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March 19, 2015

Nursing places 5th in US News ranking of grad schools, results mixed for other programs

usnewsIn the U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Graduate Schools assessment, Pitt’s School of Nursing was ranked No. 5 among 181 nursing schools nationally and received top-five spots in six specialties. The 2016 rankings, which included expanded rankings for nursing schools with master’s degree programs, were released March 10.

Ranked above Pitt were nursing schools at the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, the University of California-San Francisco and the University of Washington.

Pitt’s School of Nursing gained a spot in eight of the 10 specialty rankings, including:

  • Clinical nurse leader: Pitt ranked No. 3 of five schools ranked.
  • Nurse anesthesia: Pitt ranked No. 1 of nine schools.
  • Nurse practitioner/adult/gerontology, acute care: Pitt tied for 5th with Vanderbilt among 12 schools.
  • Nurse practitioner/family: Pitt ranked No. 17 of 20 schools.
  • Nurse practitioner/pediatric, primary care: Pitt tied for No. 3 with Yale of 14 schools.
  • Nurse practitioner/psychiatric/mental health, across the lifespan: Pitt ranked No. 5 of eight schools.
  • Nursing administration: Pitt ranked No. 5 of 10 schools.
  • Nursing informatics: Pitt ranked No. 6 of nine schools.

Specialty rankings were based on assessments by nursing school deans and deans of graduate studies.

The overall school rankings were based on quality assessment, peer assessment score, student selectivity and achievement, mean undergraduate grade-point average, acceptance rate, achievement, faculty resources, student-faculty ratio, faculty credentials, nursing practice participation, master’s degree output productivity, research activity, total research expenditures and average research expenditures per faculty member.

Nursing also was No. 21 of 96 schools for its online graduate nursing program.

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U.S. News has long ranked business, education, engineering, law and medicine schools annually, and the results this year were mixed for the University.

In business, the Katz Graduate School of Business ranked 48th overall, up from No. 52 last year, in a five-way tie with Rutgers, Southern Methodist University, University of California-Davis and the University of Connecticut. The top five business schools were Stanford, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Chicago and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ninety-five business schools were ranked this year. The rankings were based on quality assessment, peer assessment score, recruiter assessment score, placement success, mean starting salary and bonus, student selectivity, mean GMAT and GRE scores, mean undergraduate GPA and acceptance rate.

For its part-time MBA program, Pitt was tied for 64th with Bentley, Lehigh, the University of Nebraska and the University of Richmond, down from No. 53 last year, among 213 schools ranked.

Rankings were based on average peer assessment score, average GMAT score and average GRE quantitative and verbal scores of part-time MBA students entering in fall 2014.

Katz was not ranked in any of the 10 specialty rankings available.

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Among schools of education, Pitt was tied for 27th with Virginia Commonwealth University, down from No. 22 last year. Ranked highest in this category were Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Stanford, Vanderbilt and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, among 184 schools.

Rankings in education were based on quality assessment, peer assessment score, superintendent assessment score, student selectivity, mean GRE verbal scores, mean GRE quantitative scores, acceptance rate, faculty resources, student-faculty ratio, percentage of faculty with awards, doctoral degrees granted, research activity, total research expenditures and average expenditures per faculty member.

Pitt was ranked in one of the 10 specialties this year. In educational psychology, the school was tied for 13th with Columbia and the University of Washington. It was No. 14 last year.

Specialty rankings were judged by student engagement, student services and technology, faculty credentials and training, admissions selectivity and peer reputation.

Among schools offering online graduate education, Pitt was tied for 68th with Georgia Southern University, Ohio University, Texas A&M, the University of Massachusetts, the University of Missouri and Wheeling Jesuit University, among 179 schools.

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The Swanson School of Engineering was tied for No. 43 among engineering schools nationally — equaling its ranking for last year — with Iowa State University, Northeastern University and the University of Florida.

The top five in engineering were Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, the University of California-Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon and California Institute of Technology, among 140 schools.

Rankings were based on quality assessment, peer assessment score, recruiter assessment score, student selectivity, mean GRE quantitative scores, acceptance rate, faculty resources, student-faculty ratio, percentage of faculty in the National Academy of Engineering, doctoral degrees awarded, research activity, total research expenditures and average research expenditures per faculty member.

Swanson was ranked in nine of a possible dozen specialties this year:

  • In biomedical engineering/bioengineering, Pitt was tied for No. 16 with Case Western Reserve, down one spot from No. 15 last year, among 70 schools.
  • In chemical engineering, Pitt was tied for No. 39 — the same position as last year — with Michigan State, the University at Buffalo-SUNY, the University of Houston, Virginia Tech and Washington University in St. Louis, among 94 schools.
  • In civil engineering, Pitt was tied for No. 53 with Tufts, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Virginia and Washington State, up from No. 61 last year, among 105 schools.
  • In computer engineering, Pitt was tied for No. 54 with Case Western Reserve, the University of California-Riverside and the University of Utah, up from No. 58 last year, among 95 schools.
  • In electrical/electronic/communications engineering, Pitt was tied for No. 52 with New York University, the University of Central Florida, the University of Delaware, the University of Texas and the University of Utah, up from No. 58 last year, among 123 schools.
  • In environmental/environmental health engineering, Pitt was tied for No. 48 with Drexel, Iowa State, Oregon State, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University at Buffalo-SUNY, up from No. 55 last year, among 75 schools.
  • In industrial/manufacturing/systems engineering, Pitt was tied for No. 22 with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Texas-Austin, up from No. 23 last year, among 69 schools.
  • In materials engineering, Pitt was tied for No. 53 with Boston University, Clemson, Michigan Technological University, Stony Brook University-SUNY and the University of Utah, up from No. 56 last year, among 70 schools.
  • In mechanical engineering, Pitt was tied for No. 49 with Lehigh, the University of Delaware and Washington University in St. Louis, up from No. 52 last year, among 128 schools.

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Pitt’s School of Law was ranked No. 78 overall, tied with Brooklyn Law School, the Illinois Institute of Technology and Loyola University, up from No. 81 last year, among 149 schools. Ranked Nos. 1-5 were Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia and the University of Chicago.

Rankings were based on quality assessment, peer assessment score, assessment score by lawyers/judges, selectivity, median LSAT scores, median undergraduate GPA, acceptance rate and placement success.

The school was listed two specialty rankings:

• In health care law, Pitt was tied for No. 14 with the University of Minnesota and Wake Forest, unchanged from last year.

• In international law, Pitt was tied for No. 29 with Emory, Tulane and Vanderbilt, among 29 schools, whereas it previously was unranked.

Specialty rankings were based on nominations by legal educators at peer institutions.

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Among medical schools, Pitt ranked No. 16 overall for research, up one spot from No. 17 last year. Tops in this category were Harvard, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, the University of California-San Francisco and the University of Pennsylvania, among 88 schools.

For primary care, Pitt tied for No. 19 with the University of California-Davis, the University of California-San Diego, the University of Chicago, the University of Hawaii-Manoa and Washington University in St. Louis, down one spot from No. 18 last year. Heading this list were the University of Washington, the University of North Carolina, the University of California-San Francisco, the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Oregon Health and Science University, among 85 schools.

Rankings were based on quality assessment, peer assessment, assessment score by residency directors, total research activity, average research activity per faculty member, primary care rate, student selectivity, median MCAT total score, median undergraduate GPA, acceptance rate and faculty resources.

The School of Medicine was ranked in five of eight possible specialties:

• In drug and alcohol abuse, Pitt was tied for No. 11 with New York University, down from No. 9 last year, among 11 schools.

• In geriatrics, Pitt was ranked No. 10, down from No. 9 last year, among 13 schools.

• In internal medicine, Pitt was ranked No. 18, down from No. 16 last year, among 18 schools.

• In pediatrics, Pitt was ranked No. 11, falling from No. 7 last year, among 17 schools.

• In women’s health, Pitt was ranked No. 4 again, among 17 schools.

Specialty rankings were based on ratings by deans and senior faculty from the schools surveyed.

—Marty Levine