Baylor Programs Ranked in U.S. News Grad School Survey
Follow us on Twitter: @BaylorUMediaCom
Baylor University graduate programs in law, business, health disciplines, the sciences and education were among those nationally ranked in the 2012 edition of "America's Best Graduate Schools" as ranked by U.S.News & World Report.
Highlights of the rankings will be published in the Best Graduate Schools 2012 edition book, available April 5, 2011.
Each year, U.S. News ranks professional-school programs in business, education, engineering, law and medicine. These rankings are based on two types of data: expert opinions about program excellence and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research and students. The data come from surveys of administrators at more than 1,200 programs and some 13,000 academics and professionals, conducted during the fall of 2010 and early 2011.
Baylor Law School
Baylor Law School moved up eight places to No. 56 in the magazine's "Top Schools" listing for 2012, tied with the University of Connecticut, University of Houston and University of Tennessee-Knoxville. In the law specialties rankings, Baylor's trial advocacy program rose to third best in the nation.
Only four other Texas law schools joined Baylor in the Top Schools list - the University of Texas at Austin at No. 14, Southern Methodist University at No. 50, the University of Houston at No. 56 (tied with Baylor) and Texas Tech University at No. 114.
Among Big 12 universities, UT-Austin, the University of Colorado (No. 47) and Baylor are the three highest-ranked law schools, followed by Oklahoma (71), Kansas (79), Nebraska at (84), Missouri (107) and Texas Tech.
In addition, Baylor was rated No. 50 in an inaugural U.S. News survey that ranked law schools based on the opinions of recruiters and hiring partners at the nation's most highly regarded law firms. The ranking is based solely on the results of a fall 2010 reputation survey that asked respondents to rate the academic quality of each law school.
The rankings of 190 law schools fully accredited by the American Bar Association are based on a weighted average of the 12 measures of quality, such as assessments by deans, faculty, lawyers and judges; selectivity; and placement success. Data were collected in fall 2010 and early 2011. Specialty rankings are based solely on nominations by legal educators at peer institutions.
Baylor's Hankamer School of Business
Baylor's Hankamer School of Business tied with two schools at No. 60 among the 69 top-rated master's programs in business accredited by AACSB International. In all, 437 MBA programs were surveyed in fall 2010 and early 2011, with the survey methodology focusing on quality assessment by peers and recruiters, placement success and student selectivity.
Baylor Health Disciplines
Several Baylor graduate programs in the health disciplines continue to be highly rated by U.S. News.
The Baylor-U.S. Army master's degree program in health administration moved up nine places to rank 11th best in the country, along with Boston University and Johns Hopkins University. Baylor-U.S. Army health programs are operated at the Academy of Health Sciences at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.
The master's degree program in nursing at Baylor's Louise Herrington School of Nursing in Dallas, moved up eight places in the latest U.S. News rankings to 64th best in the country, tied with 14 other programs.
Other Baylor health programs were cited by U.S. News, although their categories were last ranked in 2008.
- The Baylor-U.S. Army master's degree program in physical therapy was ranked fifth nationally in the 2008 survey, tied with the University of Iowa.
- Baylor's master's degree program in social work jumped from 87th in 2004 to 60th in 2008.
- The university's speech-language pathology program, which was ranked 62nd in the nation in 2004, moved up to 60th in 2008.
- Baylor's doctoral program in clinical psychology (PsyD) was rated 83rd in 2008.
Baylor's School of Education
Baylor's School of Education tied with four other schools at No. 78, among the top 279 graduate programs that grant doctoral degrees in education. The schools were surveyed in fall 2010 and early 2011. Rankings are based on a weighted average of the 10 quality measures, such as assessment by peers and superintendents nationwide, student selectivity, faculty resources and research activity.
The Sciences
Baylor graduate programs in the sciences were re-ranked in 2010 and are featured in latest U.S. News rankings. Rankings of doctoral programs in the doctoral Ph.D. sciences are based solely on the results of surveys sent to academics in biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, earth sciences, mathematics, physics and statistics.
Baylor doctoral programs were ranked in 2010 in several categories, including:
- Biological Sciences, No. 82
- Chemistry, No. 94
- Earth Sciences, No. 108
- Physics, No. 113
- Statistics, No. 64
The universe of schools surveyed in biological these areas consisted of schools that awarded at least five doctoral degrees for the years from 2003 through 2008, according to the National Science Foundation report "Science and Engineering Doctorate Awards."
Social Sciences and Humanities
Several Baylor graduate programs in the social sciences and humanities were ranked in 2009 and are included in this year's U.S. News rankings.
- Sociology, No. 77
- Psychology, No. 117
- English, No. 125
U.S. News first published a reputation-only graduate school ranking in 1987. The annual "America's Best Graduate Schools" report began in 1990.
The 2012 Best Graduate Schools is the first rankings package to be launched on the newly redesigned U.S. News Education site. The site redesign offers increased usability, interactive search tools and additional resources to help guide users through the graduate school decision and application process.
For more information about Best Graduate Schools, visit www.usnews.com/grad, and to learn more about the methodology and data research, visit www.usnews.com/gradmeth.
Media contact: Lori Fogleman, director of media communications, (254) 710-6275