Several of GW’s graduate schools and programs rose in U.S. News & World Report’s annual national ranking of graduate and law schools, a reversal of the schools’ and programs’ downward trends in the listings over the past two years.
GW Law rose to No. 31 in the country from No. 41 last year, after dropping 16 spots from 2022’s rankings in 2024. The School of Business rose by one place to No. 61, the Graduate School of Education and Human Development rose by three from last year to No. 73 and the School of Engineering & Applied Science rose by 18 places, from No. 92 in 2024 to No. 74 this year.
The rise in rankings marks a reversal of a downward trend in GW’s graduate and law school rankings since 2022, when the law school ranked No. 25, the business school ranked No. 55, GSEHD ranked No. 51 and SEAS ranked No. 79.
U.S. News uses survey data from higher education experts and other third-party data to assess a program’s strengths, faculty, research, student and post-graduate outcomes in order to formulate its rankings, according to their website.
The School of Nursing’s master’s degree program is unranked as well as the School of Medicine & Health Sciences’ research and primary care programs, which were ranked No. 58 and No. 106 in 2024. The nursing school does not participate in the spring rankings by U.S. News, according to a University release.
GW’s public affairs program remained ranked No. 16 from last year, tied with Georgetown, Georgia State, and Ohio State universities and the University of California, Los Angeles.
GW Law’s No. 31 ranking tied with four other law schools including George Mason University, universities of Alabama and Utah and the College of William & Mary. The criminal law program fell eight places, from No. 24 last year to No. 32 this year, tied with Arizona State University.
The Milken Institute School of Public Health dropped one place from last year to No. 12 and is tied with Yale University.
SEAS’s 18-place rise from No. 92 to No. 74 is the largest single-year climb from last year among schools ranked in the top 100 for engineering, according to a SEAS release. The school is tied with six other schools for graduate engineering programs: Drexel and Oregon State universities, the Stevens Institute of Technology, and universities of California-Santa Cruz, Central Florida and Iowa.
