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Get the most interesting and important stories from the University of Pittsburgh.Pitt’s graduate programs are among the best in the nation — including a No. 1 ranking in occupational therapy and improvements across the health sciences, engineering, law, public affairs and more — according to the 2026 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools rankings.
The U.S. News & World Report compiles rankings each year across business, education, law, engineering, medicine, nursing, public affairs and other areas by gathering expert opinions and statistics about each school’s quality. The organization updates rankings annually, although not all categories are updated each year.
In the health sciences, Pitt's School of Medicine retained its Tier 1 research designation, a group that includes only 16 schools in the nation. Other health sciences specialties saw gains, including occupational therapy regaining its best-in-the-nation ranking, both physical therapy and pharmacy increasing to No. 8 and the nursing doctorate program rising to No. 9. Nursing anesthesia ranked No. 5, and both audiology and speech-language pathology stayed constant at No. 6, capping off Pitt’s seven top-10 health science programs nationally.
A Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences program also cracked the top 10 — the Department of Psychology ranked No. 6 in clinical psychology.
The Swanson School of Engineering also saw a rise to No. 42 overall and stayed steady at No. 24 among such programs at public universities. Electrical engineering jumped nine spots to No. 52, with more increases in computer engineering (No. 46) and mechanical engineering (No. 54). Other top-50 programs include industrial (No. 24), biological (No. 29), chemical (No. 47) and materials (No. 50) engineering.
The School of Public and International Affairs moved up to No. 31 nationally, with a No. 9 ranking in international global policy and administration. Pitt’s education program stayed constant at No. 35 with the educational psychology specialty rising to No. 17, and both the part-time and full-time MBA programs in the School of Business were ranked in the top 50 (No. 44 and No. 48, respectively). Pitt also rose to No. 77 in full-time law programs, with specialty rankings rising to No. 26 for public interest law, No. 31 for tax law and No. 47 for intellectual property law.
Photography by Aimee Obidzinski