Graduate schools’ ranks revealed

For some, the high rankings of UNC graduate schools in the U.S. News and World Report came as an a honor.

For others, the ranking offered a superficial barometer for the schools’ national standings.

But for most, the University’s ranking in more than 20 lists of schools, programs and specialty areas came as little surprise — even as the University contends with budget cuts.

The Gillings School of Global Public Health and the School of Medicine were ranked highly by the magazine, placing in the top three in certain areas.

UNC School of Medicine’s primary care received second place, while research received 20th.

“The ranking shows that UNC is one of the very few schools that has excellence in both research and primary care,” said Karen McCall, spokeswoman for the school.

McCall said the ranking shows the hard work that the faculty and students exhibit on a regular basis. Although medicine is changing, UNC is keeping up, she said.

“There are many external forces that are making us look at the costs and the way that we deliver care,” McCall said. “This ranking shows that UNC is in a very good position to go forward with the anticipated changes.”

McCall said the school anticipates receiving applications from even more qualified students.

“We are going to be expanding some, but we have many more applications than we have slots,” McCall said.

The Gillings School of Global Public Health placed second for master’s and doctorate degree programs and third for healthcare management.

The rankings were not surprising, given their high rankings in the past — usually second or third, said Ramona DuBose, director of communications for the school.

Rankings represent one of the many factors that draw a student to the University, but do not represent the sole factor, officials said.

“It certainly gets people’s attention,” DuBose said. “Once we get their attention, we hope to show them in detail some of the programs we have here.”

Barbara Rimer, dean of the Gillings School of Global Public Health, said the ranking is evidence of the school’s high quality, but qualified her praise.

“While we’re thrilled with the new ranking, we humbly realize that we walk among giants whose scores differed from ours by tenths of a point in a very subjective survey,” Rimer said in an e-mail.

The ranks come from surveys taken by deans, program heads and corporate recruiters, said Allison Adams, spokeswoman for the Kenan-Flagler Business School.

The business school placed 19th in master of business administration degree programs.

“We had a good selectivity in our MBA program and good success for graduates,” Adams said.

Adams said the school’s ranking went up in the Bloomberg Businessweek and the U.S. News and World Report, and went down in the Financial Times — from 46 to 62.

The differences are due to the different methodologies and surveys, Adams said.

“The more you look at these rankings and the more you look at the methodology, it’s hard to predict what happens,” Adams said.

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