Among the Nation's Best

Colleagues:

I write with good news: again this year, U.S. News & World Report has ranked our School among the top 3% of nursing programs in the country in its 2022 Best Graduate Schools Guide. The ranking affirms what we know well: that UVA remains a destination for nurses from across Virginia, around the country, and across the world looking to deepen their nursing practice, leadership, and scholarly endeavors.

For 2022, we are ranked:

• No. 9 among U.S. public nursing master’s programs (No. 19 overall, out of 597 programs)
• No. 24 among U.S. DNP programs (No. 13 among public institutions)

The 2022 edition has several new methodologies in place that differ from that of previous years, including a new reputational scoring system that seeks input both from other nursing school leaders (accounting for 30% of our overall score) as well as from healthcare professionals across the country (accounting for 10% of our overall score). On both of these measures, we scored exceptionally well, enjoying high marks from nursing leaders and fellow clinicians. Also strong are our selectivity and student-specific scores, which position our programs among the nation’s most well-respected.

While US News did not update rankings for Clinical Nurse Leader programs in 2022; we remain the #1 CNL program in the 2021 guide.

Of course, rankings are not an end in themselves but rather another lens through which to view our work, strengths, and challenges. I am immensely proud of what we have done together, especially after the challenges that 2020 and 2021 provided, and proud of the passion, determination, and compassion of our students, faculty, and staff. Rankings capture some things but do little to capture the depth and variety of incredible efforts taking place within our walls—in equity, diversity, mentoring, research, student programming, interprofessional learning, and global endeavors.

All of that—and our steady rankings—are something to celebrate together. I have each of you to thank for that.