Almost are expected to earn graduate degrees this school year, and for many of them it will be worth the late nights of studying.
Full-time, year-round adult workers with a master’s degree earned, on average, $88,477 in 2012, just over $18,000 more than the average worker with a bachelor’s degree, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Workers with professional degrees, such as lawyers and doctors, made almost $89,000 more, on average, than those with bachelor’s degrees.
What to study and can vary depending on a prospective student’s career interests, finances and location. Soon-to-be graduate students can look to the U.S. News rankings, released today, for help with finding the right program for them.
The 2017 edition of the rankings includes admissions information for those aspiring to study law, business, medicine, education, engineering and nursing. For the first time, U.S. News has two separate rankings of nursing schools for master’s and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs.
Graduate schools in the six disciplines are evaluated on criteria such as grade-point averages of incoming students, acceptance rates and employment outcomes of graduates. The varies across disciplines to account for differences in each graduate program. The nursing school rankings, for example, take into account the percentage of faculty members still actively working in hospitals and other medical settings, while business schools are evaluated in part by how corporate recruiters rate MBA programs.
Determine []
Business: landed at No. 1 for , taking the spot previously held by Stanford University’s , which tied for second with the at the University of Chicago. Yale University’s climbed up five spots from last year’s rankings to crack the top 10, tying for eighth place.
Among , the at the University of California–Berkeley was once again ranked No. 1, followed by the Booth School of Business at No. 2 and the at Northwestern University at No. 3. The at Indiana University rose from No. 12 to No. 6.
See []
Law: The top schools were unchanged in the , with at No. 1. and tied for No. 2, just as they did last year. However, and the traded places, with Michigan moving up to a tie for No. 8 and Duke dropping to No. 11.
Further down the list, moved up six spots, from a tie at No. 26 to a tie at No. 20.
Urban schools remained at the top of the rankings. in the District of Columbia was ranked No. 1 again. New York’s (now No. 2) and the District’s (No. 3) swapped places compared with last year.
The jumped into the top 10, where it tied with three other schools for No. 6. Last year, it was tied for No. 11. fell to No. 42 after tying for No. 17 in last year’s rankings.
See which []
Medicine: In the rankings of medical schools for , held on to its No. 1 spot. again came in second, while , the and the University of Pennsylvania’s tied for third.
The topped the rankings for , just as it did last year, and was again followed by the at No. 2 and at No. 3. The fell out of the top 10, dropping from No. 9 to No. 14, while zoomed into the top 10, placing eighth after tying for No. 29 last year.
Nursing: In rankings of , there were a few changes at the top. took the No. 1 spot from which came in second. ranked third. The fell from No. 5 to a tie at No. 13.
In the first-ever rankings of , the was No. 1, followed by Johns Hopkins at No. 2 and in third.
Engineering: The placed first in the rankings of , while and came in at second and third — the same ranks each school had last year
Education: took the No. 1 spot from , which tied for No. 2 with in the rankings of . The at the University of Southern California tied for No. 21, after previously tying for No. 15.
Searching for a grad school? Get our of Best Graduate Schools.
More from U.S. News
originally appeared on
