Graduate programs ranked
ECU’s master’s and doctoral programs in allied health sciences, medicine and nursing earned high national rankings in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best Graduate Schools, released April 8.
U.S. News’ best medical schools for primary care are presented in evaluative Tiers 1-4 rather than ordinal rankings. The Brody School of Medicine is a Tier 1 institution.
For the assessment, U.S. News placed medical and osteopathic schools in tiers based on primary care metrics, faculty and admissions data. The highest factor, the number of medical school graduates practicing in primary care specialties, makes up 45% of the score. Other factors include the number of medical school graduates entering primary care residencies, student selectivity and faculty-student ratio.
Brody also was recognized for research. Factors consider research activity, student selectivity and faculty resources.
In the College of Nursing, ECU’s Doctor of Nursing Practice family nurse practitioner specialty is in the top 10 in the nation. At No. 9, ECU is one of only two UNC System schools (both in the top 10) in the ranking, which is based on qualitative peer assessment.
The overall Doctor of Nursing Practice at ECU ranks 40th of 158 institutions, placing it in the top 25% in the country. This is up from last year’s ranking of No. 74. ECU is one of only four nursing schools in the UNC System ranked. There are 15 distinct ranking factors that make up that score.
Other ECU nursing programs include nursing anesthesia at 19th of 140, placing it in the top 15% in the nation, and nursing midwifery, 10th of 36 (top 30%).
In the College of Allied Health Sciences, occupational therapy ranked 39th of 282, placing it in the top 15% of U.S. schools.
Other ECU allied health sciences’ ranked programs were audiology, 45th of 74 (top 60%); physician assistant studies, 58th of 206 (top 30%); physical therapy, 65th of 264 (top 25%); rehabilitation counseling, 33rd of 80 (top 45%); and speech-language pathology, 65th of 283 (top 25%).
Not all graduate programs are ranked by U.S. News every year. Many programs in the sciences and humanities are updated every two to four years.
Programs that are offered predominantly online are ranked and published by U.S. News at a different time of year.