The strength and depth of UNLV’s graduate and professional programs once again earned acclaim from U.S. News & World Report, as the publication released its annual Best Graduate Schools rankings on April 7.
A university-record 33 programs placed within the top 100 in their disciplines for 2026, paced by the Boyd School of Law with 15 top-100 programs and Lee Business School with six.
For a second consecutive year, Boyd Law’s acclaimed Legal Writing program held the nation’s top spot in the discipline. The school also again ranked within the top 10 for Dispute Resolution (8), its Part-Time degree came in at 21, and its Intellectual Property program rose four places to 31.
Beyond the law school, a number of UNLV programs made notable positive movement in the rankings this cycle. The School of Nursing’s master’s programs continued their recent ascent, placing 34; the College of Education’s graduate programs followed a record rise in 2025 with another bump, coming in at 64; and the university's graduate program in Physical Therapy again ranked within the nation’s top 50, jumping six places this year to rank 40.
“Graduate and professional programs are the anchor of any great R1 research university, as they elevate research, service, and teaching efforts and inject new ideas and perspectives that strengthen our mission in immeasurable ways,” said Chris Heavey, UNLV interim president. “We’re incredibly proud of the contributions of our graduate community at UNLV. These rankings indicate that their impact on their disciplines – and throughout our region – grows more profound every year.”
UNLV’s business programs were featured in six different discipline rankings by U.S. News, led by MBA concentrations in Information Systems (65) and Entrepreneurship (74). The school’s Part-Time MBA remained in the top 100, placing 82, its Executive MBA ranked 84, and the school's MBA concentration in Marketing (96) and master's program in Accounting (94) also made top-100 appearances.
UNLV also boasted several top-100 graduate programs in engineering, led by Nuclear Engineering (28), Aerospace Studies (75), and Environmental Engineering (89).
In other health rankings, the School of Public Health’s healthcare management program placed 63 and the School of Nursing’s doctoral program in nursing practice ranked 83.
Graduate programs in Fine Arts (87), Earth Science (89), Clinical Psychology (90), and Public Affairs (92) also placed within the top 100 in their fields.
Overall, Boyd Law ranked 91 out of 194 accredited programs. Additional top-100 discipline rankings in law included Clinical Training (42), Health Law (51), Contracts/Commercial Law (54), Business/Corporate Law (55), Criminal Law (59), Tax Law (66), International Law (73), Environmental Law (80), Trial Advocacy (84), and and Constitutional Law (86).
Each year, U.S. News analyzes thousands of graduate and specialty programs in a broad range of disciplines. Programs are ranked by discipline or specialty and evaluated based on criteria specific to each degree field, expert opinions about program excellence, and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research, and students.
In addition to U.S. News' annual rankings of graduate programs in six primary disciplines, the publication periodically ranks other programs in a variety of fields. UNLV has several “off-cycle” graduate programs ranked during the most current ratings period for each discipline, including Sociology (85 in 2025), Political Science (96 in 2025), English (97 in 2025), Social Work (83 in 2024), and Criminology (29 in 2022).
Learn more about the 2026 U.S. News & World Report “Best Graduate Schools” rankings.
