Best Graduate Schools

Preparing And Applying For Graduate School

If you’re interested in a profession that requires graduate school, such as law or medicine, it’s important to ensure that you’re committed to that career path before investing time, money and effort into a graduate education. U.S. News & World Report offers guidance to prospective students on how to decide whether to attend grad school and how to identify the correct type of program. The Best Graduate Schools rankings provide data that you can use to discover schools that match your preferences.

Aspiring business executives, for example, can explore the Best Business Schools rankings, future lawyers can refer to the Best Law Schools rankings and medical school hopefuls can consult the Best Medical Schools rankings. Meanwhile, individuals who plan to pursue graduate engineering degrees can check out the Best Engineering Schools rankings, and those who wish to obtain an education-related graduate credential may want to look at the Best Education Schools rankings. People who intend to become advanced practice registered nurses with graduate-level training in nursing can examine the Best Nursing Schools rankings.

U.S. News also offers rankings of graduate schools within the following disciplines:

• Library and information studies
• Social sciences and the humanities
• Fine arts
• Public affairs
• Health
• Science

Each of these rankings lists includes links to school profile pages where you can find details about the academic institutions. Website users who purchase a subscription to U.S. News Grad Compass can gain access to school-specific information beyond what is displayed for free on school profile pages. Both paying and nonpaying readers have access to the U.S. News graduate school search tool that allows them to find grad schools within a specific academic discipline or geographic region.

In addition to its rankings database, U.S. News also offers an abundance of advice to prospective graduate students. Expert tips cover topics such as deciding where to apply and how to assemble a compelling application, including ways to identify a person who can write a persuasive letter of recommendation for graduate school and techniques that can be used to craft an eloquent personal statement. Plus, U.S. News offers insight into what factors matter most to graduate school admissions officers and answers common questions about the admissions process, such as how much grad schools care about where you went to college and how to prepare for admissions interviews.

In addition, U.S. News provides advice on how to prepare for graduate school entrance exams such as the GRE, tips for winning graduate school scholarships and other strategies to pay for graduate school. U.S. News even provides guidelines to applicants who have been admitted to multiple grad programs on how they should choose among those options. All of this advice content, plus the rankings and the grad school directory, can serve as valuable resources for individuals who dream of attending graduate school.