Academic Rankings

High Achievements and Top Programs

UC Davis is highly ranked in the nation and the world, according to influential university ranking publications like U.S. News & World Report (national and global), QS World University Rankings, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and The Princeton Review.

The Wall Street Journal recognized UC Davis as the fifth-best public university in the United States in its Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Ranking (2018).

Interested in rankings by graduate program? Browse the list below.

Graduate academic program rankings

Agriculture

• 2nd in agriculture and forestry (QS World University Rankings 2018)
• 2nd in agriculture (U.S. News & World Report’s “2018 Best Global Universities”)

Animal behavior

• 1st in animal science (U.S. News & World Report’s “2016 Best Global Universities”)

Biological sciences

• Anatomy and physiology

  • 28th (QS World University Rankings 2017)

• Biological sciences

  • ​19th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Graduate” 2018) 
  • 27th (QS World University Rankings 2017)

• Biology and biochemistry

  • 34th (U.S. News & World Report’s “2018 Best Global Universities”)

• Ecology/evolutionary biology

  • 7th (U.S. News & World Report’s “2018 Best Global Universities” )

• Molecular biology and genetics

  • 48th (U.S. News & World Report’s “2018 Best Global Universities”)

Business and economics

• Economics

  • 29th (U.S. News & World Report’s "America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

• Graduate School of Management

  • 25th among public part-time MBA programs in U.S.  (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)
  • 42^nd among full-time MBA programs in U.S. (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)
  • No. 47 in North America, and No. 71 globally (The Economist 2016 “Which MBA?”)

Chemistry

• Chemistry
  • 32nd (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)

Composition

• Among the top 50 universities for writing across the disciplines (U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 “America’s Best Colleges”)

Earth sciences

• 24th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)
• 29th in earth and marine sciences (QS World University Rankings 2018)

Education

• 36th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

Engineering

• 33rd best College of Engineering (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)

• Aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical 

  • 26th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools 2016”)

• Biological/agricultural

  • 7th in biological/agricultural (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)

• Biomedical/bioengineering

  • 22nd (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016)

• Chemical engineering

  • 30th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016)

• Civil engineering

  • 12th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016)
  • 39th worldwide (2016 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, Shanghai Rankings)

• Computer engineering

  • 33th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016)

• Computer science

• • 37th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)
  • 48th (U.S. News & World Reports “2015 Best Global Universities”)

• Electrical

  • 41st tied in electrical/electronic/communications (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016

• Environmental engineering

  • 13th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016)
  • 29th worldwide (2016 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, ShanghaiRankings)

• Materials science

  • 28th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016)

• Mechanical

  • 35th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016)

English

• 20th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

Environmental sciences

• 7th in environment/ecology (U.S. News & World Report’s “2018 Best Global Universities”)
• 13th (QS World University Rankings 2018)

Fine arts

• 27th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

History

• 32nd (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)
  • 9th in U.S. colonial history

Law

• 25th best School of Law according to national law school deans and faculty
• 31st of almost 200 American Bar Association-approved law schools (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2016)
• 37th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

Mathematics

• 34th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)

Medicine

• 10th in primary care (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)
• 26th in the nation for research funding from the National Institutes of Health (Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research 2018)
• 39th in research (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2017)

Nursing

• Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing

  • 46th among master's degree nursing leadership programs (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)

Physics

• 28th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)
• 37th in space science (U.S. News & World Report’s “2016 Best Global Universities”)

Plant science

• 1st in plant science (U.S. News & World Report’s “2018 Best Global Universities”)

Political science

• 17th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

• Comparative politics  

  • 15th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2014)

• Political methodology

  • 17th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

Psychology

• 26th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

• Psychiatry/psychology

  • 40th (U.S. News & World Report’s “2018 Best Global Universities”)

Sociology

• 30th (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2018)

Statistics

• 31st (U.S. News & World Report’s “America's Best Graduate Schools” 2019)

Veterinary medicine

• 1st for veterinary science (QS World University Rankings 2017)
• 1st among the nation’s veterinary schools (U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools” 2016)