How did Penn State fare in US News’ latest grad school rankings? Here are the highlights, lowlights
Penn State received some mixed reviews in U.S. News & World’s latest rankings of graduate schools.
Although the commonwealth’s largest university still found plenty to boast about — such as a No. 5 national ranking in criminology and criminal justice programs — it still finished around the middle of the pack relative to its Big Ten peers in most other categories.
In fact, of the 15 overall programs ranked by US News on Tuesday, Penn State finished among the Big Ten’s top 4 just once, in criminology. Nationally, only two other PSU programs placed in the top 25: Nursing (Master’s) at No. 24 and Sociology (Doctorate) at No. 23.
The land-grant university still maintained a respectable ranking in just about every category, with 10 of its 13 ranked programs finishing among the top 50. It just didn’t consistently place at a top-tier level from an outlet that bills itself as “the global authority in education rankings.”
Still, University Park showed it remains a destination for a number of specialized program areas.
In addition to ranking the overall programs every year, U.S. News also breaks down certain disciplines and focuses. Penn State’s engineering graduate school, for instance, tied for No. 33 overall — but also boasted seven top-15 rankings when it came to specialized areas. It ranked No. 10 in nuclear engineering and tied for No. 4 in petroleum engineering.
Other highlighted specializations at Penn State include Higher Education Administration (Education) at No. 2; Sociology of Population (Sociology, Doctoral) at t-No 3; Supply Chain Management (Business) at No. 5; Educational Administration (Education) at No. 7; American Literature Before 1865 (English) at t-No. 8; Student Counseling (Education) at No. 9 and International Economics (Economics, Doctoral) at No. 9.
Penn State’s worst ranking came from Public Affairs, where it tied for No. 83 nationally. It also tied for No. 60 when it came to law schools, as it did not once crack the top 40 in any of the dozen law specializations.
U.S. News’ ranking methodologies vary by program but, overall, aim to balance expert opinions with statistical indicators about faculty, research and students when it comes to the six main disciplines. Outside of those — business, education, engineering, law, medicine and nursing — the publication leans heavily on academic experts’ ratings.
For the full methodology, along with the entire rankings, visit usnews.com/best-graduate-schools.
Where Penn State ranks
Penn State’s full rankings are below. Please note that only the specializations where PSU is ranked have been included.
Main disciplines
Business
Overall (Full-Time): t-33 (tied for 5th in Big Ten)
Last Year Overall: t-41
Specializations: Accounting — t-36; Business Analytics — t-28; Management — t-16; Product/Operations — t-12; Real Estate — t-18; Supply Chain Management — 5.
Education
Overall: t-41 (tied for 9th in Big Ten)
Last Year Overall: 36
Specializations: Curriculum & Instruction — t-18; Administration — 7; Policy — 14; Psychology — t-17; Elementary Teacher Ed — 18; Higher Ed Administration — 2; Secondary Teacher Ed — 14; Special Ed — 15; Student Counseling — 9.
Engineering
Overall: t-33 (tied for 8th in Big Ten)
Last Year Overall: 35
Specializations: Aerospace — t-15; Agriculture — 11; Biomedical — t-38; Chemical — t-22; Civil — t-20; Computer — t-22; Electrical — t-31; Environment — t-22; Industrial — t-11; Materials — 11; Mechanical — t-15; Nuclear — 10; Petroleum — t-4.
Law
Overall (Full-Time): t-60 (10th in Big Ten)
Last Year Overall: t-60
Specializations: Dispute Resolution — t-87; Business/Corporate — t-96; Clinical Training — t-79; Constitutional — t-89; Contracts/Commercial — t-94; Criminal — t-97; Environmental — t-44; Health Care — t-66; Intellectual Property — t-109; International — t-62; Legal Writing — t-80; Tax — t-85; Trial Advocacy — t-124.
Medicine
Overall: N/A
Nursing
Overall (Master’s): t-24 (5th in Big Ten)
Last Year Overall (Master’s): t-30
Overall (Doctoral): N/A
Other disciplines
Criminology and Criminal Justice Programs: t-5 (2nd in Big Ten)
Economics Doctoral Overall: t-26 (6th in Big Ten)
Economics Doctoral Specializations: Econometrics — 17; International — 9.
English Doctoral Overall: t-26 (7th in Big Ten)
English Doctoral Specializations: African American Literature — t-11; American Literature after 1865 — t-13; American Literature before 1865 — t-8
History Doctoral Overall: t-38 (10th in Big Ten)
Library and Information Studies: N/A
Political Science Doctoral Overall: t-34 (9th in Big Ten)
Political Science Doctoral Specializations: Comparative Politics — 25; International Politics — 17; Political Methodology — 15.
Public Affairs Overall: 83 (9th in Big Ten)
Public Health Overall: t-54 (tied for 10th in Big Ten)
Sociology Doctoral Overall: 23 (6th in Big Ten)
Sociology Doctoral Specializations: Sociology of Population — t-3; Social Stratification — t-15
