Rankings have medical school, GWB at No. 2

The Washington University School of Medicine and the George Warren Brown School of Social Work are both ranked second in the nation, according to graduate and professional rankings released April 2 by U.S. News & World Report magazine.

The School of Medicine was tied for second in 2003 and has placed in the top 10 every year since the annual rankings began in 1987. It has ranked first in student selectivity — a measurement of student quality based on Medical College Admission Test scores, undergraduate grade-point average and the proportion of applicants selected — since 1998.

In this year’s overall standings, the medical school placed after Harvard University and was followed by Johns Hopkins University, Duke University and the University of Pennsylvania (tie), the University of California-San Francisco and the University of Michigan.

“We have a gifted, committed faculty and extraordinary students,” said Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. “It is quite an honor that the School of Medicine has been ranked between such prestigious schools as Harvard and Johns Hopkins and — for the seventh-consecutive time — ranked No. 1 in student quality.

“We try not to attach too much importance to these rankings because they can’t take all of a school’s attributes into consideration, but I must say I am pleased. This acknowledgement helps the St. Louis region achieve deserved recognition as a center for life sciences education and research. I am especially grateful to our University leadership, Board of Trustees and patrons, who all have given the School of Medicine their generous support.”

Individually, WUSTL’s physical therapy program ranked second in the nation. Occupational therapy was third, and pediatrics and internal medicine both ranked seventh.

The drug and alcohol abuse and audiology programs were both tied for eighth, the geriatrics and women’s health programs both tied for 15th and the AIDS program placed 17th.

GWB is in the same position that it was when social work rankings were last compiled, in 2000.

“This ranking is a great tribute to the faculty of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, who have launched nationally recognized curriculum renovations in recent years,” said Shanti K. Khinduka, Ph.D., GWB dean and the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor. “I’m delighted that our peers in social work education have again expressed such esteem for the quality of our program.

“Such recognition reinforces our resolve to remain a world-class school of social work.”

The Department of Biomedical Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science moved up two spots to 14th in the nation. The program, founded only in 1997, recently moved into a new, state-of-the-art re-search and teaching facility, Uncas A. Whitaker Hall for Biomedical Engineering.

Overall, the engineering school ranked 36th in the nation.

The School of Law increased five spots to a tie for 20th in the nation, with its clinical training program placing fourth, international law placing 15th and intellectual property law tied for 22nd.

“We are delighted that the hard work of so many at the School of Law has been recognized in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings,” said Dean Joel Seligman, J.D., the Ethan A.H. Shepley University Professor. “In the past five years, the school has progressed from 37th to 20th, and there has been increasing recognition of our specialty areas including clinical education, international law and intellectual property.”

The Olin School of Business tied for 39th in the nation, with the executive master of business administration program ranked 14th, the part-time master of business administration ranked 12th and management tied for 24th.

The Department of Education in Arts & Sciences tied for 55th among schools of education. The department is one of two ranked in the category of schools of education.

The 2005 edition of the book America’s Best Graduate Schools hit newsstands April 5. Many of the ranking categories will also appear in the April 12 edition of U.S. News & World Report, the weekly newsmagazine, which goes on sale that same day.

A complete set of WUSTL rankings has been prepared from U.S. News & World Report data and is available online at news-info.wustl.edu/rankings. This review sheet includes the most recent rankings conducted for each area.

U.S. News does not rank every category every year, and some rankings date back as far as 1997.

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