<p>Congratulations to Viterbi Graduate School of Engineering. They jumped up in the rankings by U.S. News to 7th in the U.S. tied with Cal Tech!</p>
<p>wooooooo! :D</p>
<p>How’d the Business School do?</p>
<p>Engineering:</p>
<p>[Rankings</a> - Best Engineering Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/rankings)</p>
<p>Business:</p>
<p>[Rankings</a> - Best Business Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/rankings)</p>
<p>Education:</p>
<p>[Rankings</a> - Best Education Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-education-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-education-schools/rankings)</p>
<p>Law:</p>
<p>[Rankings</a> - Best Law Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/rankings)</p>
<p>Med School Reasearch:</p>
<p>[University</a> of Southern California (Keck) - Best Medical Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/items/04013]University”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/items/04013)</p>
<p>Mulitmedia/Visual Arts</p>
<p>[Multimedia</a> / Visual Communications - Fine Arts - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-fine-arts-schools/multimedia-visual-communications]Multimedia”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-fine-arts-schools/multimedia-visual-communications)</p>
<p>Public Affairs:</p>
<p>[Public</a> Management Administration - Public Affairs - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-public-affairs-schools/public-management-administration]Public”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-public-affairs-schools/public-management-administration)</p>
<p>are undergraduate schools updated yet?</p>
<p>What were they last year? 9th?</p>
<p>Nevermind I just wiki’d it. They were 8th lol</p>
<p>GOGO engineering!</p>
<p>Very impressive for Public Affairs as well.</p>
<p>Also, I noticed when I was checking professors on the Marshall site that many of them actually went to Grad School at UCLA.</p>
<p>The rankings for undergraduate colleges comes out in August.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are no rankings by U.S. News for Cinema, Theatre, Music, Dentistry, Gerontology and Communications. All these schools are top notch, but are not ranked by the magazine.</p>
<p>It’s interesting to note GA Girl that USC ranked #7 for overall engineering:</p>
<ol>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Georgia Tech</li>
<li>Illinois</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>Caltech
7. USC</li>
<li>Michigan</li>
<li>Texas</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Purdue</li>
</ol>
<p>but, doesn’t break into the Top 10 for any of the individual engineering disciplines:</p>
<p>Aerospace / Aeronautical / Astronautical
Ranked in 2009
1 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 4.8
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 4.8
3 Stanford University Stanford, CA 4.7
4 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 4.3
4 Purdue University–West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN 4.3
4 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 4.3
7 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL 4.0
8 University of Texas–Austin (Cockrell) Austin, TX 3.8
9 Princeton University Princeton, NJ 3.7
9 University of Maryland–College Park (Clark) College Park, MD 3.7 </p>
<p>Chemical
Ranked in 2009
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 4.9
2 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA 4.8
3 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 4.7
3 University of Minnesota–Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN 4.7
5 Stanford University Stanford, CA 4.5
5 University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI 4.5
7 University of Texas–Austin (Cockrell) Austin, TX 4.4
8 Princeton University Princeton, NJ 4.3
9 University of California–Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 4.2
9 University of Delaware Newark, DE 4.2 </p>
<p>Computer Engineering
Ranked in 2009
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 4.9
1 Stanford University Stanford, CA 4.9
1 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA 4.9
4 Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 4.8
5 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL 4.6
6 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 4.4
7 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 4.3
7 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 4.3
9 Cornell University Ithaca, NY 4.1
9 University of Texas–Austin (Cockrell) Austin, TX 4.1 </p>
<p>Environmental / Environmental Health
Ranked in 2009
1 Stanford University Stanford, CA 4.6
1 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA 4.6
3 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL 4.3
4 University of Texas–Austin (Cockrell) Austin, TX 4.2
5 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 4.1
6 Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 4.0
6 Johns Hopkins University (Whiting) Baltimore, MD 4.0
6 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 4.0
9 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 3.8
9 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 3.8
9 University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 3.8
9 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 3.8 </p>
<p>Mechanical
Ranked in 2009
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 4.9
2 Stanford University Stanford, CA 4.8
3 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA 4.7
4 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 4.6
5 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 4.5
6 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 4.4
7 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL 4.4
8 Purdue University–West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN 4.2
9 Cornell University Ithaca, NY 4.1
10 Princeton University Princeton, NJ 4.0 </p>
<p>Biological / Agricultural
Ranked in 2009
1 Cornell University Ithaca, NY 4.7
1 Purdue University–West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN 4.7
3 Iowa State University Ames, IA 4.3
3 Texas A&M University–College Station (Look) College Station, TX 4.3
3 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL 4.3
6 North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC 3.9
7 University of Florida Gainesville, FL 3.8
7 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 3.8
9 Pennsylvania State University–University Park University Park, PA 3.6
9 University of Nebraska–Lincoln Lincoln, NE 3.6 </p>
<p>Biomedical / Bioengineering
Ranked in 2009
1 Johns Hopkins University (Whiting) Baltimore, MD 4.8
2 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 4.6
2 University of California–San Diego (Jacobs) La Jolla, CA 4.6
4 Duke University (Pratt) Durham, NC 4.4
5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 4.2
5 University of Washington Seattle, WA 4.2
7 Rice University (Brown) Houston, TX 4.1
7 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 4.1
9 Boston University Boston, MA 4.0
10 Stanford University Stanford, CA 3.9
10 Washington University in St. Louis (Sever) St. Louis, MO 3.9 </p>
<p>Civil
Ranked in 2009
1 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA 4.7
2 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL 4.6
3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 4.4
3 Stanford University Stanford, CA 4.4
3 University of Texas–Austin (Cockrell) Austin, TX 4.4
6 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 4.3
7 Purdue University–West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN 4.1
7 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 4.1
7 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 4.1
10 Cornell University Ithaca, NY 4.0 </p>
<p>Electrical / Electronic / Communications
Ranked in 2009
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 4.9
1 Stanford University Stanford, CA 4.9
1 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA 4.9
4 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL 4.7
5 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 4.6
6 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 4.4
7 Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 4.3
7 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 4.3
9 Cornell University Ithaca, NY 4.2
10 Purdue University–West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN 4.1
10 University of Texas–Austin (Cockrell) Austin, TX 4.1 </p>
<p>Industrial / Manufacturing
Ranked in 2009
1 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 4.9
2 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA 4.5
2 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 4.5
4 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA 4.2
5 Northwestern University (McCormick) Evanston, IL 4.1
5 Pennsylvania State University–University Park University Park, PA 4.1
5 Stanford University Stanford, CA 4.1
8 Cornell University Ithaca, NY 4.0
8 Texas A&M University–College Station (Look) College Station, TX 4.0
10 University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI 3.9 </p>
<p>Materials
Ranked in 2009
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 4.8
2 Northwestern University (McCormick) Evanston, IL 4.6
2 University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL 4.6
4 University of California–Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 4.5
5 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA 4.4
6 Stanford University Stanford, CA 4.2
6 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 4.2
8 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 4.1
8 Pennsylvania State University–University Park University Park, PA 4.1
10 University of Florida Gainesville, FL 4.0 </p>
<p>Nuclear
Ranked in 2009
1 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 4.8
2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 4.5
3 Texas A&M University–College Station (Look) College Station, TX 4.3
3 University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI 4.3
5 North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC 3.8
5 University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA 3.8
7 Pennsylvania State University–University Park University Park, PA 3.6
8 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 3.3
8 University of Florida Gainesville, FL 3.3
10 Oregon State University Corvallis, OR 3.1</p>
<p>My best guess would be because USC offers a more comprehensive and practical approach, avoiding over-specialization (which is good for one intent on pursuing research) and preparing one for employment or graduate study in a non-Engineering-related discipline (such as MBA). That is interesting though, UCBChemEGrad.</p>
<p>[Engineering</a> Program Rankings Methodology - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-graduate-schools/2009/04/22/engineering-program-rankings-methodology.html]Engineering”>http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-graduate-schools/2009/04/22/engineering-program-rankings-methodology.html)</p>
<p>Specialty Rankings: These rankings are based solely on assessments by department heads in each specialty area. Department heads in their specialty area rated the other schools that offered a doctoral degree in the specialty on a 5-point scale. Those schools with the highest average scores appear here. Names of department heads and the names of their respective engineering schools that grant a doctoral degree in that specific area came from the American Society for Engineering Education.</p>
<p>Specialty rankings were out of 55 schools with aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical engineering; 89 schools with bioengineering/biomedical engineering; 125 with chemical engineering; 143 with civil engineering; 142 with computer engineering; 170 with electrical/electronic/communications engineering; 94 with environmental/environmental health engineering; 73 with industrial manufacturing engineering; 90 with materials engineering; 164 with mechanical engineering; 25 with nuclear engineering; 26 with petroleum engineering.</p>
<p>it is because, like collegefrenzy said, specialty ranking is based solely on peer review (an area where USC traditionally struggles in rankings) On the other hand, USC climbs very high in the general rankings because of very high objective numbers that form other parts of the ranking.</p>
<p>For example, USC is #1 ranked in average research expenditures per faculty, per year at over $1,000,000 (MIT, #1 overall, only averages $659,000)</p>
<p>And, while I’m happy USC is getting some recognition, I still say that rankings are, at best, an incomplete subjective representation of a school. No hypocrisy here, I think it’s true whether USC is ranked high or not.</p>
<p>Similarly, USC ranked 20th in Business but is in the top 10 for these specialties:</p>
<p>Entrepreneurship:</p>
<p>[Entrepreneurship</a> - Best Business Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/entrepreneurship]Entrepreneurship”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/entrepreneurship)</p>
<p>Accounting:</p>
<p>[Accounting</a> - Best Business Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/accounting]Accounting”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/accounting)</p>
<p>International Business:</p>
<p>[International</a> - Best Business Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/international-business]International”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/international-business)</p>
<p>More Rankings:</p>
<p>Physical Therapy #1:</p>
<p>[Rankings</a> - Physical Therapy - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-physical-therapy-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-physical-therapy-schools/rankings)</p>
<p>Occupational Therapy #3:</p>
<p>[Rankings</a> - Occupational Therapy - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-occupational-therapy-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-occupational-therapy-schools/rankings)</p>
<p>Social Work #8:</p>
<p>[Rankings</a> - Social Work - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-social-work-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-social-work-schools/rankings)</p>
<p>Pharmacy #15 :</p>
<p>[Rankings</a> - Pharmacy - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-pharmacy-schools/rankings]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-pharmacy-schools/rankings)</p>
<p>Clinical Psychology #16:</p>
<p><a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-clinical-psychology-schools/rankings[/url]”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-clinical-psychology-schools/rankings</a></p>
<p>Ok I’m done now :o</p>
<p>That’s how they get #7 in engineering without any specialty in the top-10 and with both peer and recruiter assessments outside of top-25.</p>
<p>If anyone wants me to post the evidence, I’ll be gladly to.</p>
<p>That may be true, but look at other universities as well for undergrad. While I don’t have access to the rankings at the moment, I did in the past and I laughed out loud when UC Riverside has something like 90% of their students in the top 10% of their class. And UCSD at 98% or something ridiculous. So the UC’s are guilty too.</p>
<p>These rankings are imperfect. Take the Law school rankings of UCLA and USC for example, USC has higher average LSAT, higher % of students pass the local bar exam but ranks lower than UCLA because UCLA has high peer rankings.</p>
<p>In other news, universities pick weird ways of calculating numbers they send to US News. It’s naive to think USC is the only school who does this.</p>
<p>And besides, NAE membership is only 7.5% of the whole criteria. </p>
<p>Plus, this only reinforces my point. Garbage in, garbage out.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I did some research on that and found that UCLA and UCSB’s NAE numbers are also overstated by a lot. Basically, % NAE member correlates strongly with peer assessment scores; with that in mind, the ones with disportionally high % are the suspects and I found that UCLA/UCSB’s numbers were also significantly overstated. On the other hand, there’s no obvious overstatement for Stanford/Berkeley/MIT. Northwestern’s number also matches exactly with what’s on their website which reports both the active and emeritus and they count only the active full-time which is what the rule says. Including emeritus is the most common mistake.</p>
<p>NAE % is the easiest criteria to get overstated because any school can count anyone with some loose affliation (adjunct, part-time, emeritus, and even alum…) and that would inflate its numbers by tons.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>7.5% is a lot actually when the top-30 is separated by very little. Everything little thing counts and 7.5% is not small; when USC overstates and makes it the highest, they collect all that 7.5%. Think of it like Gymnastics; one fall and a 0.5 deduction is damaging when teams are separated by less than 1 full-point.</p>