How Important Are the Rankings?

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I can't read your webite in Safari 4.3,I jstu thought I mght tell you abvoutf it.

seo lace of AL 12:23PM May 02, 2010

After a long career as a PhD chemist I can advise new students that the only important questions to ask when selecting your graduate school are (1) will I graduate in 4 yrs for the PhD? , (2) will I get enough financial support? (3) have previous graduates from this school and department gotten good jobs? and (4) do I have a chance for a good job after I graduate?
If any of the answers to the above questions are "not certain" or "no", who cares what the schools rankings are?

Dr.Tom Novinson of CA 6:48PM January 01, 2010

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Propecia of AL 1:53AM June 03, 2009

If you read the methodology for how the Public Affairs/Policy programs were ranked (via surveys of faculty at the various grad schools) you should already wonder why is one school ranked higher than another. US News rankngs have always been completely flawed. I don't understand why they do not poll alumni (to find-out how satisfied they are with their degree and jobs gained after grad school), and various organizations and government agencies that hire MPP/MPA alums on the performance of students that gained degrees from the listed grad programs. Isn't this why you may pick one school over another, on the opportunities and positions tha degree allows you to pursue. Further, US News never ranks how grad program budgets/endowments benefit students. If a school has a high endowment and spends little on improving a students experience in the program (scholarships, funding summer internships, increasing access to best software/technology), why should funding and endowments matter?

Josh of NY 3:54PM January 28, 2009

This is nonsense. The USNEWS rankings might be the #1 factor in selecting a graduate school for Public Affairs if there was the same level of detail and breakout as there was for the other professional masters programs such as Law, Business, Education, Medicine, etc. Instead the USNEWS public affairs rankings are meaningless and as such respondants from the survey do not expect much from it. For example, there is a four way tie for #10 rank and an ELEVEN way tie for the #14 rank. How could one ascertain any meaning from these rankings in the current form?

Jordan of IL 11:04PM January 25, 2009

Find me the guy/gal who can make self-study bear a stamp equivalent to "accreditation" and I'll show you the guy/gal who totally reforms the colleges.
We have very respected and accomplished home schoolers in the K-12 sector. Time for the same thinking to penetrate the monopoly of "degrees" with institutional names on them.

of 10:31AM January 23, 2009