U.S. 草莓传媒 and World Report鈥檚 annual rankings of the best graduate schools in the country has good news for some of the area鈥檚 schools, and for those thinking of going to graduate school in general.
Johns Hopkins, Georgetown and the University of Virginia are a few of the area universities that did well in the rankings, said Anita Narayan, the managing editor for education at U.S. 草莓传媒.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e trying to do is allow consumers to see where they might rise to the top of the applicant pool,鈥� she told 草莓传媒, 鈥渁nd which schools are viewed highly by job recruiters.鈥�
A cited by U.S. 草莓传媒 predicted that employment in master鈥檚 degree-level jobs would rise 17 percent between 2016 and 2026, while jobs in professions requiring a doctorate or a professional degree (such as a J.D., M.D. or MBA) would go up 13 percent. The in 2017 that the median earnings of a worker with a professional degree were more than $600 a week more than someone with just a bachelor鈥檚.
The U.S. 草莓传媒 rankings were compiled by collecting data on student and staff assessments; employment and salary prospects for students; faculty education levels and membership in professional organizations; research funding, and more. You can , along with a full explanation of their methodology.
鈥淭hese rankings are just a start; they鈥檙e not an answer,鈥� Narayan said. 鈥淲e encourage prospective graduate students to use the rankings as a jumping-off point to create an initial list of schools. 鈥� 鈥淕raduate school is a great investment, but it鈥檚 a big investment. So make sure you鈥檙e doing your homework.鈥�
Here鈥檚 a look at some of the categories, with emphasis on local schools:
Law schools
There wasn鈥檛 a lot of change at the top of the national rankings for top full-time law schools 鈥� the top seven remained the same, with Yale at No. 1. The University of Virginia came in eighth.
Among part-time law programs, the Georgetown University Law Center ranked as the top part-time law school in the country in the U.S. 草莓传媒 list, with George Washington University in second 鈥� both the same as last year. The Carey School of Law at the University of Maryland and George Mason鈥檚 Scalia school tied for fourth.
MBA programs
Nationally, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania took the top spot for the first time, with Stanford jumping to No. 2 and Harvard dropping to No. 3 after three years at the top.
The University of Virginia鈥檚 Darden School of business tied for 12th among full-time MBA programs, while Georgetown鈥檚 McDonough School placed 24th and George Washington University 61st.
Among part-time MBA programs, Georgetown tied for 12th, while Virginia Tech鈥檚 Pamplin School tied for 14th and George Mason tied for 32nd.
Education
Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, tied for seventh-best among the education programs ranked by US 草莓传媒, while Virginia Commonwealth University placed 20th聽and the University of Maryland-College Park placed 33rd. William and Mary, in Virginia, tied for 39th. George Washington University tied for 61st. Catholic University and Howard University, both in D.C., and Virginia Tech were part of a large tie for 93rd.
Engineering
Johns Hopkins University鈥檚 Whiting School of Engineering tied for 17th聽among engineering schools, with the University of Maryland-College Park鈥檚 Clark school tying for 22nd. George Washington University tied for 75th.
Assessments, student selectivity, doctoral degrees awarded, faculty membership in the National Academy of Engineering, research expenditures.
Health
Johns Hopkins took the top spot among nursing programs and retained its No. 1 ranking among public health programs. George Washington University scored highly among the health sciences generally, placing 12th in the health care management programs as well as public health programs; their physician assistant program placed fifth while their rehabilitation counseling program placed third.
草莓传媒’s Dick Uliano contributed to this report.
