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Bob Calverley and Zsa Zsa Gershick
The 1999 US News and World Report Annual Guide to Best Graduate Schools has ranked USC’s schools of engineering, business, law, medicine and education among the nation’s leading graduate schools.
The USC School of Engineering’s graduate program made an impressive jump, rising from 16th last year to a tie this year (with the University of Wisconsin) for 12th place.
“I am very pleased with our steady increase in the rankings over the past five years,” said Leonard M. Silverman, dean of the engineering school. “Driving this has been our extraordinary ability to attract external research funding.”
Indeed. USC led all graduate engineering schools with an average of $752,700 in research funding for each member of the faculty, almost $150,000 ahead of the next school (University of New Mexico) in this category. In total 1998 research expenditures, USC ranked ninth among graduate engineering schools; the Information Sciences Institute has been a major contributor to this ranking.
“Another significant reason for our improved ranking is the increasing quality of our faculty, as evidenced by the number who are members of National Academy of Engineering,” said Silverman. “We’re currently seventh, with 11.9 percent of our faculty in the academy.”
Silverman said that his school’s high-quality faculty is especially productive in graduate education. With 4.8 Ph.D. students per faculty member, the school trails only UC Berkeley in the Ph.D. student-faculty ratio.
“The university should be very proud of the engineering school’s accomplishment, especially since engineering plays such a significant role in the country’s economic future,” said Neal Sullivan, vice provost for research. He noted that the engineering school is conducting key research on the next-generation Internet as a result of initiatives from the White House.
“I think the increase in rankings points to the importance of integrating the research capability of USC engineering with natural sciences, physical science and basic medical science as in USC’s strategic planning activities,” Sullivan said.
President Steven B. Sample praised the school and its leaders.
“As both president of USC and a member of the engineering school’s faculty, I’m delighted by the increasing recognition for the school,” Sample said. “The new ranking is a wonderful affirmation of the school’s people and programs. It’s also a testament to the hard work of Dean Silverman, who has provided exemplary leadership during a time of dramatic technological change.”
The Schools of Business, Law, Education and Medicine
The USC Marshall School of Business was ranked among the top 25 graduate business schools, weighing in at No. 23. The guide gave the Marshall School’s graduate programs in entrepreneurship and accounting special mention, ranking them sixth and eighth in the nation, respectively. The school’s part-time and executive MBA programs were ranked 10th in the nation.
In other tallies, the Law School was ranked 18th nationally, and the USC Rossier School of Education this year placed at 31st. (In last year’s rankings, the Rossier School was also ranked 10th in post-secondary education, a specialty not assessed this year.)
The USC School of Medicine ranked in the top third of the 124 accredited medical schools in the United States, placing 36th, in a tie with University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and Oregon Health Sciences University.
All schools – regardless of discipline – are evaluated using objective data, plus two sets of reputational ratings. Objective data includes research activity, student selectivity and faculty resources. The reputational score, which
counts for 40 percent of the ranking score, is measured by surveying school deans and senior faculty and, in a separate survey, residency program directors.
For medical schools, research activity is determined by the amount of National Institutes of Health research grants awarded to the school and its affiliated hospitals. Student selectivity is based on a combination of three academic factors: average MCAT scores, undergraduate GPA and the proportion of applicants accepted into the program. Faculty resources considers the ratio of full-time science and clinical faculty to full-time students.
“Rankings can help a student understand the various areas of strength in each medical school,” said Erin Quinn, associate dean of admissions. “However, what it doesn’t provide is a sense of the educational experience, as ranked by the students, or the amount of exposure to clinical medicine early on, which are important factors for prospective students to consider.”
The Guide this year did not rank certain specialties in which USC has placed highly in previous years.
Last year, the USC department of occupational science and occupational therapy was ranked No. 1 in the nation among 39 graduate educational programs. This was the first time that U.S. News & World Report had ranked OT programs.
Also last year, continuing a long-standing tradition, the USC School of Cinema-Television was again ranked No. 1, tying for the top spot with New York University.
In 1998, the School of Policy, Planning, and Development ranked eighth in the nation, tying with the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and Carnegie Mellon University. That same year, the School of Social Work was again ranked
eighth in the nation, and the USC Thornton School of Music was ranked 12th, again tying with the Manhattan School of Music in New York.
In 1997, the USC School of Pharmacy ranked 18th. In 1996, the USC program in broadcast journalism was singled out as No. 11 in the nation. In 1995, the master of physical therapy program was ranked second among the nation’s programs in that field.
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