The 2013 U.S. News and World Report ranked ASU’s graduate programs among the best in the nation, leading graduate schools to expect more applicants for the coming year.
The report, which came out on March 13, analyzed more than 1,200 graduate schools to produce rankings for students to find the best fit in a university.
The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law is now the eighth highest ranked public law school, and was also ranked No. 26 among public and private law schools.
While its full-time MBA program was ranked No. 30 in the nation, the W. P. Carey School of Business was also the only business school in Arizona ranked in the top 50.
The Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College moved from No. 25 to No. 16 among public graduate schools. This increase comes less than two years after the college expanded to all four ASU campuses.
Joan Brett, associate vice provost to the Graduate College, anticipates more applicants and students wanting to attend ASU’s graduate schools.
“Good students want to go to good programs,” Brett said.
According to the U.S. News and World Report, the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law has 206 full time students in the graduate program, W.P. Carey School of Business has 153 full-time students, and the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College has 1,202.
Brett said the programs’ improvements in the past year can be attributed to the graduate faculty, administrators and support staff.
“Each program has made a lot of their own improvements,” Brett said. “Nothing is treated as a cookie-cutter (program).”
The Arizona Board of Regents is happy to see some of the highest achievements to date within the rankings for Arizona’s public universities, ABOR spokeswoman Katie Paquet said.
Rankings play a large role in the student’s decision on where to attend, Paquet said.
“The U.S. News and World Report is a widely respected publication and these rankings are closely watched,” Paquet said.
ABOR Chair Bob McLendon said learning how to run a program is constant and he is always looking for more ways to improve.
“To achieve a high ranking, that means you are doing something right,” McLendon said.
Reach the reporter at amhayne1@asu.edu
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