Where does Penn State rank nationally for grad schools? US News released its latest rankings

Halie Kines
·4 min read

Penn State saw moderate rises when it came to education and law in U.S. News & World Report’s recently released 2024-2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings, although the university’s overall rankings picture remains incomplete.

U.S. News delayed the publication of several categories, including Best Medical Schools, Best Clinical Psychology Programs and Best Engineering Schools, and Penn State was not ranked overall in business like it had been in years past.

Penn State spokesperson Wyatt Dubois in an email said because the Smeal College of Business transitioned its two-year resident MBA program to a one-year MBA in 2022, it doesn’t participate in these rankings.

“Smeal’s one-year MBA program is different from its previous program and cannot be directly compared to the two-year programs ranked by U.S. News,” he wrote.

In the U.S. News’ Best Online MBA Programs rankings released in February, the university’s world campus online MBA program tied for No. 22, Jeanette Perez Colby, public relations manager for U.S. News & World Report, said.

Penn State’s MSN Nurse Practitioner program also became ineligible for ranking in the U.S. News Best Graduate Schools in 2022 when it was converted to an online Doctor of Nursing Practice program, Dubois said, but it does participate in the U.S. News Best Online Programs rankings.

The university fared well in the categories the national publication did release. Penn State rose three places in education and 12 places in law.

  • Best Education School: tied-46th (12th in Big Ten)

  • Best Law School: Penn State University Park — t-68. Penn State Dickinson Law — t-75

  • Best Nursing Schools (Master’s): Not ranked

  • Best Nursing Schools (Doctorate): Not ranked

  • Best Business Schools: Not ranked

The rankings also included specialty programs in each larger category. Fifteen programs at Penn State are ranked top 25 nationally, which is a “testament to the continued high quality of our diverse array of graduate program offerings,” Dubois said.

“It is important to note that rankings from U.S. News and other organizations are but one metric to show our success within our mission as Pennsylvania’s flagship, land-grant, public research university, and no ranking can account for all aspects of an institution or program,” he said.

The land-grant university’s top-ranked program is Higher Education Administration, where it ranked fourth nationally — though it did move down one spot from last year — out of 23 spots.

Conversely, Penn State tied for No. 166 nationally in Trial Advocacy — up 23 spots from last year — among 192 spots. That doubled as the university’s worst ranking from U.S. News and tied it with 16 other schools in that specific category. PSU was also unranked in Best Nursing Schools (Master’s), Best Nursing Schools (Doctorate), Best Business Schools, Dispute Resolution and Legal Writing.

The university remains focused on providing the highest quality graduate education, Dubois said, with some of the world’s top experts in their fields for grad students to learn from.

“With Penn State conferring more than 4,500 graduate degrees annually, the quality of our programs is perhaps best measured by the success of our students, many of whom go on to be leaders in their chosen fields and make significant impacts both here in Pennsylvania and around the globe,” he said.

Where Penn State ranks

Penn State’s full rankings are below. Only the specialty areas where PSU is ranked have been included. For full rankings or more information, visit usnews.com/best-graduate-schools.

Education Specialties: Curriculum and Instruction Programs — t-19 (8th in Big Ten); Educational Administration and Supervision — t-11 (5th in Big Ten); Education Policy — t-15 (5th in Big Ten); Educational Psychology — t-13 (8th in Big Ten); Elementary Teacher Education — t-19 (8th in Big Ten); Higher Education Administration — 4 (3rd in Big Ten); Secondary Teacher Education — t-13 (5th in Big Ten) Special Education — t-15 (6th in Big Ten); Student Counseling — 6 (3rd in Big Ten)

Law Specialties: Business/Corporate Law — UP: t-96, Dickinson: t-107; Clinical Training — UP: t-95, Dickinson: t-113; Constitutional Law — UP: t-105, Dickinson: t-99; Contracts/Commercial Law — UP: t-85, Dickinson: t-91; Criminal Law — UP: t-117, Dickinson: t-117; Dispute Resolution — Dickinson: 88; Environmental Law — UP: t-53, Dickinson: t-94; Health Care Law — UP: t-67, Dickinson: t-60; Intellectual Property Law — UP: t-101, Dickinson: t-91; International Law — Penn State UP: t-101, Dickinson: t-104. Tax Law — UP: t-126, Dickinson: t-102; Trial Advocacy — UP: t-166, Dickinson: t-126

Health Specialties: Speech-Language Pathology Programs — t-21 (10th in Big Ten)

Nursing Specialties: Best Family Nurse Practitioner Program (Master’s) — t-12 (3rd in Big Ten)

Business Specialties: Best Accounting Programs — t-22 (5th in Big Ten); Best Business Analytics MBA Programs — t-30 (t-4th in Big Ten); Best Management MBA — t-22 (4th in Big Ten); Best Production-Operations MBA Programs — t-9 (t-4th in Big Ten); Best Supply Chain Management MBA Programs — 5 (2nd in Big Ten)

CDT reporter Josh Moyer contributed.