Students skeptical of new UCLA rankings
Many say U.S. News report is important in university choice
By Laryssa Kreiselmeyer
For those students considering graduate school, several
important factors in the decision include location, tuition and
living expenses.
Students said they often also contemplate the ranking of the
graduate school by scores in publications such as U.S. News and
World Report or the Gourman Report, which categorize and place
schools in percentiles according to several criteria.
Last month, U.S. News published its annual "America’s Best
Graduate Schools" issue in which UCLA ranked in the top 25 in 28
different categories. Among the many scores, UCLA received No. 6
for a doctorate in sociology and 24th nationally for a law
degree.
Greg Jackson, a second-year English graduate student and
president of the English Graduate Union, said ratings were
important to him when he applied to graduate school.
"It’s significant. I do pay attention to it," he said, adding
that the surveys are also a means of publicity for the schools.
Jackson said he believed a higher ranking for UCLA also meant more
applicants to the university.
Other students were more skeptical of the rankings. Kai Tang, a
third-year engineering undergraduate said he would look at surveys
once he began applications, but that they would not be a deciding
factor for him.
"Once you’re in college, you learn not to believe everything you
read. You have to look at the statistics," Tang said.
Mike Tseng, a third-year engineering undergraduate, agreed.
"Surveys are not too important. There are so many factors," he
said.
However, both engineering students were aware of UCLA’s
placement as No. 16 for a masters in engineering and UC Berkeley’s
rank as No. 2.
Third-year foreign language undergraduate Milly Lopez said that
the U.S. News report had no impact on her graduate school plans.
Lopez said she wants to stay in California regardless of its
schools’ rankings in order to continue her work in the large Latino
community here.
The U.S. News report is the best known guide to graduate
schools, according to a 1994 L.A. Times article. But some in higher
education are skeptical of the usefulness and effectiveness of the
ranks.
High school counselors said they noticed students, clutching
copies of the magazine, show more interest in applying to a No. 5
school than one ranked sixth.
Deborah Meister, a fourth-year English graduate student,
admitted she was given a top 10 list of graduate schools when she
told her counselor that she was going to begin the application
process.
Though she explained that other similar needs must be
considered, Diane Cooper, the associate dean of student affairs at
UCLA’s nursing school, agreed that students take rankings "very
seriously."
"(The percentile) are supposed to be an indication of quality,"
she said, explaining that judges came from a variety of the
nation’s nursing schools.
Deciding the composition of the top 25 involved a study of
median student scores, the percentage of employment at graduation,
amount of money spent on each student and reputation (scored by
deans) to compile an overall rank.
Karen Nikos, director of public relations at UCLA’s law school,
said that the ratings "go up and down every year," and that public
schools tend to do worse than private schools due to amounts of
money spent on each student.
She added that is is important to study and understand the
methodology behind the studies, which are commonly released by
different magazines every three months.
UCLA’s management school’s drop to 13th in the nation was
attributed to the fact that corporations polled were on the East
Coast and have little contact with UCLA graduates, said Mary Daily,
the school’s director of public relations.
Third-year law students Dennis Lamont and Michael Chang said
they were hopeful that the law school will bring this year’s
ranking of 24 up next year. Both students remembered that the
school scored 16th when they applied.
"I think it will bounce back," said Lamont.
Chang said that lower ratings would be a "big disincentive" if
he were applying to graduate school right now and said that
rankings by magazines such as U.S. News were in his "top three"
criteria to look for in a school.
"U.S. News is the most current thing," he said. "Undergraduates
look at current things."