The UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine took the No. 1 spot in the nation for veterinary medicine in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of professional and graduate programs, published today (April 6).

U.S. News updated rankings for the disciplines of business, education, law, engineering, medicine and nursing as well as some specialties in its 2026 edition of the Best Graduate Schools.

The University of California, Davis, had several science specialties rank in the top 30 in the nation: statistics (tied for 12th), earth sciences (tied for 20th), biostatistics (tied for 21st) and biological sciences (tied for 21st).

The fine arts program tied for 28th in a ranking of 184 schools. Fine arts programs were last ranked six years ago.

The School of Medicine ranked 16th in the country for the most graduates practicing in primary care and tied for 22nd in the specialty of public health. It also ranked in Tier 1 (the top tier) for excellence in primary care training and among the leading medical schools for research.

The master’s degree nursing program at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing placed in the top 25 among those at public schools. 

The College of Engineering ranked 19th among public universities and was 35th among 194 private and public universities. Three specialties ranked in the top 20 among all schools: biological/agricultural engineering (third), civil engineering (tied for 11th) and environmental/environmental health engineering (tied for 17th).

The School of Education tied for 31st among public universities and tied for 41st among 263 public and private schools. 

The Graduate School of Management’s Full-Time MBA ranked 35th among programs at public universities and tied for 67th among the 134 public and private universities that were ranked. The Part-Time MBA, offered in Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area, was 31st among programs at public universities and tied for 47th among the 245 programs that were ranked.

In other recent rankings:

• UC Davis ranked second in the world and first in the nation in both veterinary science and agriculture and forestry in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2026, released March 25.
• The World’s Top Universities of 2026, released by Time Jan. 28, named the campus No. 32 in the world, No. 22 in the United States and fifth among public universities in the nation.

About U.S. News rankings

U.S. News ranks some disciplines annually and others periodically. Rankings in the six disciplines are based on statistical surveys and often on surveys of academics and employers in the fields. Graduate rankings in other disciplines — including several in the fields of science, social sciences and humanities, and health — are calculated solely from peer assessment surveys. The rankings are available on the U.S. News and World Report website. 

UC Davis and rankings

A world-class university, UC Davis is highly ranked for how it transforms students’ lives, the impact of its research, the excellence of its academic programs, its sustainability and more. The university performs self-evaluations and also appreciates the value of third-party assessments. However, ranking methods vary, change over time and can be subjective. UC Davis focuses on those rankings that most closely align with its mission and values — including serving the public good, inclusiveness and equity, and social mobility — and in national rankings looks most closely at its standing among public universities. UC Davis encourages prospective students and their families to weigh rankings among other factors in their college decision, talk with counselors and UC Davis admissions advisors, and, if possible, visit the campus.