Looking to continue your education? Across nearly any field imaginable, the University of California offers some of the best graduate schools and programs in the country, according to the 2023-24 U.S. News Best Graduate Schools rankings released this spring (April 25).
Each year, U.S. News produces the Best Graduate Schools rankings by evaluating professional school programs in business, education, engineering, law, medicine and nursing, including specialties in each area. UC’s 10 campuses earned stellar rankings across those six disciplines this year, featuring some of the country’s best programs and most highly-regarded schools. UC Davis’ veterinary school was also ranked first in a refresh of Health school rankings, continuing a 12-year tradition of being at the top.
There are over 600 graduate programs offered across the university; a new, easy-to-use degree search tool lets users find programs across the system by specialty and campus, making it simple and convenient to browse the many offerings.
Here are a few highlights from the six schools U.S. News evaluates annually in this year’s Best Graduate School rankings:
Business Schools
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UC Berkeley tied for No.11 with Columbia and Duke as the best business school in the country. UC Berkeley was also top-ranked for its part-time MBA, and top 10 for MBA programs in entrepreneurship (No. 5), finance (No. 8) and marketing (No. 9).
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UCLA ranked No. 19 among all business schools in the country, with particularly highly ranked MBA programs in part-time MBA (No. 5) and finance (No. 9).
Education Schools
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UC also offers some of the country’s best education schools. UCLA is tied for No. 7 among schools of education with Stanford; UC Irvine is No. 11 and UC Berkeley is No. 14.
Engineering schools
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UC Berkeley ranked third among engineering schools in the country, with top-ranked programs in civil engineering and environmental/environmental health engineering. Every evaluated specialty, from chemical engineering to nuclear engineering, was in the nation’s top 5.
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UC San Diego ranked No. 12 for its Jacobs School of Engineering, with a rank of No. 5 in the specialty of biomedical engineering and No. 10 for computer engineering.
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UCLA ranked No. 16 among engineering schools and UC Santa Barbara was at No. 27, coming in at No. 6 for materials engineering and No. 11 for chemical engineering. UC Davis and UC Irvine were tied at No. 34 among engineering schools.
Law Schools
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UC Berkeley ranked as No. 10, with a wide array of top 5 rankings in concentrations including an intellectual property law program tied for first, the third-ranked environmental law program, and excellent programs in constitutional law (No. 5) and criminal law (No. 7).
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UCLA’s law school is ranked No. 14 and offers the No. 9 program in business/corporate law.
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UC Irvine’s law school was tied for No. 35. UC Davis and University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings) tied for No. 60.
Medical Schools
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UC’s medical schools excelled across the state. UC San Francisco ranked No. 5, UC Davis ranked No. 6 and UCLA ranked No. 10 among medical schools for primary care, while UC San Diego ranked No. 30, above Stanford.
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UC San Francisco also ranked No. 5 among medical schools for research, with UCLA at No. 18, UC San Diego at No. 21, UC Irvine at No. 44 and UC Davis at No. 50.
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UC also has some of the most diverse medical schools in the country, with UC Davis ranked as No. 3 and UC Riverside ranked as No. 5.
Nursing Schools
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UC also has a number of the best schools in the country to pursue a master’s in nursing, with UC San Francisco ranked No. 10, UCLA ranked No. 14, UC Davis ranked No. 23 and UC Irvine ranked No. 41.
For the annual rankings of these six schools, U.S. News used data from statistical surveys of 2,214 programs and from reputation surveys sent to approximately 6,300 academics and 12,690 professionals, conducted in fall 2022 and early 2023.
Periodically, U.S. News also updates rankings across the arts, humanities, social sciences and other sciences, including health. Highlights of UC’s current rankings in those programs are below.
Biological sciences
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UC Berkeley ranked No. 3; UC San Francisco No. 9; UC Davis, UCLA and UC San Diego No. 17; and UC Irvine No. 32.
Chemistry
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UC Berkeley tied for first; UCLA No. 16; UC San Diego No. 20; UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara tied for No. 24; UC San Francisco No. 27; and UC Davis No. 38.
Computer science
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UC Berkeley tied for first; UC San Diego No. 12; UCLA No. 14; UC Santa Barbara No. 24; UC Irvine No. 31; and UC Davis No. 41.
Fine arts
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UCLA ranked first; UC San Diego tied for No. 10; UC Berkeley and UC Davis tied for No. 15; and UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara tied for No. 42.
Physics
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UC Berkeley ranked No. 3; UC Santa Barbara No. 9; UCLA No. 17; UC San Diego No. 21; UC Irvine No. 35; UC Davis No. 38; UC Santa Cruz No. 47; UC Riverside No. 55; and UC Merced No. 113, climbing 25 spots from 138 last year.
Public health
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UC Berkeley and UCLA tied for No. 9; UC Davis ranked No. 22; and UC Irvine No. 43.
Veterinary medicine
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UC Davis is once again No. 1, a spot it has held over the last 12 years.
Full UC rankings across the six major disciplines evaluated by the 2023-24 Best Graduate Schools rankings below.
Business
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UC Berkeley - 11
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UCLA - 19
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UC Irvine - 37
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UC Davis - 55
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UC San Diego - 107
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UC Riverside - 110
Education
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UCLA - 7
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UC Irvine - 11
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UC Berkeley - 14
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UC Davis - 40
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UC Riverside - 80
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UC Santa Barbara - 80
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UC San Diego - 99
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UC Santa Cruz - 145
Engineering
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UC Berkeley - 3
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UC San Diego - 12
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UCLA - 16
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UC Santa Barbara - 27
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UC Davis - 34
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UC Irvine - 34
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UC Santa Cruz - 77
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UC Riverside - 90
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UC Merced - 127
Law
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UC Berkeley - 10
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UCLA - 14
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UC Irvine - 35
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UC Davis - 60
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University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings) - 60
Medicine (Research)
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UCSF - 5
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UCLA - 18
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UC San Diego - 21
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UC Irvine - 44
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UC Davis - 50
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UC Riverside - 96
Medicine (Primary care)
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UCSF - 5
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UC Davis - 6
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UCLA - 10
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UC San Diego - 30
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UC Irvine - 67
Nursing (Master’s)
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UCSF - 10
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UCLA - 14
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UC Davis - 23
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UC Irvine - 41
