'US News' doles out high honors to U. grad schools

The Wharton School of Business ranked third among business schools in the US News and World Report rankings. The annual US News and World Report rankings of America's best graduate schools went on sale yesterday, and many of the University's graduate programs placed at the top of their respective categories. For the second consecutive year, the Wharton Graduate School of Business ranked third in the US News survey of top business schools, receiving 99.1 out of a possible 100 points. The University's Nursing School also ranked third nationally, but the School of Medicine slipped from sixth to seventh place and the Law School fell from eighth to 11th place. Stanford University was once again rated the top business school in the country, followed closely by Harvard University and Wharton. The Sloan School of Business at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which placed second last year, slipped to fourth this year. "We're pleased with the rankings," Wharton Vice Dean Bruce Allen said. "We are once again in a statistical three-way dead heat, and the programs in the top tier are all very closely rated." Allen noted that fellow business school faculty members rated Wharton's Finance and Real Estate departments the best in the country. He said he was particularly pleased that Wharton placed among the top five programs in eight of the 11 academic categories. "This demonstrates the breadth of faculty talent that we have here as recognized by fellow faculty," he said. The Nursing School ranked third in the survey of top nursing programs, behind the University of California at San Francisco and the University of Washington. "We think it's a very good ranking," Nursing Dean Norma Lang said. "Our interest is remaining in the top tier, and we're right in there." The Law School fell from its ranking of eighth place last year to 11th place in the new rankings. "The rankings are as arbitrary this year as they were last year," Law School Dean Colin Diver said. "They seem to move around with little logic." Diver explained that the Law School received the highest ranking in its recent history last year, but the formula used to evaluate and compare different law schools keeps changing. "It's like shooting at a moving target," he said. The School of Medicine slipped from sixth to seventh place this year, and the Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Science placed 33rd -- a slight improvement over its 34th-place finish last year. In addition, the School of Veterinary Medicine ranked third, and the Schools of Education and Social Work both placed 18th. The survey also rated doctoral programs in specific fields within the Graduate Division of Arts and Sciences. The University's graduate programs in Architecture, Economics, English and Psychology all placed in the top 10 in their fields. US News also ranked the University's doctoral programs in Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Computer Science, History, Mathematics, Physics and Sociology within the top 25.