‘U.S. News’ Best Graduate Schools highlight RIT graduate programs

Rochester Institute of Technology graduate programs are among the best in the nation, according to the U.S. News & World Report annual statistical survey of graduate programs.

RIT master’s degree programs in engineering and business feature in the U.S. News & World Report 2022 edition of Best Graduate Schools, released in March. This year, RIT:

• Tied for 66th in the nation, up from 72, for the best graduate engineering programs, offered by Kate Gleason College of Engineering. Rankings of RIT’s specialty engineering programs are based on peer assessments by department heads in each area. They are:
  • 70th in biomedical engineering;
  • 95th in chemical engineering;
  • 66th in computer engineering;
  • 66th in electrical engineering; and
  • 54th in industrial engineering.

• Tied for 90th for the full-time MBA program, offered by Saunders College of Business, and ranked 33rd in business analytics, a specialty rating based on peer assessment by business school deans and directors of accredited MBA programs from the list of schools surveyed.

Each year, U.S. News measures the quality of professional school programs in business, education, engineering, law, medicine, and nursing to assist prospective students in comparing programs. Rankings are based on statistical surveys of more than 2,125 programs, and from reputational surveys sent to more than 23,000 academics and professionals in fall 2020 and early 2021.

Statistical indicators measured quality of a schools’ faculty, research, and students. Also considered are graduates’ achievements linked to their degrees, such as starting salaries and how quickly they found employment in their chosen field.

Peer assessment data about the academic quality of programs came from deans, program directors, and senior faculty. U.S. News also surveyed professionals who hire or work with new graduates in the education, engineering, law, nursing, and medical fields.

Beyond the six disciplines listed annually, U.S. News also periodically ranks graduate programs in science, social sciences and humanities, fine arts, health, and other areas, based on academic reputation surveys. These RIT programs remain ranked by U.S. News as follows:

• Tied for 23rd among fine arts program and tied for sixth in photography, offered in the College of Art and Design;
• Tied for 68th among computer science programs, offered in Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences;
• Tied for 69th among physics, offered in the College of Science; and
• Tied 108th among physician assistant programs, offered by the College of Health Sciences and Technology.