U.S. News grad rankings show diverse strengths

A range of academic programs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison are again near the head of the class in national graduate school rankings released today (April 1) by U.S. News and World Report.

As part of the 2006 edition of America’s Best Graduate Schools, the magazine has provided new rankings on a large cross-section of disciplines, including business, education, engineering, law, medicine and the social sciences. Across the board, UW–Madison ranked in the upper echelon in those disciplines.

Highlights include UW–Madison’s sociology department receiving the nation’s No. 1 overall ranking. Other No. 1 specialty rankings this year went to curriculum and instruction and to women’s history.

“I am very pleased to see this kind of consistently strong showing across so many different programs,” says Martin Cadwallader, dean of the Graduate School. “We pride ourselves on a multidisciplinary approach to our teaching and research, and having across-the-board quality is a key to making those collaborations succeed.”

Cadwallader cautions that rankings such as these are one measure of the graduate school experience and shouldn’t be the only deciding factor for prospective students. He also notes that new rankings were not provided this year in some of UW–Madison’s historic areas of strength, such as the biological and physical sciences.

Some programs went up or down in the rankings slightly compared to past years, but there were no substantial moves. Medicine, for example, went from sixth in the nation in primary care to fourth this year, and clinical research moved from 29th to 26th. Pharmacy schools were ranked by the magazine for the first time, and UW–Madison’s program was ranked 11th.

The School of Education may have enjoyed the most far-reaching success in the rankings. Ranked ninth overall, its specialty degree programs all were among the nation’s best. They include curriculum and instruction (first), educational psychology (second), elementary education (second), secondary education (second), education policy (third), education administration (third), counseling (fourth), vocational and technical education (seventh), special education (10th) and higher education administration (12th).

“Of course, I am pleased that U.S. News continues to rank our School of Education and our individual core programs among the best in the United States,” says Charles Read, dean of the School of Education. “Such rankings, however, cannot provide a complete picture of any institution, so I prefer to focus attention on other, more significant indicators of excellence – for instance, the high quality of our graduates and our pre-eminent role in education research — and how we serve the people of Wisconsin and beyond.”

Pamela Oliver, chair of the Department of Sociology, says the department maintains its top national ranking by focusing on the intellectual environment.

“We don’t have the highest salaries or the best graduate stipends,” Oliver says, “but we attract and retain excellent people because they like being in an environment where quality is appreciated and people are well treated.”

Other UW–Madison rankings in the 2006 edition include:

• Psychology ranked ninth overall and also received national recognition for specialty programs in behavioral neuroscience (seventh), experimental psychology (ninth), developmental psychology (12th), cognitive psychology (16th) and social psychology (16th).
• Sociology, in addition to being No. 1 overall, had specialty rankings in social stratification (first), sociology of population (first), economic sociology (third), sex and gender (third), social psychology (fifth) and historical sociology (13th).
• History ranked 11th overall, and had specialty programs recognized in women’s history (first), African history (second), Latin American history (second), cultural history (seventh), modern U.S. history (seventh) and European history (10th).
• Economics ranked 11th overall, with specialties ranked in international economics (seventh), econometrics (10th), industrial organization (13th), labor economics (13th) and microeconomics (14th).
• English ranked 16th overall, with specialties ranked gender and literature (seventh), African-American literature (14th), American literature after 1865 (17th) and literary criticism and theory (17th).
• Political science ranked 16th overall, and its American politics and comparative politics specialties both were No. 12.
• The School of Business ranked 37th overall, while supply chain/logistics is 14th, marketing is 18th, production/operations is 20th, finance is 21st, executive MBA program is 22nd and accounting is ranked 23rd.
• The College of Engineering ranked 15th overall, with the program in nuclear engineering ranked second and chemical engineering fifth nationally. Also ranked are industrial engineering (11th), electrical engineering (15th), environmental engineering (15th), civil engineering (16th), materials science (17th), mechanical engineering (18th) and biomedical/bioengineering (27th).
• The School of Law ranked 32nd nationally.