US News released 2026 grad school rankings. See how Penn State fared
Penn State’s graduate programs largely place middle-of-the-pack this year among its peers, according to rankings released by U.S. News & World Report Tuesday. There were bright spots in individual specialty programs, especially in Dickinson Law School.
The university saw 29 of its 75 rankings increase from last year. Sixteen fell, four stayed the same and 26 were not previously ranked.
Eleven of the rising rankings came from Penn State’s law school, six by more than 20 spots. Dickinson Law’s overall ranking fell from 59 to 63, however.
Eight engineering programs and four education programs also saw better rankings than last year. Penn State’s overall nursing ranking rose from 64 to 35.
Of the programs whose rankings fell, four were education related and three apiece were business and engineering. Penn State’s overall public affairs ranking fell the most, dropping from No. 72 in the nation to No. 92.
The university, in a statement emailed from spokesman Wyatt DuBois, said it was “pleased to see that our graduate programs continue to achieve strong rankings across diverse fields of study.”
Penn State compares itself to the main campuses of 20 large public research universities around the country, the vast majority of which belong to the Big Ten athletic conference. Penn State’s peer schools are:
- Indiana University-Bloomington
- Michigan State University
- The Ohio State University
- Oregon State University
- Purdue University
- Rutgers University
- Temple University
- University of California-Los Angeles
- University of Florida
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- University of Iowa
- University of Maryland
- University of Michigan
- University of Minnesota Twin Cities
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of Southern California
- University of Washington
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
Seven of Penn State’s graduate programs received top-10 rankings, giving it the seventh-lowest amount of top-10 finishes the peer group.
Those top-ranked programs are educational administration and supervision (ranked eighth of 27 programs that received a ranking), higher education administration (4 of 23), special education, (10 of 20), student counseling and personnel services (2 of 14), nuclear engineering (10 of 28), petroleum engineering (4of 18) and earth sciences (7 of 158).
The university, as in years past, pointed to its appearance in the top 25 of rankings.
“With 24 programs ranked in the top 25 nationally by U.S. News for 2026, this is a clear indicator of the high standards we maintain in our graduate offerings,” Penn State’s statement reads. “However, it’s important to keep in mind that rankings from U.S. News and similar organizations only represent one perspective of our success. As Pennsylvania’s flagship public research university, our mission extends far beyond rankings, and no ranking can capture the full scope of any program or the University’s collective impact. “
In overall rankings, Penn State gave middling performances compared to its peers.
- Business: Not ranked
- Education: 47th (15th among peer schools)
- Engineering: 28th (10th among peers)
- Fine arts: 62nd (13th among peers)
- Law: 62nd (13th among peers)
- Medical, primary care: Not ranked
- Medical, research: Not ranked
- Nursing (doctorate): 35th (8th among peers)
- Nursing (master’s): Not ranked
- Public affairs: University Park ranked 92nd (13th among peers), and the Harrisburg campus ranked 80th.
The university does not participate in business school rankings due to how its program is structured, it has said in years past.
U.S. News rankings are largely reliant on self-reported data from universities across the country. Specialty program rankings are based on scores given by peer schools. The rankings are a perennial source of contention among higher education professionals.
This story was originally published April 7, 2026 at 9:21 AM.
