Graduate School Rankings

Class Location: The Internet.

Description: This course is designed to give students an overview of the world of institutional rankings.

Objective: Find out how important rankings really are, and who ranks them.

The topic of graduate school rankings is a hotbed of controversy in U.S. higher education. Some people like them; some don’t. The proponents claim the rankings help students muddle through the multitude of schools and programs. And naturally, the well-ranked schools like them, since they help attract students. The detractors believe the rankings emphasize the more quantitative and less important attributes like test scores and deemphasize the more qualitative and more important elements, such as the quality of the instructors.

Leading the ranking game are the annual directories published by U.S. News & World Report. The company annually reviews the top professional and graduate programs. Business, law, and medical schools are reviewed annually using peer reviews and measurable factors like the number of graduates who passed the bar exam. The company reviews other programs, such as dentistry or education, less frequently and in less detail.

Other reviews come from professional organizations that provide lists of programs in their fields. These can provide a useful tool for getting started when researching graduate school programs. But look carefully at the source of these rankings and the specific information each list provides. Some might be just a list of programs; others might come from the opinions of a small group of people within the company.

Depending on the field of study, rankings can vary in their usefulness. Programs like business, law, and medicine are very similar across schools, and some schools present the material better than others and offer higher-quality instructors and facilities. For less-standardized programs, like those in social sciences or liberal arts, programs vary so greatly from school to school that comparisons are difficult and less useful. Even peer review is subjective, since different professionals might have differing opinions on what makes a good program.

Regardless of the field of study, glean what you can from the rankings, but select a grad school program based on your individual interests, goals, and needs.