with gains across three specialties, including artificial intelligence at No. 12.
"We're proud to see the University of Maryland's outstanding graduate programs receive the recognition they deserve across a broad range of disciplines," said President Darryll J. Pines. "Graduate students at UMD join a community of excellence where they develop their skills and knowledge to become the leaders, achievers and discoverers our state and world need."
[UMD Climbs to No. 17 Among Public Universities in U.S. News’ Ranking]
Each year, U.S. News ranks graduate programs in education, engineering, business (MBA), law, medicine and nursing, along with a rotating selection of specialty schools and programs. The rankings are based on reputational surveys, while business, education and engineering rankings also incorporate quantitative data. The influential lists are widely used by prospective students when considering where to apply.
UMD’s top-25 specialty rankings include:
Agriculture and Natural Resources
- No. 18 for veterinary medicine
Behavioral and Social Sciences
- No. 1 for student counseling (joint program with the College of Education)
- No. 12 for audiology
- No. 18 for speech-language pathology
- No. 24 for economics
- No. 24 for sociology
Business
- No. 7 for information systems
- No. 19 for part-time MBA
Computer Science
- No. 12 for artificial intelligence
- No. 19 for programming language
- No. 20 for systems
Education
- No. 1 for student counseling (joint program with School of Behavioral and Social Sciences)
- No. 5 for education psychology
- No. 9 for higher education administration
- No. 15 for special education
- No. 16 for education policy
- No. 16 for curriculum and instruction
- No. 18 for elementary teacher education
- No. 19 for educational administration
- No. 20 for secondary teacher education
Engineering
- No. 14 for aerospace engineering
- No. 17 for mechanical engineering
- No. 17 for computer engineering
- No. 18 for electrical engineering
Public Health
- No. 17 for social behavior
- No. 20 for health policy and management
- No. 22 for biostatistics
- No. 24 for epidemiology
Public Policy
- No. 3 for homeland security
- No. 13 for public finance
- No. 21 for public policy analysis
- No. 22 for urban policy
- No. 23 for nonprofit management
U.S. News occasionally changes the number of categories it ranks—several library, humanities and social science specialties were permanently removed this year—and doesn’t rank all graduate programs annually. Earlier this year, UMD also earned these rankings:
- The Robert H. Smith School of Business was ranked No. 14 overall for its online MBA program earlier this year, as well as No. 6 for MBA in marketing, No. 7 for MBA in general management, No. 12 among MBA programs for veterans, and No. 17 for finance.
- The Clark School was No. 9 overall for online graduate rankings, with electrical engineering at No. 6 and management at No. 13, as well as programs for veterans at No. 17.
Other current honors in the most recent rankings produced for the disciplines are:
- The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences’ math program was ranked No. 20 overall in 2023, with a No. 15 placement for applied math and No. 24 for math analysis. Its physics program was ranked No. 17 overall that year, with atomic, molecular and optical physics ranking No. 6, quantum physics ranking No. 9 and condensed matter and solid state physics ranking No. 17.
- The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences’ criminology program ranked No. 1 in 2022.