The results of the most recent U.S. News & World Report’s graduate school rankings indicate that UC Davis continues to make academic strides.

Among the UC Davis programs ranked are the Graduate School of Management (35, up from 42 in 2000), the School of Law (31, from 41 in 2000), the School of Medicine’s primary care program (17, from 19 in 2000), and the School of Engineering (36, the same as 2000). The rankings are drawn from the U.S. News & World Report’s 2004 edition of America’s Best Graduate Schools and they include both private and public institutions.

Campus leaders emphasize these rankings should be viewed in their full contexts.

Virginia Hinshaw, provost and executive vice chancellor, says “The U.S. News and World Report rankings, in my opinion, aren’t necessarily reflective of quality and I think the campus community should view these rankings (and movements up or down) with caution. It is the case that our society does seem to be very attentive to numerical rankings, yet the measurements used to determine these rankings are not necessarily related to quality.”

Hinshaw encourages students to “evaluate factors important to them in determining the quality education a university can provide.”

Specific UC Davis disciplines ranked by U.S. News & World Report in its 2004 edition include:

• Agricultural engineering (2)

• Applied mathematics (33)

• Biological sciences (24)

• Chemistry (37)

• Civil engineering (20)

• Environmental engineering (18)

• Geology (25)

• Master of Fine Arts (28)

• Master of Fine Arts in ceramics (10)

• Psychology (61)

The dean of the Graduate School of Management, Robert Smiley, said this past year has been a challenge for all business schools in terms of the weakened economy and the difficult career placement environment.

“This is further reinforcement of the quality of our faculty, students and alumni. The Graduate School of Management stands shoulder to shoulder with the top MBA programs in the country.”

The U.S. News & World Report rankings are based on a formula that weighs several criteria, including how selective a program is in admitting applicants, faculty resources, institutional reputation and research activity.

A ranking in the top tier can mean more success for institutions as they recruit graduate students in a highly competitive environment.

“Ratings in specific program areas are based purely on input from deans, in our case of colleges of engineering, so they must be viewed with that in mind. However, we have been consistently ranked in the top five programs in the nation,” says Bruce Hartsough, chair of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering.

Students point to personal references as perhaps the most influential factors in deciding which graduate schools to attend.

“I weighted the advice from my college advisers much more heavily than the U.S. News & World Report rankings because I felt that my professors could provide more insight into the quality and atmosphere of the programs at different universities,” says Elaine Musgrave, a doctoral student in English and the secretary of the UC Davis Graduate Student Association.

Musgrave says the rankings may “reflect and foster” impressions about prestigious schools and programs, “but they don’t provide much perspective about the quality of the education and experience one can have in a graduate degree program.”

For example, she notes, “There is no guarantee that a highly ranked institution will provide a student with the intellectual, emotional and financial support that will help that student not only survive the program but also succeed as a scholar in her field.”