UNC, Duke and NC State universities earn top US News rankings for graduate programs

Kate Murphy
·2 min read

The Triangle’s top research universities were recognized for their graduate programs in the 2022 U.S. News & World Report rankings, which were released this week.

UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University earned multiple top 5 rankings for healthcare programs, and the engineering program at N.C. State University was listed in the top 25. The rankings are based on expert opinions and data about the quality of a school’s faculty, research and students.

Here’s a breakdown of how the top programs at universities across North Carolina ranked:

UNC-Chapel Hill had the highest ranked graduate program in the state.

The UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health was ranked the No. 1 public school of public health in the nation and 2nd overall for the fourth time in a row. The school’s faculty researchers, virologists and epidemiologists have played significant roles in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic at the national and global level.

UNC Charlotte ranked 90th overall in public health.

Nursing: For master’s of nursing programs, Duke ranked 3rd overall, followed by UNC-CH (6) and UNC Charlotte (88).

For doctor of nursing practice programs, Duke ranked 4th overall, followed by UNC-CH (11), UNC Greensboro (53) and UNCC (94).

Medical: For research, Duke ranked 3rd, followed by UNC-CH (24) and Wake Forest University (48).

For primary care, UNC-CH ranked 3rd, followed by East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine (28), Duke (51) and Wake Forest (80).

Business: Duke’s Fuqua School of Business (12), UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School (20), N.C. State’s Poole College of Management (64) and Deese College of Business and Economics at North Carolina A&T University (96) in full-time master’s of business administration programs.

For part-time MBA programs, Wake Forest ranked 22nd, followed by UNCG tied with UNCC at 73rd, N.C. State (85) and Elon University (100).

Economics: Duke (16), UNC-CH (36) and NC State (59).

Education: UNC-CH (25), N.C. State (37), UNCG (73) and UNCC (91).

Engineering: Duke (24), N.C. State (25) and UNC-CH (75).

English: Duke (13) and UNC-CH (20).

History: UNC-CH (11), Duke (18) and UNCG (92). Duke ranked 2nd for African American History and UNC-CH ranked 10th.

Law: Duke (10), UNC-CH (24) and Wake Forest (41)

Library and Information Studies: UNC-CH (2), UNCG (23), N.C. Central University (42) and ECU (47).

Political Science: Duke (10) and UNC-CH (12).

Public Affairs: UNC-CH and Duke tied at 19th, while N.C. State and UNCC tied at 48th.

Sociology: UNC-CH (7), Duke (13) and N.C. State (61).