Whether you’re looking to make your mark in academic research or striving to expand career opportunities and boost your earning power, the University of California is a premier destination for graduate education, according to the 2025-26 U.S. News Best Graduate Schools rankings released this month.
Extending UC’s excellence from previous rankings, the University once again earned top marks across its 10 campuses for internationally renowned programs in business, education, engineering, law, medicine and nursing this year, including for numerous specialities within those fields.
UC programs also garnered a slew of No. 1 rankings in fields ranked for the first time in several years, including social sciences and humanities programs in English, history, political science and sociology, evaluated for the first time since 2021, as well as economics and psychology programs, assessed for the first time since 2022.
In all, UC offers more than 700 graduate programs across its 10 campuses, with its nearly 65,000 graduate students among its brightest minds, tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges. The next generation of scientists, scholars and industry leaders, they mentor and inspire countless undergrads, launch dozens of startups and make hundreds of new discoveries annually.
UC graduate students have gone on to earn prestigious awards of every stripe, including Nobel Prizes in chemistry, physiology or medicine, physics and the economic sciences. And the impacts of grad research are felt all over the state: A UC graduate student led the foundational research that launched the first solar-over-canal project in California, an advance that could save the state billions of gallons of water each year and provide an important new source of clean energy.
A few highlights from the six schools U.S. News evaluates annually in this year’s Best Graduate School rankings:
-
Three UC business schools were in the top 50 of all business schools: UC Berkeley’s Walter A. Haas School of Business was ranked No. 11, UCLA’s Anderson School of Management No. 18, and UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business No. 43.
-
Among schools of education, two UCs ranked in the top 10, and four in the top 50, with UCLA at No. 5, UC Berkeley tied with Harvard, among other schools, at No. 6, UC Irvine ranked No. 18 and UC Davis ranked No. 40.
-
UC’s engineering schools were among the top-performing in the country, with three UCs in the top 15 and six in the top 50, with all engineering schools, including UC Merced’s, among those ranked.
-
Two UC law schools were in the top 15 among law schools in the country, and 4 UCs ranked in the top 50.
-
New this year, U.S. News ranks medical schools in tiers across the categories of primary care and research. Two UC medical schools are Tier 1 for primary care, and three for research; UC San Francisco is Tier 1 in both.
-
Among nursing schools, UC has two top 10 master’s programs (and four in the top 50), with three UC schools ranked in the top 75 for nursing Ph.D. programs.
UC Davis retained its No. 1 ranking among veterinary schools (a position it has held since 2016), and UC nabbed top rankings in the humanities and social sciences, including in English, history, clinical psychology, and more.
UC Merced, which earned R1 research classification, the highest tier available from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, continues to climb the grad school rankings, with three top 100 programs in engineering and highly ranked programs in the social sciences.
See full rankings and more information about methodology below. (Note: Specialties included below are publicly available on the U.S. News site; specialties with rankings available only to Grad Compass members are not included.)
School rankings
2 UCs in the top 20; 3 UCs in the top 50
UC Berkeley — 11
UCLA — 18
UC Irvine — 43
UC Davis — 65
UC San Diego — 68
UC Riverside — 88
Specialties:
-
Executive MBA: UC Berkeley is No. 6; UCLA is No. 9
-
Part-time MBA: UC Berkeley is No. 1; UCLA is No. 5; UC Irvine is No. 23; UC Davis is No. 42; UC Riverside is No. 56; UC San Diego is No. 68
-
Entrepreneurship: UC Berkeley is No. 4
-
Nonprofit: UC Berkeley is No. 4
-
Real Estate: UC Berkeley is No. 4; UCLA is No. 12
2 UCs in the top 10; 4 UCs in the top 50
UCLA — 5
UC Berkeley — 6
UC Irvine — 18
UC Davis — 40
UC Riverside — 90
UC Santa Barbara — 90
UC Santa Cruz — 153
3 UCs in the top 15; 6 UCs in the top 50
UC Berkeley — 3
UC San Diego — 10
UCLA —13
UC Santa Barbara — 31
UC Davis — 34
UC Irvine — 37
UC Santa Cruz — 74
UC Riverside — 89
UC Merced —106
Specialties:
-
Aerospace / Aeronautical / Astronautical engineering: UCLA is No. 9
-
Biological / Agricultural engineering: UC Davis is No. 3
-
Biomedical engineering / Bioengineering: UC Berkeley is No. 4, UC San Diego is No. 8
-
Chemical engineering: UC Berkeley is No. 2
-
Civil engineering: UC Berkeley is No. 2
-
Computer engineering: UC Berkeley is No. 1, UC San Diego is No. 12
-
Electrical / Electronic / Communications engineering: UC Berkeley is No. 1, UCLA is No. 11
-
Environmental / Environmental Health engineering: UC Berkeley No. 1
-
Industrial / manufacturing / systems engineering: UC Berkeley is No. 3
-
Materials engineering: UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara are tied for No. 3
-
Mechanical engineering: UC Berkeley is No. 3
-
Nuclear engineering: UC Berkeley is No. 7
2 UCs in the top 15; 4 UCs in the top 50
UCLA — 12
UC Berkeley — 13
UC Irvine — 38
UC Davis — 50
UC Law San Francisco — 88
Medical Schools rankings (primary care)
Tier 1: UC Davis, UC San Francisco
Tier 2: UCLA, UC San Diego
Tier 3: UC Irvine, UC Riverside
Medical Schools rankings (research)
Tier 1: UCLA, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco
Tier 2: UC Davis, UC Irvine
Tier 3: UC Riverside
UCSF — 6
UCLA — 9
UC Davis — 30
UC Irvine — 47
UCSF — 17
UCLA — 27
UC Irvine — 61
Other program and subprogram rankings
Computer science: UC Berkeley is No. 2; UC San Diego is No. 13; UCLA is No. 16; UC Irvine is tied with UC Santa Barbara for No. 27; UC Davis is No. 39; UC Riverside is tied with UC Santa Cruz for No. 54; UC Merced is No. 103
Specialties:
-
Artificial intelligence: UC Berkeley is No. 4; UC San Diego is No. 11; UCLA is No. 13
-
Programming language: UC Berkeley is No. 6; UC San Diego is No. 11; UCLA is No. 16
-
Systems: UC Berkeley is No. 3; UC San Diego is No. 10; UCLA is No. 16
-
Theory: UC Berkeley is No. 2; UCLA and UC San Diego are tied for No. 14
Economics: UC Berkeley is No. 1; UCLA is No. 11; UC San Diego is No. 14; UC Davis is No. 24; UC Santa Barbara is No. 37; UC Irvine is No. 41; UC Santa Cruz is No. 53; UC Riverside is No. 56; UCSF is No. 97
English: UC Berkeley is No. 1; UCLA is No. 8; UC Davis and UC Irvine are tied for No. 21; UC Santa Barbara is No. 36; UC Riverside is No. 44; UC San Diego is No. 54
Health specialties:
-
Audiology: UC San Diego tied for No. 23
-
Clinical psychology: UCLA is No. 1; UC Berkeley tied for No. 2; UC San Diego is tied for No. 27
-
Pharmacy (ranked in 2024): UC San Francisco tied for No. 2; UC San Diego tied for No. 12; UC Irvine tied for No. 60.
-
Physical therapy: UC San Francisco tied for No. 22
-
Physician Assistant: UC Davis tied for No. 35
-
Public Health: UC Berkeley and UCLA tied for No. 8; UC Davis and UC Irvine tied for No. 27
-
Biostatistics: UCLA is No. 9; UC Berkeley is No. 12
-
Environmental Health Sciences: UC Berkeley is No. 8; UCLA is No. 9
-
Epidemiology: UCLA is No. 8, UC Berkeley is No. 10
-
Health Policy and Management: UCLA is No. 7, UC Berkeley is No. 12
-
Social and Behavioral Sciences: UCLA is No. 7, UC Berkeley is No. 8
-
Veterinary medicine: UC Davis is No. 1
History: UC Berkeley is No. 2; UCLA is No. 6; UC Davis is No. 25; UC San Diego is No. 36; UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara are tied for No. 42; UC Riverside is No. 56; UC Santa Cruz is No. 75
Library/Information Studies: UCLA is No. 13
Political science: UC Berkeley is No. 2; UC San Diego is No. 8; UCLA is No. 11; UC Davis is No. 25; UC Irvine is No. 41; UC Santa Barbara is No. 48; UC Merced is tied with UC Riverside for No. 52; UC Santa Cruz is No. 74
Psychology: UC Berkeley is No. 1; UCLA is No. 6; UC Davis is tied with UC San Diego for No. 14; UC Irvine is No. 27; UC Santa Barbara is No. 39; UC Riverside is No. 81; UC Merced is tied with UC Santa Cruz for No. 95
Public affairs: UC Berkeley is No. 3; UCLA is No. 16; UC San Diego is No. 61; UC Riverside is No. 82
Sociology: UC Berkeley is No. 1 ; UCLA is No. 6; UC Irvine is No. 20; UC San Diego is No. 32; UC Davis is tied with UC Santa Barbara for No. 36; UC San Francisco is No. 56; UC Merced is tied with UC Riverside for No. 64; UC Santa Cruz is No. 76
U.S. News methodologies
For more information about how U.S. news ranks programs and schools, please visit the hyperlinked category pertaining to the program of interest above. Each category has at the top its own link to the methodology for the particular program and school, including how many schools were ranked for any given category.
