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UW-Madison fares well in latest U.S. News rankings

March 31, 2006 By Brian Mattmiller

The breadth of quality graduate programs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is evident in the latest academic rankings released today by U.S. News and World Report, which placed 33 UW–Madison programs among the nation’s top ten.

The 2007 issue of America’s Best Graduate Schools covered schools of business, engineering, education, medicine, law, library studies and a broad category of the sciences. The magazine also ranks specific programs within each of these disciplines.

“We are delighted to see that so many of our programs continue to be recognized as among the best in the nation,” says interim provost Virginia Sapiro. “These rankings can give prospective students a good idea about how strong we are across the sciences and in many professional fields, but I would encourage them to investigate our university Web site to get a richer idea of what our great programs offer. Rankings are just one of many factors to consider when looking for the ideal graduate program.”

The rankings are:

  • The School of Business is ranked 31st overall, up from No. 37 a year ago.
  • The School of Education is ranked seventh in the nation, up from ninth in last year’s rankings. The school also had scores of specialty programs in the top ten, including: administration (No. 1); counseling (No. 7); curriculum and instruction (No. 1); educational psychology (No. 1); education policy (No. 3); elementary education (No. 2); secondary education (No. 2); special education (No. 10); and vocational/technical education (No. 7).
  • The College of Engineering ranked 15th overall, the same as last year. College programs in chemical engineering (fifth overall) and nuclear engineering (third overall) also made national top ten lists.
  • The School of Medicine was ranked the 28th best school for research, down from 26th in the 2005 rankings. In separate rankings of primary care programs, the school ranked sixth this year, compared to fourth in 2005. Also, family medicine is ranked as the third best program in the nation.
  • The School of Law was ranked 32nd overall, identical to last year’s ranking.
  • Library and Information Studies was ranked 11th overall, while its program in archives and preservation was ranked eighth and its services for children and youth program was ranked fifth.
  • Biological sciences was ranked 12th overall, the same as its last ranking in 2002. It also had the eighth best program in ecology/evolutionary biology and the third best program in microbiology.
  • Chemistry was ranked seventh overall, up from its last ranking of eighth in 2002, with top specialties in analytical (fourth), biochemistry (sixth), inorganic (eighth), organic (eighth), physical (eighth) and theoretical (ninth).
  • Computer science was ranked the ninth best program in the nation, up one point from its last ranking of 10th in 2002. It had top ten specialties in programming language (10th) and systems (seventh).
  • The earth sciences were ranked 15th overall, while the geology specialty receiving a ninth overall ranking.
  • Mathematics was ranked 14th overall, down from its last ranking of 13th in 2002, while the algebra specialty was ranked ninth, the logic program ranked fourth and the statistics program ranked fourth.
  • Physics received a No. 16 ranking, the same as its 2002 spot, while the plasma physics specialty was ranked fourth in the nation.