UC's College of Allied Health Sciences earns notable standings in grad school rankings

Several programs in the University of Cincinnati’s College of Allied Health Sciences (CAHS) have earned notable standings in the U.S. News & World Report 2025 Best Graduate Schools rankings.

These highly regarded rankings, which are designed to help students research more than 2,000 graduate programs, reflect peer assessments of academic quality, with scores calculated based on surveys conducted in the fall of 2024 and early 2025.

Rankings are determined by the average of ratings each program receives, with respondents rating peer programs on a scale of academic quality from 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding). Here’s how CAHS performed:

Though these rankings are subjective in nature, they provide the college with a way to measure how its programs compare to peer institutions and identify opportunities for improvement.

“Whenever we’re assessed in some way, whether our rankings move up or down, it gives us an opportunity to look at how we could be more innovative,” says CAHS Dean Charity Accurso, PhD. “Our program directors are very dedicated to quality improvement, and this is just one of the different metrics we can use to help us continue improving our programs for our students.”

A few specific quality improvement methods that the college continues to focus on include strategically restructuring program curriculum, increasing experiential learning opportunities for students on and off-campus and launching new graduate programs.

To maintain comprehensive curriculum models that set up students for success after graduation while balancing rising student debt concerns, the college has revised several of its programs’ curriculum to enable students to reach graduation sooner, save money and enter the workforce faster.

In 2021, the Doctor of Audiology program debuted a streamlined nine-semester model, reducing students’ time to graduation by one year. The curriculum was also restructured to strategically pair sequenced didactic coursework with relevant practicum rotations to better prepare students for real-world clinical experiences.  

“We shortened the time frame, but we also became much more efficient,” says Katie Russell, AuD, associate professor, audiology program director and director of clinical education for audiology. “Students are learning content in the classroom while simultaneously gaining hands-on practice applying their knowledge in clinical rotations.”

Likewise, in the summer of 2023, after reviewing best practices, benchmarking against peer programs and forecasting future workforce needs, the Doctor of Physical Therapy program moved from a nine-semester model to an eight-semester program.

Experiential learning opportunities are an integral component of the graduate programs within CAHS. As a result, students typically graduate with more clinical hours than required, making them well-rounded clinicians, Russell says. Students in the Doctor of Audiology program, for example, gain exposure to clinical settings across the scope of practice through three off-campus clinical rotations during their second year in the program, and then they fine tune their skills through a full-time, yearlong clinical externship during their final year.

CAHS also helps students gain clinical exposure before they even step off campus. During their first year of the Doctor of Audiology program, students spend time developing basic skills and confidence while working in the UC Speech and Hearing Clinic, which is housed in the Health Sciences Building on UC’s medical campus. At the clinic, audiology and speech-language pathology students work together to treat patients of all ages, offering a variety of speech, language and hearing services that range from basic screenings to highly specialized treatment of complex conditions.

“Our on-campus clinic plays a pivotal role in the learning journey because it ensures that students develop baseline knowledge and skills that they can grow as they work with patients off-campus during their practicum rotations,” Russell says.

Similarly, students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program can practice applying what they’ve learned in the classroom at the DPT Clinic, a student-run clinic that provides free care to patients who are uninsured or underinsured. Integrated into the DPT program’s curriculum, the clinic was the result of several years and countless hours of research, interviews, planning and partnering with university officials, faculty and students across campus.

In addition to increasing the pipeline of students entering its programs, CAHS is focused on building comprehensive learning pathways that enable students to progress their education and clinical experiences all the way through the undergraduate and graduate levels.

“We’re often looking at how we can keep Bearcats being Bearcats,” Accurso says. “We want to provide students with ample opportunities to thrive right here at UC, and one way we can do that is by helping them advance their learning and professional careers.”

This fall, the college will welcome the first cohort to its online Doctor of Clinical Laboratory Science program, which is designed to prepare students for highly complex laboratory positions in higher education, government and clinical settings. With the addition of this program, CAHS will offer a full pathway for medical laboratory science, which includes a Bachelor’s in Medical Laboratory Science and a Master of Science in Medical Laboratory Science Leadership.

Next fall, the college will launch a Clinical Doctorate in Speech-Language Pathology, a two-year, part-time online program that will prepare students for leadership opportunities and advanced clinical practice experiences. Students will have the option to select one of two curriculum tracks (health care or education).

After a successful site visit for accreditation in June, the college is one step closer to transitioning its occupational therapy program from a master’s to a doctorate program, with the first cohort of students expected to graduate next spring. The Doctor of Occupational Therapy program is designed to prepare students for all areas of occupational therapy practice from pediatrics and rehabilitation to gerontology and mental health.