Vanderbilt’s School of Engineering graduate program improved two positions to No. 35 in annual rankings by U.S. News & World Report. The 2013 graduate program rankings were released today.
The School, which tied with the University of Colorado-Boulder and the University of Florida, ranks ahead of Virginia and Washington University in St. Louis and just behind Yale, Rice, and the University of California-Davis. MIT was ranked No. 1.
Programs at 198 engineering schools that grant doctoral degrees were surveyed; 194 responded. Data were collected in fall 2010 and early 2011.
“While rankings are only one measure of a program’s accomplishments, the school’s steady upward progress in these rankings is recognition that our reputation and our success in engineering graduate education is rising,” said Dean Kenneth F. Galloway. “I am proud of our faculty and our graduate students.”
The School of Engineering received recognition in a number of specialties. Biomedical engineering moved up three spots to 19, breaking into the top 20. Mechanical engineering jumped five spots 38. Civil engineering moved up six places to 43. Environmental engineering, which was not ranked last year, is at No. 48. Electrical engineering dropped 10 spots to 48.
Peer opinion data is gathered from deans, program directors, and senior faculty to judge the academic quality of the programs. Professionals who hire new graduates are also surveyed. Other “quality indicators” include acceptance rates, average quantitative GRE score, faculty membership in the National Academy of Engineering, engineering school research expenditures, Ph.D.’s granted, and total graduate engineering enrollment.
Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies George E. Cook said, “We believe the graduate experience our students enjoy is among the best anywhere. We anticipate that Vanderbilt engineering will continue to be the first choice of many outstanding students across the country and internationally.”
Rankings will be available at the U.S. News & World Report website, and the complete list will be published April 3 in the U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools book.