By
Jeremy Duda
Arizona Daily Wildcat
MIS, masters' programs improve while public affairs, BPA college slip one
U.S. News and World Report released its annual graduate-school rankings this week, with the UA recording some gains and some losses.
Several colleges and departments moved up from last year's rankings, such as the university's renowned MIS program, which moved back up to fourth, improving a rank.
Also improved is the masters' in business administration program, which moved up a rank to 30th in the nation, while the public affairs department moved down a rank to 31st. The College of Business and Public Affairs, which oversees both programs, went from 29th to 30th.
Other colleges experienced a significant drop in ranking. The College of Education dropped from 36th to 44th, although U.S. News pointed out that the rankings of the past two years can't be sufficiently compared, since analysts focused more on doctoral programs this year and changed their criteria.
Rankings are based on such points as test scores, GPA and starting salaries of graduates.
Business college dean Mark Zupan is positive about his department's rise in rank, although he is skeptical as to the importance of the rankings.
"Statistically you can't read too much into them, but we'll try to play it to the hilt when recruiting new students," he said.
Zupan credited hard work on the part of the faculty and staff, more aggressive recruiting and stricter admissions standards with the rise in rank.
This year's incoming class was subjected to stricter requirements regarding average GPA, work experience and GMAT (Graduate Management Admissions Test) scores.
On average, potential students look at the numbers given by U.S. News more closely than other rankings, said Gary Pivo, dean of the graduate college. The graduate college oversees all other graduate programs at the UA.
Most applicants for UA graduate programs tended to make their choice based on how high U.S. News ranked the degree program they were interested in, Pivo said.
All applicants are given a survey, which asks them to rank what most made them want to come to this school. With zero being the lowest and five being the highest, the average rank of importance for U.S. News and World Report rankings was 3.7 for this year's incoming class.
The numbers, however, aren't necessarily the most important aspect in choosing a university, Pivo said.
"The (U.S. News) rankings might not reflect the values of individuals planning on going to a certain school," he said.
There is no system for ranking graduate-level education as a whole, said Pivo, but The Center, a research facility at the University of Florida, conducts the Lombardi Program on Measuring University Performance.
The Lombardi Program's Top American Research Universities rankings place the UA at 18th in U.S. public research schools.
U.S. News and World Reports' graduate school rankings can be found at www.usnews.com, although Pivo suggested that they not be taken too seriously.
"I don't really follow the rankings that much," he said.
