What are the best graduate schools in Virginia? See the list

• U.S. News & World Report released its 2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings.
• Virginia schools were ranked among the best in business, law, medicine, engineering, nursing and education.
• Rankings considered factors like tuition, degrees granted, student-faculty ratio and program offerings.
• Numerous other Virginia institutions placed within the rankings across various disciplines.

Dozens of Virginia colleges and universities have some of the best graduate programs in the country, newly released rankings by U.S. News & World Report show.

U.S. News’ 2025 Best Graduate Schools list breaks down the best-of-the-best business, law, medical, engineering, nursing and education schools in the United States.

Schools were ranked based on tuition, total doctoral and graduate degrees granted, graduate-student-to-faculty ratio, acceptance rate, percentage of faculty with awards, programs offered and other factors specific to the fields.

Here’s which Virginia schools made the list.

U.S. News’ best overall business schools

Here’s which business schools made it into U.S. News’ top five:

• The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
• Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management
• Stanford University
• The University of Chicago Booth School of Business
• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management

U.S. News’ best business schools in Virginia

Here’s which nine Virginia business schools made it on U.S. News’ list:

• No. 11: University of Virginia (Darden)  
• No. 61: William & Mary (Mason)
• George Mason University (Costello), unranked
• James Madison University, unranked
• Old Dominion University (Strome), unranked 
• Shenandoah University, unranked
• University of Mary Washington, unranked
• Virginia Commonwealth University, unranked
• Virginia Tech (Pamplin), unranked

For the full business school listings, visit: usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/mba-rankings.

U.S. News’ best overall law schools

Here’s which law schools made it into U.S. News’ top five:

• No. 1 (tie): Stanford University
• No. 1 (tie): Yale University 
• University of Chicago
• University of Virginia
• University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Carey Law School

U.S. News’ best law schools in Virginia 

Here’s which eight Virginia law schools made it on U.S. News’ list:

• No. 4: University of Virginia
• No. 31: (tie) George Mason University (Scalia) 
• No. 31 (tie): William & Mary Law School 
• No. 36: Washington and Lee University 
• No. 71: University of Richmond 
• No. 94: Regent University 
• No. 141: Liberty University 
• No. 178-195. Appalachian School of Law 

For the full law school listings, visit: usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/law-rankings.

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U.S. News’ best medical schools for research

Medical schools were split into four tiers based on their research productivity, faculty and admissions data in U.S. News’ list. Here’s which medical schools were included in the ranking:

• Baylor College of Medicine
• Case Western Reserve University
• Emory University
• Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra University/Northwell Health
• Mayo Clinic Alix School of Medicine
• Ohio State University
• University of California — Los Angeles’ David Geffen School of Medicine
• University of California — San Diego
• University of California — San Francisco
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Rochester
• USF Health’s Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida
• University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
• Vanderbilt University
• Yale University

Here’s which Virginia medical school was included in U.S. News’ Tier 2 ranking:

• Virginia Commonwealth University

For the full medical school listings, visit: usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/research-rankings.

U.S. News’ best overall engineering schools

Here’s which engineering schools made it into U.S. News’ top five:

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Stanford University
• University of California – Berkeley
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• California Institute of Technology

U.S. News’ best engineering schools in Virginia

Here’s which five Virginia engineering schools made it on U.S. News’ list:

• No. 31: Virginia Tech  
• No. 39: University of Virginia 
• No. 85: George Mason University (Volgenau) 
• No. 125: George Mason University (Volgenau)  
• No. 149: Old Dominion University (Batten)

For the full engineering school listings, visit: usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/eng-rankings.

U.S. News’ best overall nursing schools for master’s programs

Here’s which nursing schools made it into U.S. News’ top five:

• Emory University’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
• Johns Hopkins University
• Ohio State University
• Vanderbilt University
• Duke University

U.S. News’ best nursing schools for master’s programs in Virginia

Here’s which eight Virginia nursing schools made it on U.S. News’ list:

• No. 16: George Mason University
• No. 20: University of Virginia
• No. 34: Old Dominion University
• No. 68: James Madison University
• No. 97: Marymount University
• No. 109: Shenandoah University (Custer)
• Liberty University, unranked
• Virginia Commonwealth University, unranked

For the full nursing school for master’s programs listings, visit: usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-nursing-schools/nur-rankings.

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U.S. News’ best overall graduate education schools

Here’s which graduate education schools made it into U.S. News’ top five:

• University of Wisconsin — Madison
• Columbia University’s Teachers College (tied for second)
• University of Michigan — Ann Arbor’s Marsal Family School of Education (tied for second)
• Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College (tied for second)
• University of California — Los Angeles

U.S. News’ best graduate education schools in Virginia

Here’s which 13 Virginia graduate education schools made it on U.S. News’ list:

• No. 6: University of Virginia
• No. 24: Virginia Commonwealth University
• No. 49: William & Mary
• No. 90 (tie): George Mason University
• No. 90 (tie): Old Dominion University (Darden)
• No. 90 (tie) Virginia Tech
• No. 213: Liberty University
• No. 217: Regent University
• No. 234-258: Shenandoah University
• Hampton University, unranked
• Marymount University, unranked
• Radford University, unranked
• Virginia State University, unranked

For the full graduate education school listings, visit: usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-education-schools/edu-rankings.