Baylor Programs Ranked in U.S. News Grad School Survey

March 16, 2012

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WACO, Texas (March 16, 2012) -- Baylor University graduate programs in law, business, health disciplines, the sciences and education were among those nationally ranked in the 2013 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 2013 edition book, available April 3, 2012.

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 nearly 15,000 academics and professionals, conducted during the fall of 2011 and early 2012.

Baylor Law School

Baylor Law School moved up five places to rank No. 51 overall in the magazine's "Top Schools" listing for 2013, tied with Florida State, Loyola Marymount University, SMU and Tulane. In the law specialties rankings, Baylor's trial advocacy program is tied for fifth best in the nation with South Texas College of Law.

In 2011, 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 195 law schools fully accredited by the American Bar Association are based on a weighted average of the 12 measures of quality, such as quality assessments by deans, faculty, lawyers and judges, selectivity, placement success and faculty resources. Data were collected in fall 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 three universities at No. 64 among the 69 top-rated master's programs in business accredited by AACSB International. In all, 441 MBA programs were surveyed in fall 2011, with the survey methodology focusing on quality assessment by peers and recruiters, placement success and student selectivity.

In specialty rankings, Baylor's graduate entrepreneurship program was ranked No. 25 with seven other universities, while Baylor's EMBA program was rated 26th best in the nation.

Specialty rankings are based solely on ratings by educators at peer schools. Business school deans and MBA program heads were asked to nominate up to 10 programs for excellence in each specialty. Those receiving the most nominations are listed.

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 physical therapy was ranked fifth nationally in the latest survey, tied with the University of Iowa. Baylor-U.S. Army health programs are operated at the Academy of Health Sciences at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

• Baylor's doctoral program in clinical psychology (PsyD) moved up four places to 79th in the latest U.S. News rankings.

• Baylor's master's degree program in social work jumped is ranked 60th best in the nation.

• The university's speech-language pathology program is currently ranked 79th in the latest U.S. News rankings.

Other Baylor health programs were cited by U.S. News, although their categories were not newly ranked.

• The Baylor-U.S. Army master's degree program in health administration was ranked 11th best in the country, along with Boston University and Johns Hopkins University, in ratings released in 2011.

• The MBA in health care administration, a specialization in Baylor's MBA program in the Hankamer School of Business, is ranked 25th in the U.S.News rankings of health care management programs. The program is a part of the Robbins Institute for Health Policy and Leadership, which serves as the foundation for all health care-related initiatives in Baylor's business school.

• In addition, the master's degree program in nursing at Baylor's Louise Herrington School of Nursing in Dallas, was ranked by U.S. News as 64th best in the country, tied with 14 other programs.

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 sciences, chemistry, computer science, earth sciences, mathematics, and physics 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.

For more information about Best Graduate Schools, visit www.usnews.com/grad. 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