U.S. News and World Report recently published the rankings of graduate programs for 2003, and the University's graduate schools held on to their high positions.
The U.S. News annual rankings often are a starting point for prospective graduate students researching schools and are based upon qualifications specific to each discipline, such as post-graduation employment rate, passage of the bar exam and number of National Institute of Health research grants received.
This year the Darden School was the only source of great change, moving five spots up to 10th place. The business school's rankings have fluctuated in recent years.
The Law School stayed at its previous rank of number seven, and is once again the University's top ranked graduate program.
The Curry School and the Engineering School kept their previous rankings of 19 and 35, respectively, while the School of Medicine moved up one place to 27.
U.S. News also released the rotating Ph.D. program evaluations, assessing the sciences this year. The College's computer science program was placed at 27, biological sciences at 36, physics at 38 and chemistry at 47.
University Spokeswoman Louise Dudley said these programs are traditionally ranked lower than other University graduate programs because of their relatively small size.
Ph.D. rankings are based entirely upon reputation surveys distributed to experts in each field, so those programs not located in large research universities often are overlooked due to less exposure, Dudley said.
Although the rankings can bring clout to the University, the numbers do not tell the whole story. U.S. News and World Report provides a jumping-off point for anyone interested in attending graduate school, but it is ultimately the program quality that brings students to the University, Dudley said.
Recent budget cuts are a concern for many people in the University community, but they should not be reflected in the future ranking of University graduate programs. Unlike the undergraduate version of the rankings, financial resources do not play a part in evaluating graduate programs, she said.
University President John T. Casteen III also said he believes the quality of graduate education will not be affected.
"In the past, faculty have reacted to state budget cuts by making departments and programs stronger," Casteen said.
"Budget cuts hurt with regard to faculty salaries, which have some bearing on success in hiring top people, stipends paid to graduate students, and so on, but experience so far has been that faculty work has been the single most important determinant of excellence," he said.
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