GRADUATE AND RESEARCH PROGRAMS
Customized Graduate Program Rankings
[http://graduate-school.phds.org/]
Methodology: An explanation of the methods used in this ranking can be found on the opening page.
Using data taken from the National Research Council's print publication Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States: Continuity and Change, this site offers users the opportunity to customize the NRC's rankings of science, engineering, humanities and social science departments. One can assign varying weights to ranking criteria and generate lists more closely matching an individual's personal requirements in a graduate department. For an overview of the National Research Council study, please see the Research-Doctorate Programs web page for an overview of the National Research Council study, or the Executive Summary for a delineation of the study's methodology.
National Doctoral Program Survey, 2000
[http://cresmet.asu.edu/nagps/]
Methodology: An explanation of their methods used can be found on a page titled Survey Methods.
This site contains the results of the 2000 National Doctoral Program Survey collected by the National Association of Graduate-Professional Students (NAGPS). It is based upon best practices in doctoral education, as recommended by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council, and the Association of American Universities, among others. Rankings of programs are based on the findings and include the fields of Education, Engineering, Humanities, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Professional Programs, Social Sciences. Each field is further divided into more specific programs.
The Philosophical Gourmet Report: Ranking of Graduate Programs in Philosophy in the English Speaking World
[http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/]
Methodology: An explanation of this site's methodology can be found on a page titled Methods and Criteria.
This site has much to offer both to philosophy students and faculty as well as to individuals generally interested in rankings. Prospective philosophy students will find a treasure trove of information at this site which ranks graduate programs in philosophy in the United States. Separate, although smaller, lists give the rankings for universities in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Detailed descriptions of departmental strengths are given, along with listings of "up and coming" departments, faculty moves, and graduates' job placements. A very thoughtful discussion titled What the rankings mean is presented. This discussion, along with the site's thoughtful quality and care of design, makes the Philosophical Gourmet Report invaluable to students of rankings.
The Princeton Review's Top Twenty Graduate Engineering Programs
[ http://www.princetonreview.com/grad/research/articles/find/engineering.asp ]
Methodology: The programs were "ranked using a combination of quantitative criteria, including GRE scores, undergraduate GPA, percentage of applicants accepted and percentage of top undergraduates applying."
This site provides rankings for the top twenty graduate engineering programs in the US. It also provides links to the schools' profile including statistics on students and faculty, admission requirements and financial aid information.
Social Psychology Network: NRC Ranking of U.S. Psychology Ph.D. Programs
[http://www.socialpsychology.org/ranking.htm]
Methodology: Uses the "quality score" from the 1995 study conducted by the National Research Council published by the APS Observer in January, 1996.
Social Psychology Network uses the rankings from National Research Center's Rankings of U.S Psychology Ph.D. Programs (1995) to display the top 185 psychology Ph.D. programs in the U.S. This site also links to other national and international rankings in various psychology related programs.
StudentsReview.com: Graduate School
[http://grad.studentsreview.com/]
Methodology: This site offers an explanation of its rankings on a page titled Rankings Methodology
This site provides ratings and critiques of universities based on surveys collected from undergraduate and graduate students. The participants evaluate their universities based on questions in three categories: Department, University, and Social/Interactive. Please note that this is not a scientific sampling, but offers anecdotal reviews (positive and negative) of universities.
Top American Research Universities
[http://mup.asu.edu/research.html]
Methodology: The rankings methodology is located in the rankings PDF.
This report identifies the top public and private research universities in the United States based upon nine quality measures. Universities are clustered and ranked according to total and federal research funding, endowment assets, annual giving, National Academy membership, prestigious faculty awards, doctorates awarded, postdoctoral appointees, and SAT scores of entering freshmen. Also available are lists of the top 200 public and private universities on each quality measure. The site includes other reports and resources on measuring university performance. The report and web-based data are updated annually in mid-summer.
Top Research Universities
[http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/overall.asp]
Methodology: This site offers an explanation of its methodology in its opening paragraphs.
The information presented in these rankings is a companion to the Philosophical Gourmet Report and ranks the leading research universities in the United States. The universities are ranked according to the overall quality of the universities although the scope and number of programs factors into the score as well. The rankings are based on U.S. News and World Report academic reputation survey.
Top Research Universities Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index
[http://chronicle.com/stats/productivity/]
Methodology: An explanation of the methods used in this ranking can be found on the opening page.
This index compiles overall institutional rankings on 375 universities that offer the Ph.D. degree. Productivity of faculty members can be judged on as many as five factors, depending on the most important variables in the given discipline: books published; journal publications; citations of journal articles; federal-grant dollars awarded; and honors and awards. Prior year's data is also available.
U.S. News and World Report Graduate School Rankings
[http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/rankindex_brief.php]
Methodology: U.S. News offers an explanation of its rankings here: The ranking methodology. Additionally, some of the individual subject areas also have separate pages concerning methods (e.g. business, education, engineering, etc.). These discipline-specific pages are listed here.
The most recent rankings of graduate programs in several disciplines were released in 2005. The rankings are presented along with the methodology used to generate them. This site also contains links to general information about admittance to graduate school, test information, and articles about schools and programs noted in the survey. Be sure to check our Caution and Controversy section for additional information about U.S. News' ranking methods.
Wall Street Journal’s Top 50 Feeder Schools
[http://www.collegejournal.com/special/top50feeder.pdf]
Methodology: Fifteen graduate schools, 5 from each of the programs in medicine, law and business, were selected as the “best” graduate schools by consensus of grad-school deans and top-recruiters combined with published graduate school rankings. These graduate schools were monitored to see where the 5,100 incoming graduate students obtained their undergraduate degrees, factoring in the size of the undergraduate institution in the overall "feeder score."
These rankings were created to show which top 50 undergraduate universities were sending (aka feeding) more students to the selected 15, elite graduate school programs in medicine (Columbia, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, University of California San Francisco, Yale), law (Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, Michigan and Yale ) and business (Chicago, Dartmouth's Tuck School, Harvard, MIT's Sloan School and Penn's Wharton School ). For more information see the related article "Want to go to Harvard Law?" by Elizabeth Bernstein published in the Wall Street Journal, September 23, 2003, page W.1.
