College’s Graduate Programs Earn High U.S. News Rankings

Eleven programs and specialties in the University of Maryland’s College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences earned top-25 accolades in U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Best Graduate Schools lists released today.

This is the first time the science graduate programs have been ranked by U.S. News in back-to-back years. Compared with 2023, UMD moved up in nearly every program category—the Earth sciences ranking jumped 13 spots, mathematics rose six spots, chemistry improved three spots, physics rose one spot and computer science remained the same.

The college’s graduate rankings are:

  • Physics at No. 17 (No. 6 among public institutions)
    • Atomic/molecular/optical specialty at No. 6
    • Quantum specialty at No. 9
    • Condensed matter specialty at No. 17
  • Computer Science at No. 17 (No. 10 among public institutions)
    • Artificial intelligence specialty at No. 15
    • Programming language specialty at No. 20
    • Systems specialty at No. 22
    • Mathematics at No. 20 (No. 6 among public institutions)
      • Applied math specialty at No. 15
      • Analysis specialty at No. 24
    • Earth Sciences at No. 27 (No. 16 among public institutions)
    • Chemistry at No. 46 (No. 27 among public institutions)
    • Biological Sciences at No. 68 (was not surveyed this year)

     

    The rankings are based on statistical surveys of more than 2,200 programs and reputation surveys sent to nearly 19,000 academics and professionals, conducted in fall 2022 and early 2023. U.S. News said this year that it placed a greater emphasis this year on outcomes, recognizing that students’ ultimate goal in attending graduate school is likely to become a practicing professional.

    About the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences

    The College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences at the University of Maryland educates more than 8,000 future scientific leaders in its undergraduate and graduate programs each year. The college's 10 departments and nine interdisciplinary research centers foster scientific discovery with annual sponsored research funding exceeding $250 million.