US News and World Report ranked five graduate schools at Boston College among the top 40 in the country.
The Graduate School of Social Work ranked 19th, the Lynch School of Education ranked 21st, the Law School ranked 23rd, the School of Nursing ranked 32nd and the Carroll Graduate School of Management ranked 40th.
Deans and heads of graduate programs from across the country voted on the schools.
This report marked the first time CGSOM placed in the top 40. Hassell McClellan, Associate Dean of CGSOM, said, “This is very significant. It reflects the quality of the incoming student body and the academic reputation of the school as perceived by other deans.”
McClellan said that he believes the US News report affects the popularity of schools. “It has a big impact on the attraction of students to the school and how students look at the school,” he said.
CGSOM has set up a Web site (www.bc.edu/mbanews) concerning the US News ranking. McClellan said that business schools must be very aggressive in getting the word out to the deans who vote for the magazine. “It doesn’t do any good to have a great school and [have] no one know about it,” he said.
Barbara Munro, dean of SON, said, “Hassell should be congratulated because he’s done a heck of a job getting the word out and advertising about CGSOM.”
Munro was not as happy with her school’s placement, as it dropped from number 24 to number 32 on the list. However, she noted that Yale was the only other New England school on the list and BC’s SON beat out every other Jesuit school.
“We haven’t gotten worse over the last few years,” she said. “Sure I’m pleased, though. At least we’re up there.” Munro said that many schools aren’t happy with the ranking system. “It’s forced competition in a popular magazine,” she said. “How much validity there is to it, I don’t know.”
She said it’s also frustrating that SON only slipped one-tenth of a point in its overall grade (from a 3.6 out of 5 to a 3.5) and dropped eight spots. “A small change looks like a big drop because it’s so tight,” she said.
June Gary Hopps, dean of GSSW, was very pleased with her school’s number 19 ranking. “This shows that we are consistently ranked very highly,” she said. “We’re gaining international recognition and respect. I’m very proud of the rankings and the faculty has joined me in my pride.”
Mary Brabeck, dean of LSOE, is proud because her school moved back into the top 25. “I think we are one of the best schools of education in the country and the ratings reflect that,” she said.
Like McClellan, Brabeck said she believes that people take the ratings very seriously. She added that LSOE is the only school belonging to a Catholic university in the top 50 and one of only two New England schools in the top 25. Harvard, the other, earned the number 1 spot.
“We’re back where we belong, in the top 25,” she said. “We have such excellent students, superb faculty, we’re engaged in meaningful research that will benefit youths, and we’ve had extraordinary success in funding.”
The law school was ranked number 23. James Steven Rogers, associate dean of the school, said, “We are gratified that these rankings show that the world recognizes what we know — that Boston College Law School is one of the premiere law schools in the country.”
He warned, though, that people shouldn’t look to the rankings in determining the strength of a school. “No one should place much significance in the exact place of a school in such rankings, or in minor changes from year to year,” he said.
Rogers is pleased with the success of the BC Law School, but is always looking to improve. “We succeed as an institution by committing ourselves, individually and collectively, to strive for excellence in the pursuit of our mission of education of our students and advancement of knowledge,” he said. “Each day and each year, we should be asking ourselves how we can do an even better job of advancing our mission. If we do that, we can feel confident that others will recognize what we have accomplished.”
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