Boston University’s Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences retained its nation-topping ranking for occupational therapy instruction in U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 evaluation of graduate school programs. It’s the fifth consecutive year that the program has claimed the first spot in the magazine’s rankings.

A half-dozen other BU programs cracked the top 10 in their respective disciplines:

“Sargent has a long history of having top-ranked programs,” says Gloria Waters, BU provost, chief academic officer, and former dean of Sargent. “It is rewarding to see the occupational therapy program at the top of the rankings again. This recognition reflects the program’s faculty, support staff, and the college’s commitment to creating impactful educational experiences that translate into real-world outcomes.”

Of the high rankings for the other University programs, Waters says, “Faculty and staff are creating exceptional educational experiences across BU’s schools and colleges every day. Their efforts are not only reflected in national rankings like these, but in the quality of the students that go on to lead in their chosen fields.” 

Depending on the discipline it is evaluating, U.S. News uses different assessment methodologies. For rankings of programs in sciences, social sciences, humanities, and health, the magazine relies on peer assessment surveys. 

By contrast, for schools of business, education, engineering, law, medicine, and nursing, the rankings are based on two types of data, U.S. News says: “expert opinion about program excellence, and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school’s academic productivity and postgraduate outcomes.” Last fall and early this year, the magazine sent schools the statistical surveys and sent peer assessments to academics and professionals in the fields being evaluated.

The peer assessments asked deans, program directors, and senior faculty to rank the academic quality of programs in their disciplines, from 5 (outstanding) to 1 (marginal). U.S. News buttressed those evaluations with surveys of professionals hiring or working with recent graduates in certain fields.

It’s been a dry, breezy start to the week here in the Boston area. As we continue moving through this afternoon, the sun will be in and out of the clouds, but it should remain dry through the evening.

Winds will gust up to 25-30 mph at times. Highs should reach the low 50s today. Tonight, low temperatures will be in the low to mid 30s.

As Tuesday rolls in, a weak disturbance will push into the area, giving way to a rain/snow mix. Yes, a little snow!

Areas along and north of the Massachusetts Turnpike will have the best chance of seeing a few passing snowflakes and flurries Tuesday morning. But a few flakes will drift south of the Pike from time to time as well. Some snow could also mix with rain later in the evening as the system wraps up and moves away from our region. 

A light coating of snow is possible tomorrow, especially along and north of the Pike and across Worcester Hills and the higher terrain, mainly on grassy and elevated surfaces. But we don’t expect major problems as our temperatures climb from the 30s into the 40s and 50s by afternoon. In other words, the snow won’t stick around. Otherwise, we’ll see mostly cloudy skies Tuesday.

Wednesday will be the coolest day of the week. In fact, it will feel like winter all over again Wednesday morning! Temps will start the day in the mid to upper 20s. Highs will reach the upper 40s by afternoon under mostly sunny skies. Our high temperatures rebound into the 50s and 60s by Thursday and Friday with sunshine. A few showers are possible on Saturday.

After a brief chance of early precipitation, Boston is likely in for a mostly dry week and warmer temperatures heading into next weekend, according to National Weather Service forecasts.

“In terms of rain and everything, that’ll be continuing to clear out (Sunday night), if it hasn’t already,” said NWS meteorologist Candice Hrencecin. “(Monday) should be pretty dry.”

Monday is set to kick off the week with some dry and breezy weather throughout the day, forecasts show. Winds are expected to reach gusts as high as 26 mph, and temperatures are likely to climb up in a high in the upper 40s, NWS states.

The only real chance for showers in the week should hit Monday night into Tuesday, Hrencecin said.

“(Monday) night, we could see some more showers come in once again,” said Hrencecin. “They might be mixed with some snow, but wouldn’t really accumulate or anything, and probably melt pretty quick, because we’d be going from like the mid-30s or so overnight (Monday), into the 40s during the day (Tuesday) pretty quickly. And that should switch over to rain.”

Rain is likely Tuesday, forecasts show, especially around the afternoon. The day is expected to be partly sunny, with a high in the upper 40s. The night is forecasted to get chilly, NWS states, with a low dipping down in the upper 20s.

“Then Wednesday, we kind of get back into the mid-40s during the day once again,” said Hrencecin. “And then overnight, a little bit better but still pretty cold for Wednesday night. Not as bad as Tuesday night, a few degrees improvement.”

Wednesday is expected to be sunny, with a high in the upper 40s and a nighttime low in the mid-30s, forecasts show.

Boston will kick off a warming trend more so towards the second half of the week, Hrencecin said.

“And then by Thursday into Friday, we’d see highs into the mid 50s, and then into the mid 60s heading into the weekend,” Hrencecin said.

Thursday is forecasted to be sunny again, with the high climbing up to the mid-50s and a low in the low 40s, NWS states.

Friday into the weekend are preliminarily expected to remain partly sunny, with highs reaching up into the 60s through Sunday, forecasts show.