By The Ohio State University’s graduate and professional programs continue to rank among the best in the nation and the state, according to the U.S. News & World Report 2024-25 edition of America’s Best Graduate Schools.
Several Ohio State colleges reported degrees and specialty programs in the top 10 of the latest edition. The rankings place the College of Nursing’s traditional Master of Science (MS) program No. 1 among public institutions in the nation, and the college’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program again ranked among the country’s top 20.
The College of Nursing’s in-person MS program ranked No. 4 overall – up from eighth last year. This is the sixth straight year that the MS degree program has ranked among the nation’s top 10.
The Fisher College of Business’ Working Professional MBA was ranked fifth among part-time programs at public colleges and universities (10th overall) – marking the third time in the last five years the WPMBA was selected as a top 10 program.
“Ohio State’s graduate and professional programs continue to excel across a broad range of disciplines, which is a testament to our university’s land-grant tradition and commitment to preparing future leaders, scholars and practitioners,” said Karla Zadnik, interim executive vice president and provost. “I am thrilled to see these programs recognized for their academic excellence.”
U.S. News’ rankings of graduate and professional programs cover just a small portion of the programs offered at Ohio State, and not all programs are ranked each year. Ohio State enrolls more than 14,000 graduate and professional students in 102 doctoral and 127 master’s programs.
Below are some highlights from U.S. News’ 2024-25 rankings of Ohio State graduate programs, by college.
The College of Arts and Sciences has one of its natural and mathematical science graduate programs ranked in the top 30 this year – computer science (27), and two of its social and behavioral sciences graduate programs ranked in the top 20 this year – audiology (9) and speech language pathology (14).
The College of Education and Human Ecology is ranked No. 21 nationwide overall in graduate education programs, up four spots over last year. In its specialty programs, seven continue to rank in the top 10 nationwide. These include educational administration (6), curriculum and instruction (7), student counseling (7), elementary teacher education (8), secondary teacher education (8), educational psychology (9) and higher education administration (9). Two more specialty programs both ranked as No. 22: educational policy and special education.
Fisher’s full-time MBA program saw significant improvement in its standings in the annual rankings, climbing to No. 11 among public institutions (No. 30 overall).
The John Glenn College of Public Affairs moved up in the rankings from 19th to 16th, marking the college’s 10th year within the top 10% of public affairs graduate professional degree programs on the list. The college was also ranked in seven specialty areas: public management and leadership (7), nonprofit management (9), local government (18), social policy (19), public policy analysis (20), urban policy (22) and public finance (25).
In the College of Medicine, two clinical doctorate programs in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences moved up in the rankings this year, reaffirming their reputation for excellence – physical therapy advanced to No. 8 and occupational therapy to No. 11.
The Moritz College of Law remains a high-ranking institution at 26th overall out of 196 accredited law schools and ninth nationally among all public law schools. The college’s program on dispute resolution was ranked first in the nation, and nine other programs rank in the top 50 nationally: criminal law (15), health law (15), constitutional law (29), legal writing (32), business and corporate law (35), contracts and commercial law (36), intellectual property law (44), international law (45) and tax law (49).
The College of Pharmacy ranks first in the state and fourth in the nation among all schools of pharmacy. This continues the college’s more than decade-long tradition as a top 10 ranked program, moving up from seventh in 2020.
The College of Public Health, at 29 overall, is among the highest ranked colleges and programs of public health in the nation, and first in Ohio. For the first time, three specialty programs within the College of Public Health are recognized: biostatistics (22); epidemiology (25) and health policy and management (17). U.S. News & World Report previously ranked the college’s MHA program eighth in the nation.
The College of Social Work ranked 12th out of 366 programs nationally, ranking in the top 3% of all programs. The college is also tied for No. 1 in the state, 7th among all public programs in the nation and second among the 10 programs in the Big Ten.
