Several graduate programs ranked high by U.S. News

Several academic programs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison ranked high in the 1998 rating of graduate programs released today (Feb. 20) by U.S. News & World Report.

UW–Madison finished 8th in education and placed high in several specialties: tied for 1st with Columbia in curriculum and instruction; 2nd in educational psychology; 3rd in the areas of administration, counseling, educational policy, elementary education and secondary education; and 8th in special education and in vocational/technical education.

In doctoral programs within some of the humanities and social sciences, UW–Madison was ranked:

• 1st in sociology, with specialty ratings of 1st in social stratification, 3rd in economic sociology, 5th in social psychology and 8th in historical sociology
• 10th in economics, with a specialty rating of 8th in public finance
• 11th in history overall and 1st in women’s history, 4th in modern U.S. history and 5th in Latin American history
• 12th in psychology overall and 9th in clinical psychology
• 14th in political science with specialty ratings of 9th in American politics and 10th in international politics
• 17th in English, including 10th in African-American literature and in gender and literature

The UW–Madison Medical School was ranked 11th in primary care. In the magazine’s first ranking of “public affairs” programs, UW–Madison finished 11th and took a specialty rating of 2nd in social policy behind Harvard.

The Engineering School at UW–Madison ranked 12th, with specialty ratings of 4th in chemical, 5th in nuclear, 8th in industrial/manufacturing and 9th in computer engineering.

Among health disciplines, UW–Madison ranked 1st in rehabilitation counseling, 1st in speech pathology (tie with Northwestern), 5th in audiology and 18th in nursing. The Law School was rated 37th.

“These high rankings are gratifying,” said UW–Madison Vice Chancellor John Torphy, “but rankings in U.S. News and other magazines – high or low – should be taken with a grain of salt. We feel that other reviews of graduate programs, such as the National Research Council (NRC), are more methodologically rigorous and accurate.”

In 1995 the NRC placed 16 UW–Madison doctoral programs in the nation’s top 10, and another 35 programs made the top 25. The survey asks nearly 8,000 faculty members around the country to rank 41 different fields at 274 doctorate-granting universities.