As usual, Michigan did very well, but there was one disappointment:
Business
Ross MBA remained at #11, tied with Stern. Its reputation scores also remained the same (4.4/5.0 according to peers and 4.0/5.0 according to recruiters). In subfields, Ross cracked the top 10 in Finance, and improved slightly to #3 in Management/Strategy.
Top MBA programs based on reputational ratings (average between peer and recruiter over 4.0):
Harvard Business School 4.7/5.0 (average starting salary and bonus, $145,0000
Stanford Business School 4.7/5.0 ($143,000)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan 4.6/5.0 ($143,000)
University of Pennsylvania Wharton 4.6/5.0 ($143,000)
University of Chicago Booth 4.55 ($138,000)
Northwestern University Kellogg 4.5/5.0 ($136,000)
University of California-Berkeley Haas 4.35/5.0 ($141,000)
Columbia Business School 4.3/5.0 ($139,000)
Duke University Fuqua 4.2/5.0 ($137,000)
University of Michigan Ross 4.2/5.0 ($140,000)
Yale School of Management 4.2/5.0 ($127,000)
Dartmouth College Amos Tuck 4.1/5.0 ($142,000)
New York University Stern 4.1/5.0 ($136,000)
University of Virginia Darden 4.1/5.0 ($136,000)
Engineering
The CoE graduate school ranking improved to #6 (from #8 last year), tied with Georgia Tech, UIUC and Purdue. Its reputational ratings remained identical (4.4/5.0 according to peers and 4.1/5.0 according to recruiters). In the 12 specialities, Michigan remained in or around the top 5 in almost each of them except for Biomedical (#12), Chemical (#12) and Materials (#10).
Top Graduate Engineering programs based on reputational ratings (average between peer and recruiter over 4.0)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4.85/5.0
Stanford University 4.75
University of California-Berkeley 4.6/5.0
California Institute of Technology 4.55/5.0
Georgia Institute of Technology 4.45/5.0
University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign 4.4/5.0
Carnegie Mellon University 4.3/5.0
University of Michigan 4.25/5.0
Purdue University-West Lafayette 4.2/5.0
Cornell University 4.15/5.0
University of Texas-Austin 4.1/5.0
Law
For the first time ever, Michigan law dropped out of the top 10. It was ranked #11. Its reputational scores remained the same, however, and relatively high (4.4/5.0 according to peers and 4.6/5.0 according to Lawyers and Judges). Only Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Columbia and Chicago have higher reputational ratings.
Top Law Schools based on reputational ratings (average between peer and lawyers/judges rating over 4.0)
Harvard Law School 4.8/5.0
Stanford Law School 4.8/5.0
Yale Law School 4.8/5.0
Chicago Law School 4.65/5.0
Columbia Law School 4.65/5.0
NYU Law School 4.5/5.0
Michigan Law School 4.5/5.0
UC Berkeley Law School 4.45/5.0
Pennsylvania Law School 4.4/5.0
Virginia Law School 4.4/5.0
Duke Law School 4.35/5.0
Cornell Law School 4.25/5.0
Georgetown Law School 4.25/5.0
Northwestern Law School 4.25/5.0
Texas Law School 4.1/5.0
UCLA Law School 4.0/5.0
Medicine
Michigan medical school returned to the top 10 (it dropped to #12 last year), tied with Chicago at #10. Again, its reputational scores remain relatively high (4.3/5.0 according to peers and 4.5/5.0 according to residency directors).
Top Medical Schools based on reputational ratings (average between peer and residency directors rating over 4.0)
That is too bad about the Law School. What concerns me is the downward trend from Michigan’s one-time rating of #3. My son is deciding between Michigan and Duke law schools and has been leaning towards Michigan. It looks like Duke made a big leap, but in reality when it broke the tie with Michigan at #10 it went up to a three-way tie at #8. So it jumped 3 over Michigan by really going up one. Well, he will be attending admitted students sessions at both schools and we will see what he decides. Rankings are what they are but I when you are right in the middle of a decision you hate to see the downward trend. Glad the “reputational” rating remains high but you wonder whether that is a lag from prior higher ratings.
Actually 2135ar, Michigan Law was once ranked #2! At any rate, Harvard, Stanford and Yale are currently the best, closely followed by Chicago and Columbia. The remaining 9 T14 Law schools are all roughly the same in terms of quality.
I would not call it a decline, but the cause is well known. In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Michigan’s law faculty was arguably the best in the nation. By 1990, most of those brilliant scholars were retired. Michigan is no longer declining, but it has dropped a notch, from being clearly a top 3 Law school to now being a T14 school. Michigan peer rating and lawyer/judges rating has not changed in over a decade. There was also a Big Law rating recently, and Michigan was #4 according to that rating. There is no doubt that Michigan law dropped a little, but there is also no doubt that it remains one of the most well regarded law schools in the nation. Like I said, there is virtually no difference between #6 and #14, and Michigan clearly falls in that group.
Thanks Alexandre. It is just a little concerning when getting ready to send in that acceptance deposit, particular with worrying that it will drop further. As a practical matter, the job opportunities will likely be the same.
The legal library is magnificent and the research is probably top five: http://www.collegerank.net/amazing-college-libraries Michigan takes a bit of an employment and therefore ranking shot due to the midwestern location. But, even given the location, they have a huge number of recruiters visit. I think the number of unique recruiters is around 700.
I agree blue85. I think other factors that hurt Michigan’s law ranking is the student to professor ratio. Most T14 law schools have a 10:1 ratio, Michigan’s is 12:1. The difference is insignificant, but the US News tends to take those minute differences and magnifies them. Also, given its location, Michigan Law is unable to attract students with the same academic credentials as those enrolling at Chicago, Columbia and NYU. For all these reasons, Michigan has dropped out of the top 3 or top 5 law schools, and will probably not return to such a lofty ranking anytime soon.
That being said, Michigan Law has a very strong reputation (top 5 or 6 according to all academic and professional surveys), and has the resources (financial, faculty and library) to remain among the very best law schools for the foreseeable future.
Usnews is ranking all engineering disciplines together. Biomedical engineering and Nuclear engineering are ranked together in an overall ranking. This is meaningless. Some of these disciplines never collaborate. They have nothing to do with each other.
I once went to an info session with the chair of EE at Michigan. Any student in the dept could attend and students got to ask him questions about the dept. Somebody asked him about the EE usnews ranking. He said he fills his ranking out and submits it, but he had concerns. His concern was that the ranking lags reality by several years. For example, a dept could hire a number of great new faculty and get major grants, but this won't be reflected in the usnews ranking. It will take several years for the rest of the community to notice.
Alexandre: largely agree with your points. Further thoughts: Michigan is probably slightly more liberal in atmosphere than average…to that extent it attracts kids who are interested in environmental law, public service elements of the legal profession, as well as filling many clerkship. While the school places a pretty large cohort into BigLaw, the school is less geared for that orientation than some other schools. While the kids matriculating at Yale probably have slightly higher GPAs and boards, the flavor is similar is terms of displaying an academic rather then commercial bent in terms of expected career trajectory.
Jack33: it is hard to know what is more appalling: 1) publications like USN&WR being allowed to create such moronic metrics; 2) schools knuckling under to those metrics and allowing USN&WR to earn monopoly rents; 3) schools taking the next and rational step to defend their ranking/reputation/funding by gaming that construct.
The USC approach seems a bit shameful, but the overall system has become pretty silly: most such studies study inputs, not outputs, and don’t in any sense, measure meaningful outcomes. When UM does well, I applaud the rankings, when they do poorly, I boo and hiss. The fact is that the top 5 and great entities in any field are the dominant winner-take-most players, the next 5 are good to great and perpetually scrapping the next 10 are very strong, and the rest are also ran players.
UM is a great school and given its size and public nature, probably generally underranked, but bottom line is none of these rankings should be believed or taken solely at face value…they are mostly self-confirming and biased and not to be taken seriously. The goals should be to keep the funding from all sources rolling in, to get the class metrics up, to get post-graduate salaries and job fulfillment up, and to let the rankings take care of themselves.
I don’t think the qualify of the education one gets at a school is really reflected by the rankings of closely ranked schools (#8 versus #11) although they most likely do with larger differences (top #10s provide better education if only by quality of students than those ranked #30 to #40). But rankings do have an impact. If Michigan were still #3 it would most likely get some students with higher credentials than being #11, which would itself affect rankings. With my son deciding between Duke and Michigan Law I cannot say I was not somewhat affected by the schools tie at #10 changing this week to Duke #8 (tie) and Michigan #11. I don’t really think it affects quality of school but might affect reputation. I just want him to make the right decision even though I realize he cannot really go wrong. He is leaning pretty heavily towards Michigan, by the way, but will be visiting both schools in the next two weeks.
2135ar, visiting Michigan will only strengthen your son’s resolve to attend! The law school is really gorgeous.
“Michigan is probably slightly more liberal in atmosphere than average…to that extent it attracts kids who are interested in environmental law, public service elements of the legal profession, as well as filling many clerkship. While the school places a pretty large cohort into BigLaw, the school is less geared for that orientation than some other schools. While the kids matriculating at Yale probably have slightly higher GPAs and boards, the flavor is similar is terms of displaying an academic rather then commercial bent in terms of expected career trajectory.”
blue85, you are absolutely correct. Michigan and Yale law do not place as high a percentage of their graduates in Big Law. That being said, Yale and Michigan Law schools are still very highly rated by Big Law (Yale among the top 3 and Michigan among the top 5).
Thanks for all your comments Alexandre. My son has already seen the law school at Michigan; his brother is a freshman at South Quad (and will live there next year) and I am a graduate of the School of Music (although I am a so-called BigLaw lawyer now). He likes the idea of living in the law quad with other students as opposed to Duke, which has no housing and students need a car. I was criticized on a Law School forum for considering living accommodations because “it is not undergrad” but it seems to me if the schools are essentially equal, the atmosphere of living and eating with the other students (especially for someone who is not particularly social like my son) is a valid consideration.
Duke and Michigan law schools are both elite, but I think life in Ann Arbor trumps life in Durham. And if your other son is already studying and living across the street from the Law Quad, then it makes Michigan all the more appealing.
Michigan Law is world famous regardless how a particular league table would rank it. All the t-14 all are. I would not see it inferior to Columbia or Chicago. There’s no clear distinction between them. That said, Yale and Harvard are the kings of law education. Stanford is a clear 3rd. Bt getting out of Michigan Law will get you places where many Yale/Harvard law grads have access to.
UCB, the Times academic reputation ranking has Michigan #12 among US universities. Which is consistent with most academic reputation ratings that I have seen. I cannot complain about that.
The law school is really gorgeous.